Sprout Social Goes Local

Social relationship management (SRM) service provider Sprout Social announced today the addition of location-based social media tools to its platform.

Using real-time data generated by popular location based services Foursquare and Gowalla, Sprout Social business users can develop and distribute messages and promotions to customers. Before you ask, integration with Facebook's new Places service is also planned.

According to Sprout Social, its SRM platform - which provides location tools as part of its core offering - has gained over 2,000 business subscribers since its launch in August.

The system itself is rather unique, combining contact management and Web monitoring with integrated, automatic cross-posting to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn-including message scheduling and geo targeting from one integrated Social Dashboard.

"Location-based services like Foursquare and Gowalla are proving to be a phenomenal source of word-of-mouth marketing for local merchants," said Justyn Howard, CEO and co-founder of Sprout Social. "The most successful businesses understand the potential in embracing these tools to engage and grow their customer audience. Sprout Social takes the guesswork out of making social media successful for our customers-and our new location tools are yet another way we're helping them do it."