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Social Marketer Wildfire On Fire

Social marketing platform Wildfire has come a long way since it was founded in 2008. The company, which helps brands market through Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, now has 13,000 paying customers -- more than any company in the space, according TechCrunch. Since the start of 2010, meanwhile, the startup has grown from seven to 300 employees. Still a private company, TechCrunch also estimates the it did between $35 million and $45 million in 2011.

“While 13,000 customers sounds impressive, many of those are low-paying monthly campaign clients, not big SaaS deals like other platforms close,” TechCrunch notes. To build out its lucrative full social media-marketing suite, Wildfire just hired a new CMO in Doug Laird, formerly of QlikTech, SAP, Siebel, and Oracle. A big job for sure, but at least Laird has momentum on his side. Indeed, Wildfire grew revenue by 300% in 2011, while reportedly keeping margins high. International business grew 500% to become 24% of the company’s revenue.

What’s more, as Wildfire tells TechCrunch, 30 of the world’s 50 most valuable brands are now customers, though many only pay for campaigns. Customers now include Electronic Arts, Sony, Virgin Atlantic, Target, Amazon, and even Facebook, which manages over 50 of its own promotional Pages with Wildfire.

 

Read the whole story at TechCrunch »

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