• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, August 8, 2013

Filling a seat left vacant for over a year, social media marketer Shift on Thursday is expected to name Facebook alum Paul Ollinger as its new president.

As president, Ollinger says he will be responsible for scaling Shift’s business by identifying new opportunities for growth, and winning new customers.

“The biggest challenge is capitalizing on the massive opportunity that we have in front of us,” Ollinger said on Wednesday. “We firmly believe that we have a chance to disrupt billion dollar companies, such as Salesforce.”

Ollinger has served as an advisor to Shift since 2011, and was most recently Facebook's Western regional vice president of sales.

Last year, Facebook named Shift as one of a number of “strategic” partners within its Preferred Marketing Developer program, which helps brands navigate a crowded field of social marketers. Top clients include L'Oréal, Toyota, Kraft, American Express, Nissan, Sony and Ford.

One of 13 top Facebook ad partners, Shift is riding a wave of popularity in social marketing services, which have been ripe for acquisition and investment. Just this week, Facebook ad partner Brand Networks said it was taking $68 million in financing from private-equity firm AEA Investments. Last year, Buddy Media sold to Salesforce.com and Vitrue was acquired by Oracle, for $736 million and $300 million, respectively.

Formerly named GraphEffect, Shift itself has experienced a strong year. In 2012, it generated somewhere between $40 million to 50 million, up from $12 million in 2011, a company representative recently told Online Media Daily.  

As for 2013, the rep said: “We are not releasing exact numbers, but we have consistently grown our business [400%] year over year, and this year will be our highest growth year to date.”

In early June, Shift relaunched its GraphEffect service, which helps brands execute real-time campaigns on Facebook and Twitter. Among other changes, the newly named Media Manager offers budget notifications to track campaign spending, and new sharing tools.