Google’s search update strikes a chord at marketers and consumers that it will get easier for the end user to look for information on the Web. With Facebook’s new feature, the social media giant has taken that realization a step further by allowing its members to share social media content to their personal networks using similar voice-driven technology.

When writing a Facebook status update, users will now have the option to use their cell phone’s microphone to identify what song, movie or show is playing.

However, Facebook users must turn this feature “ON” in order for the technology to work. Once the user has enabled it, Facebook explains the process as such:

“If you’ve turned the feature on, you’ll see an audio icon moving on the screen when you write a status update. If the feature finds a match, you can then choose to add the song, TV show, or movie to your post.”

The same privacy settings apply, making it easy for the users to decide who sees the update. No sound will be stored on Facebook or the device, alleviating the worries of anxious technology users, regarding privacy and copyright issues.

However, when the user share’s what he/she is listening to, their friends will be able to see a 30-second preview of the song. For TV shows, Facebook will identify the exact season and episode, which seems to help avoid spoilers in the News Feed.

This update will help make Facebook more visual as each status improvement brings an additional multimedia social media content format into view. For musicians and TV producers, direct call to action to “download” or at the beginning of every show can spark social media chatter, this will ultimately help marketers quantify the impact of social media marketing in partnership with traditional broadcast channels.

With a $19 billion investment, Facebook could have purchased a Technology Manufacturer, Fashion Brand or maybe four aircraft carriers.  Instead, Facebook bought WhatsApp, a bit sized startup that so far has only accumulated $60 million in funding mostly via Venture Capitalist “Sequoia Capital”.  Mark Zuckerberg seems crazy, is what you might say.

But think about what exactly Facebook has bought:

Young users

About 450 million users joined WhatsApp in 5 years, with an daily active user base of almost 70%, which is about 3 times more than Facebook in 5 years and almost 10 times more than Twitter or Skype. These numbers translate into revenues and most of these users are probably on Facebook anyway.  On the other hand, Digital detox a relatively new term is what Facebook is most worried about.

A new business model

Unlike Facebook and most other Internet giants, WhatsApp runs on a subscription-based revenue model, charging users $0.99 a year after the first year of use. Further, WhatsApp commits its services to no advertising and presumably no commercial exploitation of user data, which is different from Facebook’s business model. This acquisition can presumably help Facebook understand how to successfully execute on such business models.

Enhancements to the existing business model

The daily messaging volume of WhatsApp compete the SMS volume of the entire global telecom industry, and while Facebook strives to be the largest medium connecting people and their life events, daily happenings are better captured by metadata from messaging apps. This data could then enhance Facebook’s ability to pick out people’s most important relationships, which would presumably lead to better-targeted advertising.

Internationalization

Facebook Messenger is popular in the United States of America but not in other countries.  In key markets like Pakistan, India, South Asia and South America WhatsApp is the Messenger.  And this is what Facebook was looking for, the immediate real value: to become part of the global turn to mobile on ASAP basis.

These reasons for a $19 billion deal including competitive pressure from Google and other companies, the number might not look so crazy. Time will tell definitely but regardless of how this deal turns out, the loser, in our opinion, is the global telecom industry, which currently enjoys about $100 billion per year in revenues from SMS services.

Moral of the story: Create an alternative yourself before others disrupt your business model.

Do you have a business website and is it working as it should be? Has it helped you to reach your real-client or business goals?

Most people who come to us complain about not getting anything out of their current website.

Today in the age of technology when it is possible to achieve unlimited via the internet, most business websites still work more as “marketing presence” than actual sources of new customers. They might have beautiful visuals, but they aren’t convincing enough or effective in other words… and definitely not producing sales opportunities.

Of course, business owners and C.E.O.s would want to enjoy a stronger web presence, but do not know how to get one. They get trapped into thinking that a diverse design, or the latest SEO techniques, will do the trick. That can be understood, but in reality it takes a lot of different things working together to develop a website that’s actuall­­y good for your business.

