PostRocket, a startup that helps customers optimize their Facebook posts for maximum exposure and engagement, has announced that it will be shutting down on August 15.
The company was incubated by 500 Startups, and it raised a $610,000 seed round from Polaris Ventures, 500 Startups, and various angel investors. The PostRocket team previously managed the Facebook presence of the musician Pitbull, and it dropped out of Babson College to participate in the incubator.
In an email that was sent to PostRocket customers yesterday, co-founder and CEO Tim Chae wrote: “When we first started PostRocket, we wanted to not only help marketers like you succeed in Facebook marketing, but do so with an exceptional product and service to back it. We were never able to reach the high bar we set for ourselves.”
PageLever, another startup that aimed to optimize Facebook posting strategies, was acquired by social marketing company Unified earlier this year.
Chae said PostRocket customers will have until the 15th to pull their data from PostRocket, and if they’re looking for another product, he recommended that they switch to Facebook’s newly redesigned Page Insights.
Here’s the full customer email:
This is really disappointing to say, but I must inform you that PostRocket will be shutting down its products and services next Thursday, August 15th. When we first started PostRocket, we wanted to not only help marketers like you succeed in Facebook marketing, but do so with an exceptional product and service to back it. We were never able to reach the high bar we set for ourselves. Our product had many issues and even through the down-time and bugs, you stuck with us. We thank you for that.
We should and could have done much better in bringing you a reliable product that expanded as quickly as the landscape of Facebook marketing changed. You will be refunded any of your remaining prorated credits as of today 8/6/13 and will be able to continue using PostRocket to migrate your data or find another provider until 11:59PM PST 8/14/13, at which point all data will be erased and removed.
If you’re looking for an alternative service to migrate to after PostRocket, I *strongly* recommend using Facebook’s all new native Insights product. I would have never recommended using native with FB marketing, but their new product blows any other service out the water. They are rolling out this Insights product and you should expect to receive it in the next few weeks, if you don’t already have it.
Again, thank you so much for being a PostRocket customer. We really do appreciate you believing in us. We wish we could have done better for you.
On behalf of the PostRocket team,
Tim