• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, April 15, 2015

A social media communications management system from Forbes? Sure, why not! The business magazine turned digital media powerhouse and branding juggernaut is licensing its name and brand to SocialPort, a system created by rFactr to help companies optimize marketing content across different social platforms, with a focus on social selling in B2B marketplaces.

Under the terms of the deal Forbes is also taking a stake in the social media marketing tech company, and the partners will cooperate in promoting and selling the Forbes SocialPort service.

Forbes SocialPort enables B2B sales organizations to create marketing content that is then shared across social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, among others, allowing them to engage potential customers earlier in the buying cycle. In addition to enabling B2B marketers to write, schedule, and publish content across different networks, Forbes SocialPort’s user dashboards provide intelligence and analytics about target markets, plus various metrics to evaluate the success of social selling efforts.

Forbes Media president and CEO Mike Perlis explained: “Forbes SocialPort reinforces our strategy to transform Forbes into more of a global product and tech-driven media company. This agreement will help us drive incremental revenues and will strengthen our technology portfolio.”

Forbes has been licensing its brand to a number of business-related digital services in recent years. Its previous licensing deals include Forbes Digital Commerce, a mobile payments service created and operated by Lotaris, which serves both B2B and B2C industries. However this would appear to be the company’s first foray into media and communications management.