As more businesses look to social media for marketing efforts and to drive sales, there is a need for a comprehensive, yet easy to use platform to manage interactions on social networks. Chicago-based startup Sprout Social is launching its social relationship management platform to the public today.

The startup’s platform allows businesses to connect to customers and monitor key metrics and the overall competitive landscape using social media tools. The Sprout Social platform integrates with social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, LinkedIn and Foursquare and includes lead generation, business intelligence, offer and promotion distribution services, as well as brand monitoring and analytics.

Sprout Social, which has been in private beta for the past few months, allows users to manage promotions, contacts and even target new users on social networks. For example, the platform will integrated with Foursquare, showing a business who is checking in the most at a certain venue, which customers are first-time visitors, and more. While in private beta, Sprout Social has over 2000 users of the platform, including social media friendly pizza business Naked Pizza.

While the social CRM space is a crowed arena filled with a number of worthy competitors, including Hootsuite, Radian6 and more; Sprout Social is hoping that a low price point can help differentiate the platform. Sprout Social ranges from $9 to $49 per month. The company recently raised funding from investment firm Lightbank.

Crunchbase

• SPROUT SOCIAL

Company: Sprout Social

Website: sproutsocial.com

Launch Date: 2009

Funding: $11M

Sprout Social allows businesses to efficiently and effectively manage & grow their social presence across channels and turn social connections into loyal customers. The web application integrates with Twitter, Facebook Pages, LinkedIn, FourSquare, Gowalla and other networks where consumers are engaging with businesses and brands. In addition to communication tools, Sprout Social offers contact management, competitive insight, lead generation, analytics and more – all in a package that’s intuitive and easy to use.

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