Top Story - Groupon Raises $950 Million

My god that is a huge amount of money and it may put to rest why they turned down Google's offer.

I am super curious about your thoughts on Groupon. Do you know or have a success story to share?
Pierre Rattini, CCO, BiZ BuZZ MeDia
http://bizbuzzmedia.net

Amplify’d from gigaom.com

Groupon Raises $950 Million — Now Comes the Hard Part

“You know what’s cooler than a million dollars? A billion dollars.” Fans of the movie The Social Network — especially those who live in Silicon Valley — like to recite that line a lot, and now Groupon gets to feel how cool that really is, thanks to a new round of funding. As expected, the group-buying startup announced today that it has completed a gigantic financing of $950-million from a group of high-profile funds, including Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins and Russia’s Mail.ru. In the company’s typical whimsical fashion, its press release was headlined: “Groupon Raises, Like, A Billion Dollars.” As light-hearted as its founder and copywriters may be, however, the company now has some serious work to do in order to justify its funding.

It’s not just that Groupon has to show why it is worth an investment of close to $1 billion from such a prestigious group of backers (less than a year ago the entire company was only worth $1 billion). The two-year-old startup also has to show why it was right to turn down a $6-billion acquisition offer from Google, which it did last month to the surprise of many. Not only was such a combination seen by some (including us) as a natural fit for both companies — since it would have married Google’s algorithmic expertise and reach with Groupon’s appeal to local merchants and advertisers — but the valuation it gave Groupon was also more than $1 billion higher than the $4.7-billion value the company reportedly has as a result of its latest financing round.

In its news release, Groupon notes that it has been called “the fastest growing company ever” by Forbes, and that it is now doing business in 500 individual markets (up from just 30 markets in 2009) in 35 countries. It also has more than 50 million subscribers, an increase of 2,500 percent from where it was a year ago, and revenues that are said to be in the $2-billion range annually — although the company doesn’t keep all of that money, since it shares revenue with the retailers whose offers it sends to subscribers.

Another thing that Groupon has, however, is competition — and potentially lots of it. Google, for example, is likely to be focusing its energies on building its own Groupon-style connections with local merchants in the wake of the company’s rejection of its takeover bid. Long-time Google executive Marissa Mayer has taken over responsibility for the company’s local efforts, among other things, and while the search giant may try build its own local powerhouse from Google Place Pages and Hotpot and so on, there is also a chance that it might acquire one of Groupon’s competitors as well.

On top of Google presenting a competitive threat, there is also Facebook, which has experimented with Groupon-style discounts via Facebook Places, and could quite easily leverage its 600-million-user reach to compete with the company if it wanted to. And then there are competitors such as LivingSocial, the second-largest group-buying player, which recently got a $175-million investment from Amazon — another company that has the deep pockets and the reach to compete with Groupon — and Tippr, which has a white-label platform that allows merchants and website publishers to run their own Groupon offers, with Tippr handling all of the back-end and support.

The money the company has raised definitely elevates co-founders Andrew Mason and Eric Lefkofsky into the startup stratosphere (a chunk of the funding was used to compensate executives and investors who got in earlier, according to a securities filing a little over a week ago, including the two founders and a board of directors that includes ex-AOL executive Ted Leonsis and 37signals founder Jason Fried). But it also increases the pressure on Groupon to prove that it can carve out a long-term business amid escalating competition, and that it isn’t just the flavor of the month. Read more at gigaom.com

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/g80eG5

Related articles

• Groupon Raises $950 Million [CONFIRMED] (mashable.com)

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Does Social media marketing really work with B2B?

The question below was posted by Jennifer j on LinkedIn. I was not surprised that the two answers were positive based on the industries they are in.

I would like to know how effective it has been for you in your industry?

Pierre Rattini, CCO, BiZ BuZz MeDia
http://bizbuzzmedia.net

Amplify’d from www.linkedin.com

Marketing Assistant at Backup Direct

Is Social Media a valuable Business Tool for you with regards to building B2B relationships? What do you consider to be a business relationship? Regular exchanges? Is it enough to chat or should it amount to a sale?  ...How would you measure your ROI? Location specific: United Kingdom posted 1 hour ago in Customer Relationship Management

In my industry social media sites such as linkedin are invaluable tools in building relationships and networking. I would estimate that 60% of my revenue comes from an introduction or search from a social media site. Not all contacts result in revenue or as you put it a sale - however the network and connections gained often result in referrals which do generate alpha. In terms of the return on investment majority of the social media sites are free and allow you access to thousands of users where you can advertise, inform and survey numerous people at the click of a button from your office or home. In short social media sites are pivotal in modern business relationships.

Search and Selection Consultant

Jennifer J.

Director, B2B Marketing at SnagAJob.com

Yes social media is certainly valuable in the B2B market, but only as a part of an integrated program. Despite the hype, is it's the variety of connections that ultimately make a sale. Think more about the customer and how you can help them along the buying cycle, and less about an individual marketing execution. Your buyer will go through stages before making a purchase decision like: Identify Need Research Solutions Develop Provider Short List Evaluation of alternatives Social media is great at the beginning with Needs Development and Research, but other traditional methods including close integration with your sales team can handle the balance Ultimately the goal of social, and other content marketing should be to start them on the process and get them to include your company on the consideration list. Read more at www.linkedin.com

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/gS89Ep

Related articles

• Does Social Media Make Sense for B2B Companies? [Marketing Cast] (hubspot.com)
• Social Media is a Give and Take Relationship (marketingconversation.com)

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Is this you? Show me a tool to brand my business using Social Media marketing?

Are you confused about Social Media Marketing?


Is this you?

• Branding my business via Social media marketing is a goal of mine. 
• Finding prospects and starting a conversation using social media is a goal of mine
• I want a tool that is easy to use and effective.
• I want to do this myself.

If so check out the Social Media Dashboard video below and here is some of what it can do.

Social Media Marketing Dashboard

• Link Branding
• Geo Targeting and Reply Campaigning
• Tweet and Update Scheduling
• Plus more

I have been using Version 2 and am very excited to get the updated features in version 3. See you on the MarketMeSuite Side.

Pierre Rattini
BiZ BuZZ MeDia
http://bizbuzzmedia.net

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