Unicorn ambitions are back on the menu now that Hootsuite is set to acquire Talkwalker. Irina Novoselsky, CEO of Hootsuite and Lokdeep Singh, CEO of Talkwalker tell us more.
What goals does Hootsuite hope to achieve in Luxembourg?
Irinia: We are really excited about what’s happening in the social media industry and we think there’s been a huge change coming towards us in the last 10 years, which has been all about FOMO (fear of missing out). Companies are thinking that they have to be on social media because their competitors are on it. And the next 10 years, we’re ushering in this whole new category of social media performance where we want to help our customers unlock the value of social media relationships.
What exactly do you understand by the term ‘social media performance’?
Irina: Social media is one of the last places where brands can have a two-way dialogue with customers. There are 5 billion people spending 3 hours a day on social media, so there’s no other channel where you can get the same kind of talk and response and build relationships with customers to retain and grow their base.
Social media performance is about creating business impact by developing and understanding the relationship between brands, their social media and their customers. Today’s followers become tomorrow’s buyers, as 70% of customers spend 20% more on the brand the more they interact and engage with said brand.
With Talkwalker and Hootsuite combined, we can tell you the future of how people will respond to your product before you launch it. We can tell you how well your campaign is going to do. Together, we will turn relationships into business impact and value.
What convinced you that this acquisition was the right move for Talkwalker?
Lokdeep: First of all, we have been partners, great partners, for about seven years or so. So we knew each other, we knew the products, and we knew the customer base as well. But I would say a few reasons. First for us to be able to serve our joint customer base in a better way with a better product in the category of social media performance. Second to become more competitive. We are absolutely the best when it comes to deriving insights from social media but at the same time, the market is moving in a direction where you need to be part of a robust end-to-end platform. So getting together with Hootsuite gives us that. Lastly, I realised that Hootsuite is the perfect fit for our employees from a cultural perspective.
“Irina is a big believer in building a unicorn and with the necessary changes made we can safely say that this ambition is back again.”
Lokdeep Singh, CEO of Talkwalker
What can you tell us about the timeline for closing the deal and getting established in Luxembourg?
Irina: We’re waiting for regulatory approval but we’re hopeful to get it done in Q2. In the meantime, we are working on integrating Talkwalker into every aspect of the Hootsuite platform and customer journey. Luxembourg is a key part of our journey as we have a big part of our employees here with many great product managers and engineers that we will continue to invest in and hire.
In your press release you mention that you plan to build a “social media engine”. Does this mean you will be building a new product or just integrating two already existing tools?
Irina: Yes and yes. Our new platform will bring to the market something that nobody has. We plan on putting fuel on that fire and really driving that social media engine mentality of how we help our customers drive performance from social media by building relationships.
Lokdeep, when you took over Talkwalker there was a lot of talk about making it into a unicorn. Are you leaving these ambitions behind now that you’ve been acquired by Hootsuite?
Lokdeep: I think this ambition is back and this time in a more sustainable way. Irina is a big believer in building a unicorn and with the necessary changes made we can safely say that this ambition is back again.
Canadian Hootsuite Acquires Luxembourg Social Listening Scale-up Talkwalker
