Google has bought Kiwi-founded social advertising company Wildfire for a reported US$250 million.
Victoria Ransom and Alain Chuard started Wildfire four years ago as a New Zealand-based adventure travel company.
Looking to give away a free trip to their fans on Facebook, the couple decided to create an application.
The software they developed has helped them build a 350-strong company now based in the Redwood City, California.
Widlfire announced the news today in a company blog.
"Today we are about to start a new chapter of our story and we couldn't be more excited to share the news: Wildfire is joining Google!
"We truly could not think of a more perfect home for Wildfire."
A Google blog said "with Wildfire, we're looking forward to creating new opportunities for our clients to engage with people across all social services. We believe that better content and more seamless solutions will help unlock the full potential of the web for people and businesses."
The Wall Street Journal said Google had acquired the company for an as yet undisclosed price but its sources were confident of a figure around US$250 million.
Wildfire helps companies promote themselves through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
The company states on its website that it has over 16,000 clients, including 30 of the top 50 global brands.
The Wildfire blog said the company would operate "as usual" and there would be no changes to its service.
What's one way you have used automation to make your business more money?
When we run email promotions, our order forms automatically redirect customers to different upsell offers based on their previous purchases. For example, different segments of our email database will see an offer for product X and other segments will see an offer for product Y, depending on whether or not they have purchased the product yet.
We offer print services and have software that will automate the entire ordering process. It works well for us because we don't need to pay a sales rep to take orders â€" it's just free money!
Once a prospect opts in anywhere on any of our sites, we have set up email autoresponders to continue the conversation and build the relationship. These emails vary from free offerings to upsells to paid products. Every message they receive, however. is in alignment with whatever they initially signed up for. It creates an opportunity to build the know, like and trust factor and increase sales.
One of the additions to my business that have made us more money is to ask people to share our free stuff. This allows us to reach more people, and also be a more valuable provider at the same time. It also makes sense that if someone enjoyed some of our work, their friends will too.
We used Amazon Mechanical Turk to sort out and categorize hundreds of thousands of sales leads. It's a huge time saver and a boost to your sales.
Even when followup with a lead or client should not be automated, the triggers can be. By setting reminders and automating the message, it cuts the time it takes to reach out. Smart CRMs with task notifications trigger emails containing the lead name, email, phone number and details regarding the conversation, making it easier to enable personalized followup.
My business collects a traveler's information through a contact form (powered by Wufoo) on the homepage. Based on the data, Wufoo triggers an email to send to a specific list on my Mailchimp account. Because this happens automatically, it saves me time, money, and increases the response rate of tourism agencies, resulting in more booked tours and more money for my business.
I have a step-by-step direction manual for every position in my company. Therefore, it becomes easy for employees to know exactly what they need to do for effectiveness in their position. Also, it has reduced the learning curve when new employees are on-boarded, which adds more money to my bottom line quicker.
If you find yourself doing the same things over and over again, then you can probably write it down, teach someone how to do it and outsource it. As an entrepreneur, you should only be focused on things that cannot be trained, documented or done by someone less skilled. If you find your self doing those types of tasks you should outsource the solution and make it automatic.
Most banks and invoicing software allow you to automate almost every task, and while this may not make your business more money, it will certainly free up your time to focus on the tasks that do make your business money. If you bank or invoicing software doesn't allow you to automate a process, it's time to look for a new provider.
We experience the best success when we compliment automations with a human touch. Instead of simply sending an automated email for example, we program our CRM to schedule phone calls for our sales department before and after emails are sent. From our clients' perspective, it's like we're saying: “We're sending you an email,†“Here's that email,†a “Did you get that email?,†Works like a charm!
Our sites functionality is largely based upon the social aspects of sharing links online. To improve our user retention and return rate, we implemented automatic transcriptional emails that alert users anytime someone follows them, likes their content, or leave them a comment. We have seen an increase in traffic and ad impressions since its implementation.
We've had QR codes, billboards, and Internet ad banners, but they were all limited to a short message. FYIcode, a new service that provides audio information for those on the go, seeks to build something that will bridge the gap that exists between a prospective customer and the information that he or she seeks.
As a small business owner, you carefully guard your online reputation. You devote large amounts of time to maintaining your Facebook and Twitter accounts and you wouldn't dream of posting anything the slightest bit unprofessional. Sure, you may follow the goings-on of the Kardashians avidly in your spare time, but why would you post about it on your business account?