This infographic is based upon, 10 necessary strategies for you when developing and designing a new website. These are not just techniques that we at Opus have dreamed up over tea, but established procedures we’ve used again and again to produce great results. The kinds of results we are talking about are around 800% increase in new leads over a six-month time period.

It is significant to note that these strategies don’t just generate new sales prospects, but potentially improved ones.

That is because, when potentially new customers are voluntarily coming to you for requesting information and getting answers from your company rather than replying to your sales or advertising and marketing efforts, the relationship starts off on a radically stronger foot. There is more reliance and trust on both sides, with fewer discussions over price, making it easier for a healthy long-term partnership to develop.

If that’s the kind of performance you are looking for from your business website, Opus is your one stop solution. You will find simple, straightforward ideas that could radically transform the way you think about your online presence. Please feel free to share.

With more people around the world getting online every day, social and digital marketing is becoming even more powerful. Social media in particular is playing rising role in digital achievement of any product and campaign. Platforms such as Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and LinkedIn have evolved from local networks to global channels. Tapped into correctly, they can offer a return on investment unthinkable even a few years back.

But together with this potential, exists the undercurrent of artificial content that degrades the worth of online channels, imposing barriers for sustained success. Off shore reviews, timeline content or even worse, fake friends and followers are some good examples.

Have you ever felt while reading an online review that it was staged? Or, did you ever feel that there is a sudden though odd increase in support for a product campaign online? Sometimes it might even have made you wonder that a certain brand had a surprising number of followers. This case looks even more obvious when you find that the page for that particular product, service or campaign has insignificant number of comments while they have unbelievable number of likes or followers (A good rule of thumb is 0.5 – 1% of a real fan base comment).

This exercise has been recently observed in Facebook and Twitter where we can see an incredible swell in the number of followers in an unbelievably short span of time. Now the question is, is there any value in these low cost techniques? The answer is yes, but with a considerable warning. If you are not incredibly confident about the inherent value and potential dangers of illegitimate followers, it can have a long-termed detrimental effect on your business. You even need to be aware of the onshore providers outsourcing your work for incredible mark-ups. In the end, nothing beats well earned and real supporters, who will be engaged by your online strategy and become positive advocates of your brand reputation.

There are no short-cuts to your online brand management, social media popularity and content strategy, as such. But done right, you can create consistent new online channels to promote your brand. Here are our top five tips to achieve this goal:

(1) Content Strategy Plan:

Plan out the content strategy for your product and/or service at least 6 months in advance. Make sure that you stay true to your brand values and developing online character. Incorporate a good mixture of campaigns, discussion, competitions, advertising and affiliate forums. It is always good to know where your visitors are so that you can customize your products to local regions.

(2) Brand Relation:

Interested followers are the ones you have relationships with. If everyone else is talking about a particular event, add a creative, on-brand pitch on the topic, or simply post about something else. Think of your brand online as a person with a consistent character with a touch of energy. It can mature in time but the personality shouldn’t jump around.

(3) Your audience:

Not just online, but at restaurants, offices, shops, organizations etc. Social media is all about transparent brand recognition so listen and respond to both the positive and negative opportunities. Don’t just monitor the social channels you have a content strategy for, search consistently or purchase a cost effective software tool to help monitor in near-to-real time, to hear thoughts of your brand transversely, over all online platforms. Transparency is a possible key to success here.

(4) Extra mile:

More and more people are getting socially good. Stories that inspire often have similarities to old-world service. Go the extra mile and truly connect with your customers. You will convert followers to advocates and constantly build a positive brand reputation in market.

(5) Genuine:

Buying fake followers or fake reviews will not benefit your brand for long term now. People are becoming more and more aware of fake stories, reviews and profiles. If it is too good to be true, it often is. Be genuine all the time. Then the clarity you provide to your audience and your analytics will be real and extremely good, measurable as your channel grows bankable or in good shape.

It is obvious that social platforms are worried about their revenue a lot more than mitigating grey and black hat content. However, we will also see platforms become more responsible and close the gap for our very human need for transparency. For example, Facebook is rolling out Graph Search now, which will bring another level of clarity to ‘real’ endorsements in our work.