Salesforce.com has agreed to acquire social media marketing platform Buddy Media for $689 million (£447 million), the companies announced on Monday.

Salesforce, which provides cloud-based sales-management software, is buying Buddy Media to bolster its social media offerings. The transaction is expected to close during Salesforce's fiscal third quarter ending 31 October.

Buddy Media, founded in 2007, works with customers to build campaigns on social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. The company provides a platform for advertisers to publish content and measure the effectiveness of their social media efforts. Buddy Media currently has more than 1,000 clients, which Salesforce will now have access to, including global brands such as Ford, Hewlett Packard, L'Oreal, and Mattel.

The purchase follows Salesforce's multi-million pound acquisition of Radian6, a company that helps businesses measure their effectiveness on social media sites. In a statement, Salesforce said it plans to combine Buddy Media with Radian6, a move that will allow the company to deliver "the first comprehensive Marketing Cloud that will allow customers to listen, engage, gain insight, publish, advertise and measure social marketing programs".

Social media has caused the biggest transformation in marketing since "the Mad Men era", requiring marketers to completely re-vamp their strategies, Marcel LeBrun, senior vice president of Salesforce Radian6, said in a statement.

"By bringing together market leaders Radian6 and Buddy Media, we are doubling down on the Salesforce Marketing Cloud to provide CMOs with the ability to manage the entire social marketing lifecycle", he added.

Salesforce in December unveiled the Radian6 Social Marketing Cloud. The offering lets customers monitor the Internet community and "effectively join conversations" Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, said during a keynote at New York's Cloudforce Winter conference.

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