Mobile commerce efforts may be enhanced with StackMob

PayPal has announced its acquisition of StackMob, a technology development firm with a focus on the mobile sector. The move is expected to improve PayPal’s already considerably presence in the mobile space by giving the company access to innovative tools that have been developed by StackMob. These tools may serve well in PayPal’s ongoing competition in the mobile commerce space. The company is currently vying for the attention of mobile consumers against firms like Square, Google, and Amazon, all of which also have a strong interest in mobile commerce.

Firm shows promise, but lacks financial backing

In 2011, StackMob was able to raise $7.5 million in funding from various investment groups. Despite the firm’s apparent popularity, it had been struggling with raising additional funds through other initiatives. Yahoo reportedly had shown interest in the firm, but did not make a move for acquisition. The firm’s 18 employees will now be incorporated into PayPal, where they will likely work on various mobile projects and help the company compete more fiercely in the mobile commerce field.

Recent acquisitions may give PayPal an edge

PayPal recently acquired Braintree Payment Solutions, which is behind some of the most innovative and popular mobile commerce solutions in the market. Braintree is expected to help PayPal appeal more to merchants and consumers alike with its mobile-centric services and StackMob may be able to augment these services with its expertise and the tools it is bringing to PayPal.

Mobile commerce competition heats up

Competition in the mobile commerce field is quite aggressive. Large companies like Google and Amazon have a strong presence in the sector and are pushing to establish absolute dominance therein. PayPal has the benefit of being tethered to eBay, however, which already has a formidable mobile presence. Backed by recent acquisitions, PayPal may be able to compete with large companies on its own while also providing some benefits to eBay.

This recent addition by the giant network is shining a light on the failures marketers have made in connecting with smartphone users.

A recent addition to the Facebook social media marketing offerings is a new ad format that provides brands with the opportunity to engage with smartphone users once again when they have already previously installed their apps onto their mobile devices.

This also points out a number of flawed ideas that have developed regarding with mobile communications by marketers.

This new step has drawn attention to some of the flaws that have come up in the ways that Facebook social media marketing has been adopted by marketers in order to communicate with their audiences over mobile channels. The new format was designed to help to compensate for the failings in the way that the social network has been used in the past by advertisers.

There remain considerable weaknesses in the use of Facebook social media marketing, particularly over mobile.

The new ad format is designed to help to overcome that problem by giving brands a way to develop a call to action for customers that have already downloaded the brand’s app from within the social network’s own application, but have then stopped using the brand’s app. As there will be a number of different formats available, it will be possible for marketers to direct mobile users on the social network to check out specific features and content from within their own apps.

The point of these new formats is to give brands the chance to obtain a new “second chance” in which they can engage with smartphone users once again after having encouraged them to download their app, but then having failed to keep them interested. This could provide advertisers with a considerable opportunity to communicate with users, or it may simply offer yet another way in which they will miss the point and generate only temporary interest in a brand.

The entire premise behind the Facebook social media marketing attempt is that if it is there, people will come to get it. Though this has many quite excited, there has been considerable skepticism expressed, as well. Only time will tell.