How mobile could be used to monetize social commerce?

Armchair analysts have been fast to criticise the business and raise their eyebrows knowingly at the slight drop in share price, remarking at the impact it must be having on poor old Zuckerberg’s honeymoon. Poor old Mark, who managed to get one seventh of the population (yes – the entire population – not just those already on the internet) onto his platform in around seven years. Users even love the platform to such an extent that if one thing changes, there is an uprising with dedicated groups (on Facebook I might add) campaigning against its roll-out.

Anyone in technology knows there are a few gold stars when it comes to valuation – millions of users with a scalable platform to support them and the data they provide. Facebook is positively drowning in them all. But how could it scratch those two mobile and commerce-shaped itches, constantly held-up as chinks in its business plan? What might happen if others follow General Motors in dismissing Facebook advertising as irrelevant and without influence? If even more of its users shift to mobile as the primary interface, what does the future hold in terms of revenues?

We know that Facebook has data. I am single – serve me a dating ad. I ‘liked’ a baby brand – serve me a formula ad. I am tagged looking a bit follically challenged, I get served a hair transplant ad. General Motors and its supporters have all been quick to slate the relevancy of these ads in terms of influencing a purchase decision. What we do know, is that a friend’s recommendation is much more influential than any advert, no matter how ‘targeted’. If I ask my friends on Facebook for a jewellery recommendation or where I should take my wife for dinner on Friday or what indeed is the best hair restoring treatment on the market – it is those answers that will influence my next move.

But how can you monetise that? That would be social shopping in its truest sense. If I as a ‘jewellery’ expert get a percentage kick-back for every bracelet sold based on my recommendation on Facebook and kudos for my expertise, everyone is happy. I am happy, my friend with the new bracelet is happy, the jewellery company made a sale and Facebook makes a percentage. Making all its users affiliates make sense for a brave new Facebook ecosystem. Likewise – communicating what my friends are buying will have an influence over my choices. If I get a note in my feed that seven of my friends have bought the recent Sherlock movie for example, I am probably going to buy it myself.

For direct brand-to-consumer selling, the process has to be much simpler. At the moment, Facebook is a ‘see now, buy later’ platform. I can be a fan of a brand, ‘like’ them and interact with them through competitions etc. But I cannot buy directly from Facebook’s platform – I have to leave and go to the retailer website or go in-store. This inherent disconnect is another hurdle that the consumer has to jump in order to make a purchase and with every hurdle, there are those that simply won’t jump over it. Our instant mobile checkout changes that picture. Mobile Money Network has already had success with Liam Gallagher’s Pretty Green fashion label by turning Facebook into a ‘see now, buy now’ platform. We know that enthusiastic fans want to buy in the social environment.

So what to do with mobile? A device that is never more than a metre away from us and ‘checked’ over 200 times a day. Mobile ads, as they are today, can’t work with Facebook which means there is currently no mobile revenue opportunity. If they are not properly targeted, a Facebook mobile ad is like a sandwich board being thrust in your face at a dinner party. However, if Facebook can tap into its almost incomparable data (and bring in a few more sources), trusted brand and enviable usage, it has a huge opportunity. It can take advantage of the fact that the device is always with me, connected to my friends and, as importantly, connected to my environment – where I am, where I have been, where my friends are, what’s going on and what the weather might do. If it can link together these data points, there is real potential influence my decision-making – a friend with advice wherever I go. If they can allow that influence to convert to an instant purchase on the go, even better.

There are very few people who could teach Zuckerberg how to suck eggs (or write code for that matter) and I certainly wouldn’t profess to be one of them. But I would hope that once the IPO storm clouds clear, Facebook sees its opportunity clearly – to make money from what it is already so brilliant at – connecting people and enabling conversations and influence wherever they are across the globe.

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