• by May 19, 2011

For six months since its launch late last year, Tel Aviv-based tracx has been "eating our own dog food," according to Asaf Shtekler, vice president of business development and marketing. In other words, all the firm's marketing and promotion has been done through social media and word-of-mouth -- areas that should come naturally to a start-up specializing in social media management.

Today, tracx's soft launch ends. Shtekler told Online Media Daily that initial clients using the company's system include Microsoft, the Financial Times, Publicis ad agency BBH London, New York-based social media agency Attention USA, holding company MDC Partners and Omnicom PR agency Porter Novelli.

With such results, Shtekler said, the company -- formed three years ago and now with 25 employees -- plans to expand with the opening of a New York office during the next quarter.

The public unveiling of the tracx system comes as it announces the addition of a content distribution and analytics module to its social media management system. The new module allows advertisers and agencies to distribute content -- and monitor all relevant mentions across multiple channels, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs. Previously, tracx could only track specific campaigns on specific channels.

The addition gives the tracx system soup-to-nuts social media capabilities -- starting with planning and moving on to execution, real-time monitoring, and finally, analytics.

How does tracx differ from other social-media tools out there?

"We differentiate between what is a mention that stays a mention, and what is one that starts a conversation," said Shtekler. He said tracx also has the ability to rank and zero in on key influencers, by looking at the most important conversations of the preceding 24 hours, from both quantitative and qualitative parameters.

As tracx prepares to boost its U.S. presence, Shtekler pointed out that while the firm's European clients are still largely focused on building social media presence and managing communities, American brands and agencies have already integrated social media into their marketing.

Social media ROI, for example, is more important in the U.S. than in Europe, he noted. Other emerging trends include integration with third parties "to bring all data into one place," as well as social ecommerce.