Businesses won’t spend money on social if they don’t understand how it helps them. That’s why Unified‘s social ads buying platform could get a big boost from its acquisition of PageLever, which gives marketers deep insight into the impact of their social strategies. PageLever‘s detailed analysis can show brands what and how often to post on Facebook, and which of those posts to turn into ads.
PageLever was founded in late 2010 by Jeff Widman (a former TechCrunch intern) and David Turner, and it received funding from Y Combinator. I can attest to the quality of its data. The company has long provided me with statistics to help me understand the impact of Facebook’s myriad changes to the news feed. For example, PageLever’s data showed that by making it easier for users to to flag Facebook Page posts as spam, many Pages received many for flags than before. That caused some of them to lose organic reach in the news feed — which sparked a huge debate.
Founded in 2011, Unified offers a variety of advertising services on platforms including Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, YouTube and LinkedIn. It can also use apps to help brands generate word of mouth marketing, connect CRM systems to ads, and measure the success of paid, owned, and earned campaigns. Last year, the company raised $14 million in equity (from Advance Publications) and debt (from Silicon Valley Bank).
All seven of PageLever’s employees will come aboard at Unified, joining the company’s San Francisco and New York offices. PageLever customers shouldn’t see any hiccup in their service, and combined with Unified’s customer base, the two now aid over 300 companies. Unified plans to launch some new products that take advantage of PageLever’s capabilities soon.
The financial terms of the deal aren’t being disclosed. You can read Unified’s FAQ about the acquisition in this PDF.