Social Commerce

It's not that I don't like business...I can't stand boring businesses that have no intention of making a dent in the world...or improving it.  They are just "getting in the way of the money" with the hope of being chosen.  Usually, it's a dearth of creativity/courage, either one - it's boring because there is no adventure to be found.  Just holiday parties where they slap each other on the back like something really happened. Startups have a responsibility to be different.  Not just because they're a startup, but there is a necessity to stand out for the buyer.  Make a dent or come up with a new plan. ... (more)

Social Media Front & Center in Manila

The Philippines is the social media capital of the world when measured by per-capita texting, Facebook usage, and increasingly, Twitter followers. So where does it go from here? This was the underlying question at a recent customer-contact conference produced by Frost & Sullivan at the Makati Shangri-la Hotel in Metro Manila. Traditional CRM was on the agenda, as was the evolving nature of local and outsourced contact centers. The potential role of virtualization and cloud computing was also discussed - two things that are in their relative infancy here. Social, social, social ... (more)

Online Daily Deals - A Short-Term Bubble?

Social networking websites are fast adapting the new 'daily deals' model to attract small businesses and social networkers. Some companies that focus on daily deals, such as Groupon.com and Livingsocial.com, are attempting to go IPO soon, reinforcing that this is an emerging market. Google came up with Google offers, Yelp came up with Yelp Deals to take advantage of this new phenomenon. However, as a social network platform user, do you know who is the best deal/offer maker? I'd call these deals a 1.0 in the making, which don't really take advantage of the social networking plat... (more)

Herman Cain’s 999 Plan – A Marketing Perspective

It is difficult to ignore Herman Cain’s charisma.  Everyone I have spoken to seems to find the Republican presidential candidate likeable. The former Godfather’s Pizza CEO certainly comes across as someone who knows a lot more than how to sell pizza.  In last night’s debate in New Hampshire, he leaned on his 999 taxation message that received commentary from the other candidates. If you are unaware of what 999 means, it’s 9% income tax, 9% corporate tax and 9% sales tax. The 999 plan also translates into good marketing. An island of simplicity in an ocean of complexity is often ... (more)

Google+ Has Ensured that Facebook Can't Make Money

Google+ may fail … it may not succeed in weaning away enough users from Facebook… …But what G+ has ensured is that Facebook will not be able to make enough money to justify its current market value of US$ 100 billion. Why so? Let us do a quick back of the envelop calculation. For Facebook to justify it current valuation of US$ 100 billion, it needs to, at some point of time, make an annual profit of at least US$ 10 billion. That can be done only if they have annual revenue of around US$ 30 billion. This revenue number is about 15 time their current annual revenue. The user base ... (more)