Tech Giants Oracle and Salesforce Invest in Social Marketing Firms
In recent months, a notable trend has emerged in the tech industry, with enterprise IT giants such as Oracle and Salesforce.com acquiring companies to bolster their marketing technology arsenals. This surge in acquisitions is driven by the growing importance of social media analytics and marketing integration in today's digital landscape.
One such acquisition is Oracle's agreement to acquire Collective Intellect, a real-time text-mining and social analytics technology provider. Collective Intellect's technology allows for 'open ended' analysis of social media content, providing valuable insights for businesses looking to engage with their customers more effectively.
Oracle isn't alone in this endeavour. Salesforce.com, another tech titan, has announced its intention to buy Buddy Media for $689 million. Buddy Media offers a suite of services that allows businesses to create content for Facebook profile pages and measure user engagement. With this acquisition, Buddy Media will sit alongside Radian6 in Salesforce.com's 'Marketing Cloud' offering.
Salesforce.com got into the social media monitoring space with its acquisition of Radian6 in March last year. The likes of IBM and Oracle have also joined the fray, with IBM acquiring email marketing automation provider eCircle and Oracle acquiring social media marketing firm Virtue.
This acquisition spree comes amid growing skepticism over the value of social media as a marketing channel. A poll by Reuters and ipsos found that four out of five Facebook users have never bought a product or service as a result of an advert on the site. US car manufacturer General Motors pulled its adverts from Facebook, stating they had little impact on customer purchases.
The survey also found that users describe Facebook as 'boring' and 'not useful'. A third of Facebook users spend less time on the site than they did six months ago. These findings suggest that businesses may need to look beyond traditional social media advertising to generate sales.
Gartner's global head of research Peter Sondergaard predicted in November last year that by 2012, CIOs will have lost effective control of 25% of their organization's IT spending to the marketing department. This shift in spending patterns underscores the growing importance of marketing technology and the need for enterprises to invest in it.
Buddy Media's customer base includes notable brands such as Ford, Hewlett Packard, L'Oreal, and Mattel. As more businesses turn to social media analytics and marketing integration technologies, we can expect to see further acquisitions in this space.
In conclusion, the acquisition spree in the marketing technology sector is a response to the growing importance of social media analytics and marketing integration. As businesses seek to engage with their customers more effectively and generate sales, we can expect to see continued investment in this area.
Read also:
- Federal petition from CEI seeking federal intervention against state climate disclosure laws, alleging these laws negatively impact interstate commerce and surpass constitutional boundaries.
- Duty on cotton imported into India remains unchanged, as U.S. tariffs escalate to their most severe levels yet
- Steak 'n Shake CEO's supposed poor leadership criticism sparks retaliation from Cracker Barrel, accusing him of self-interest
- Hydrogen Energy: Sustainable Innovation or Resource Exploitation?
