OP-ED: Here's Why Google Bought Wildfire ? Firmology | Small ...

Ever since Google?s acquisition of Wildfire was announced, there?s been rampant speculation of what it?s actually going to do with the?social media marketing management platform.

Will they shut it down? Will they make it free? Will they use it to spy on Facebook, of which Wildfire is a preferred developer?

Will the social media management platform industry collapse due to huge acquisitions by tech giants and the trend of closing off platforms to developers? Ahem, Twitter..

While the acquisition of Wildfire can certainly be considered as a strategic move to increase their competitive intelligence on rivals like Facebook and Twitter, that?s just an added benefit.

And, it?s not even a guaranteed benefit as Facebook and Twitter might end up shutting down Google?s access to their platforms for competitive security reasons.

Google Bought Wildfire to Help Them Compete in Conquer the Local Small Business Market

The real reason is small business.

Specifically, local small businesses with a physical presence.

As we mentioned a couple of months ago, Google has struggled to gain traction in the local small business market.

Acquisition attempts at Yelp in 2009 and Groupon in 2010 both failed and new advertising options within Google Maps were discontinued.

Why should they care so much about small businesses?

Advertising.

20% of Google searches are for local information.?The local small business advertising market is worth over $21 billion today and is projected to grow 12% annually, according to?BIA/Kelsey, a local-media advisory firm.

That?s why Google is expected to launch Business Builder this summer, a central repository for small business focused products and services that Google has developed or acquired within the past few years.

Here are 7 Google Products and Services for Small Businesses You Might Not Have Heard Of

Google+ Local Pages
Google+ company pages where businesses can interact with customers, share information and offer discounts.

Google AdWords Express
Simplified Google advertising program for small businesses.

Google Offers
Google?s version of a daily deals site, which gives discounts to local businesses to Google Offers subscribers.

Google Delivery
Physical goods are delivered quickly to the homes and offices of online shoppers.

Google TalkBin
Customers can send feedback to store owners and employees while physically in the store.

Google Wallet
Customers can pay for goods using their smartphone, instead of taking out their wallet and using cash, a credit card or a debit card.

Google Punchd
Customer loyalty program which lets customers earn points for repeatedly shopping at businesses. Punchd is a digital version of a punch card.

Business Builder will be complemented by a recommendation engine that helps small businesses figure out which of Google?s products and services listed above they should use.

So what do these small business products and services have to do with Wildfire?

Everything.

Google Bought Wildfire to be the Headquarters for Their Small Business Products and Services

Business Builder may launch as planned this summer, but in a year or two, Wildfire will power all of their local small business products and services.

How do we know this?

Google already told us what it plans to do with Wildfire in their blog post.

The ultimate goal is better and fresher content, and more meaningful interactions. People today can make their voices heard in ways that were previously impossible, and Wildfire helps businesses uphold their end of the conversation (or spark a new one).

In a?complex?and changing landscape, businesses want to manage and measure these efforts in an integrated way. We?ve been working towards this end for some time. For example, Google Analytics helps businesses?measure the contribution?of hundreds of social sites; our?Admeld service?has helped to serve ads in Facebook developers? social apps; and our?DoubleClick platform?enables clients to run and measure ads across social websites. On Google+, brands use services like Vitrue, Buddy Media and others to manage their pages, with?many more to come.

With Wildfire, we?re looking forward to creating new opportunities for our clients to engage with people across all social services. We believe that better content and more seamless solutions will help unlock the full potential of the web for people and businesses.

Do you hear the magic keywords?

Better and fresher content, meaningful interactions, make their voices heard, manage and measure in an integrated way, new opportunities, and seamless solutions.

Google is essentially giving small business owners the ability to build a customer profile and Wildfire is the platform that will help them manage their touchpoints across all social networks, products and services.

Imagine how much information small businesses can know about your customers when all the services mentioned above and social networks such as Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and LinkedIn?are combined in one place.

Here?s an Example of How Powerful Google?s Wildfire Acquisition Will Be For Small Businesses:

A customer gets a personalized Google Offers sushi restaurant deal through one of their social channels. Personalized because they already follow the restaurant on several social networks, mention they love sushi in their profiles or posts, and recently complained about a bad experience they had at a rival sushi restaurant.

They then can pay for their meal using their Google Wallet app on their smartphone, after which the merchant can get the customer to sign up for their loyalty program through Google Punchd. Further incentive to sign up right then and there? Give them 5% off their meal and a punch on their digital punchcard.

The customer is thrilled?and leaves the restaurant feeling good. Now the sushi restaurant can ask for a review on their Google+ Local page, which is integrated with Zagat since Google bought them last year. Worried about that one forgotten sushi roll? No problem as the customer used Google TalkBin to give you real-time feedback about the forgotten dish and you brought it out promptly, taking the charge off the bill or giving them a free dessert.

That?s going to be one damn good restaurant review, happy tweet and delicious-looking Pinterest photo. The best part is that?the cycle starts over next weekend since you captured everything in your Wildfire+Google customer profile.

In the meantime, Google has slapped lucrative advertising where appropriate, has taken a cut of a transaction or earned revenue from a premium service offering at every point in the process.

It?s a Win-Win-Win Situation For Google, Small Businesses and Their Customers

Google benefits from their acquisition of Wildfire and push into the local small business market by the potential of tapping into a new and ever-growing local advertising revenue stream.

Small businesses benefit with very well integrated product and service offerings that are catered to the needs and wants of their customers, increasing?touch-points, revenue and loyalty.

Customers benefit from amazing and highly relevant deals, timely information, and responsive businesses that offer convenience with a personal touch.

It?s a win-win-win situation (Completely random and cheese-tacular side note: ?The Final Countdown? is playing at this coffee shop?and I?m picturing Google, small businesses and customers all tying for the gold at the finish line.)

LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW: Do you agree or disagree? Why do you think Google acquired Wildfire??What do you think of Google?s expanded small business offerings and foray into the local small business market?

To contact the writer on this story: Philip Nowak in Chicago at philip.nowak@firmology.com.?Please?contact us?if you?d like to?submit a small business innovation story or small business tech startup, product or service.

Written by Philip Nowak

Philip Nowak is the founder of Firmology, a?small business news?and information media company focused on helping small business owners grow their business through technology and innovation.?You can find Philip on?Google+,?Twitter?and?LinkedIn

Source: http://www.firmology.com/2012/08/03/op-ed-heres-why-google-bought-wildfire/

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