Customer relationship management provider Salesforce.com today announced its intention to acquire social media monitoring technology vendor Radian6.
Radian6’s software allows businesses to track and analyse what people are saying about them on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Salesforce.com says it will integrate that technology in a number of ways. Firstly, it will link Radian6’s into its CRM products, allowing businesses to use social media as channel to both win new customers, and support existing ones, a practice known as social CRM.
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Secondly, it will integrate Radian6 with its Facebook-like collaboration tool Chatter. This, it says, will allow users to follow not only the activities of their colleagues on Chatter, but also any discussions about their business that are taking place on social networks.
Salesforce.com has agreed to pay $326 million for the company, an impressive figure for a five-year-old company.
Privately owned by three venture capital firms, Radian6 does not publish its revenue figures, although CEO Michael LeBrun wrote in December 2010 that sales tripled during the year. Salesforce.com expects the acquisition to add $50 million in revenue in the current financial year.
Earlier this month, Radian6 acquired a UK-based social media monitoring company called 6Consulting. LeBrun said at the time that "the United Kingdom is a strategically important market for Radian6. We have a strong and growing customer base in the UK and we are seeing strong market momentum as many other businesses and agencies adopt listening platforms to engage with their customers on the social web."
