VerticalResponse Acquires Roost™; Adds Leading Social Media Technology Platform to Lineup of Marketing Tools for Small Businesses

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- VerticalResponse, a leading provider of self-service marketing solutions for small businesses including email marketing, online surveys, event marketing and direct mail marketing, today announced its acquisition of Roost, a privately held social media marketing technology company based in San Francisco. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Effective immediately, VerticalResponse users can now sign up to create, schedule, manage and measure their social media marketing campaigns from one convenient dashboard. The service is free, and VerticalResponse customers can learn more and sign up at http://www.verticalresponse.com/introducing-roost.

Now with robust social media campaign deployment and management as part of its portfolio, VerticalResponse offers all the tools small organizations and non-profits need to help keep and acquire new customers through engaging, opt-in communications.

"This is the first acquisition for VerticalResponse in the nearly 11 years we've been in business, so it's a truly exciting time for us," said Janine Popick, VerticalResponse CEO. "The number of our customers who share their email marketing campaigns with their social networks has increased over 1,400 percent since the beginning of 2011, so it's clear that small businesses understand the power of social media. Now with Roost's social media marketing tools, they can take their customer engagement efforts to the next level."

Roost's proprietary technology solves the nagging problem all small organizations face when thinking about social media: "What do I post and when do I post it?" The tools take the guesswork – and time commitment – out of social media marketing, enabling users to:

• Create, schedule and publish Facebook and Twitter campaigns from one place, in just 20 minutes per week.
• Choose what to share from free suggested content, solving the problem of "What to post?" Libraries of suggested content are based on the user's industry, ranging from hospitality to real estate, as well as interests, such as health, entertainment or technology.
• Create a custom content calendar, for higher audience engagement.
• Get a unique score based on social engagement, to see how well campaigns are resonating with followers.

"We couldn't have asked for a better, more complementary partner than VerticalResponse," said Alex Chang, Roost CEO. "We built Roost with the simple goal of making social media marketing easy for small businesses. VerticalResponse is all about helping small businesses succeed through smart, affordable marketing. By joining forces, we aim to provide the most comprehensive suite of marketing tools that they can start using right away."

Following the acquisition, Chang will serve as Vice President, Social Platform. Roost employees will fill various positions within the VerticalResponse organization and focus on growing social media marketing for small businesses.

In the upcoming months, VerticalResponse plans to announce:

• New, deeper integration between social media and email marketing, all from one interface.
• Even more robust reporting to measure performance.
• New features to listen, monitor and respond to audiences.
• The inclusion of more social networks.

"We treat our email promotions like events, in the sense that we try to build a lot of social media activity around them," said Peter Dziedzic, owner of skoah Boston, a skin care company and spa in Boston's trendy South End neighborhood. The company currently manages its email marketing campaigns through VerticalResponse and uses Roost for all planned social media communications. "Being able to launch an email promotion and pre-plan our social media efforts around it, all at once from one platform, will make things so much easier."

ABOUT VERTICALRESPONSE
VerticalResponse Inc. provides a full suite of Web-based, self-service marketing solutions for small businesses including email marketing, social media, event marketing, direct mail and online surveys. Its mission is to empower small businesses and non-profit organizations to easily and affordably create, share and analyze their own marketing campaigns. Users can benefit from a wide variety of features including more than 700 free email marketing templates; the ability to create, schedule and publish content over social media networks; and robust reporting so that they can understand campaign success. VerticalResponse is headquartered in San Francisco, Calif. For more information visit www.verticalresponse.com, and connect on Twitter at@VR4SmallBiz and Facebook at www.facebook.com/verticalresponse. Learn more about Roost's social media marketing tools for small business here and by following @Roost.

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Janine Popick
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SOURCE VerticalResponse