Oracle said Tuesday that it\u2019s arranged to acquire privately held Involver and its social marketing platform on undisclosed terms for its Cloud Marketing Suite.
\nThe deal should close this summer.
\nInvolver claims its licensed platform \u201csupports 700,000 brands and agencies who manage audiences of more than 1.6 billion fans and provides marketers with everything they need to create rich experiences across the social web.\u201d <\/p>\n
That apparently means folks like Toys \u201cR\u201d Us and MTV building Facebook and Twitter pages good across mobile devices and tablets.<\/p>\n
Its widgetry includes Involver SML, a markup language for social media, Visual SML, a drag-and-drop interface, an Audience Management Platform for publishing, monitoring, measuring, and managing social media content across multiple social networks from a central dashboard and a couple of dozen lightweight apps built to help marketers engage their audiences across the social web. <\/p>\n
The company is a Facebook Preferred Developer and a technology provider for Facebook\u2019s internal marketing team that built campaigns for the World Cup and the US elections. <\/p>\n
Oracle said in its announcement that it expects its combination with Involver \u201cto create the most advanced and comprehensive cloud-based social platform across marketing, sales and service touchpoints.\u201d <\/p>\n
Involver\u2019s SML technology is supposed \u201cto extend Oracle\u2019s social platform to help customers more easily and cost-effectively collaborate and build engaging applications and social experiences across their social campaigns and sites.\u201d <\/p>\n
Oracle is currently reviewing Involver\u2019s roadmap to see where it can be exploited and expects to throw more money at it. The five-year-old start-up has gotten where it is on $11 million in venture financing. Oracle will pair Involver\u2019s SML with Java and its Oracle Database services.<\/p>\n
Oracle\u2019s already picking up social monitoring from Collective Intellect and social analytics from Vitrue to compete with Salesforce, which is buying Buddy Media, and Microsoft, which is buying Yammer. <\/p>\n
Oracle says, \u201cCompanies are looking to harness the full potential of social media to increase brand loyalty, connect with potential customers and anticipate buyers\u2019 needs.\u201d<\/p>\n