Sprout Social

Sprout Social, Inc.
Type Private
Founded Chicago, IL (2010)
Headquarters Citadel Center 131 S. Dearborn St, Chicago, IL 60603
Area served Worldwide
Founder(s) Justyn Howard
Aaron Rankin
Gil Lara
Peter Soung
Key people Justyn Howard
Aaron Rankin
Gil Lara
Peter Soung
Industry Internet
Products Social Media Management
Social Media Marketing
Social Customer Service
Social Media Analytics
Employees 180 [1]
Slogan(s) Social Media Management Software for Business
Website sproutsocial.com
Alexa rank Increase1754 [2]
Type of site Social media management
Social analytics
Social CRM
Social media measurement
Users More than 15,000 [3]

Sprout Social is a social media management and engagement platform for businesses. Sprout enables social communication for business through three main functions: publishing, engagement and analytics. Sprout provides solutions for social media marketing, social media management, social customer service and social media analytics. Sprout’s platform offers users the ability to integrate with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+, Zendesk and UserVoice.

Sprout Social was founded in 2010 by CEO Justyn Howard.[4] Sprout is a privately held company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.[5]

History

In late 2009, current Sprout Social CEO Justyn Howard was employed at an enterprise software company and was looking for a tool that would help him use social media to connect with customers. He found that the solutions focused on consumers lacked the business layer that would make social media really work for brands so we decided to build a solution with current Sprout CTO Aaron Rankin, current Creative Director Gil Lara and current Director of Web and Mobile Engineering, Peter Soung.[6]

Sprout Social, Inc. was founded in April 2010. The company raised $1 million in 2010 from Lightbank and a Series B round of funding brought in an additional $10 million from New Enterprise Associates (NEA) in February 2011.[7][8]

In November 2011, Sprout launched S2, the second edition of the platform which is basis of the current model. This edition included personalized dashboards tailored to each user’s specific social media responsibilities, multi-user support, iPhone functionality, several integration options for strategic partners and other features.[9][10]

In May 2012, Sprout partnered with Zendesk to allow social media support teams to create, track and manage support issues from inception to resolution without leaving the social media dashboard.[11]

In July 2012, Sprout became one of Facebook’s Preferred Marketing Developers.[12] Twitter added Sprout to its list of certified products in November 2012, making the company the sixth product to be certified for engagement and analytics.[13][14][15] In May 2013, Google+ Pages were integrated,[16] adding to Sprout's social suite. In December 2014, Sprout added publishing features for LinkedIn profiles.[17]

In June 2015, Sprout added engagement and analytics features for Instagram profiles.[18]

Software Solutions

Sprout Social's web-based application provides users the ability to manage their social profiles from a single interface. Sprout's functions include:

Social Media Management

The Social Media Management function allows users to monitor, respond, measure and collaborate. Users manage communications across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ from one unified stream of messages in Sprout’s Smart Inbox.[19]

Social Media Marketing

Users can create and execute a social marketing plan aimed at driving social referral traffic and increasing brand awareness using the Social Media Marketing function. The Sprout Queue enables users to schedule content while ViralPost technology distributes content at an optimal time. Sprout integrates with both Salesforce and Google Analytics to provide insight into social media campaign ROI.[20][21]

Social Customer Service

The Social Customer Service function enables social users and customer care teams to connect with customers, solve issues and create brand advocates. Sprout’s tasking feature allows users to assign messages to the appropriate team member. The social CRM feature logs all conversation history between the profile and the user. Sprout integrates with Zendesk and UserVoice.[20][22]

Social Media Analytics

The Social Media Analytics function provides audience intelligence and benchmarking capabilities. Sprout’s reports include Group, Engagement, Team, Facebook, Twitter Profiles, Trends, Twitter Comparison and Sent Messages, and incorporates Google Analytics and Bitly tracking.[23]

Culture

In April 2014, Sprout Social was named one of Crain’s Chicago Business’ Best Places to Work as the No. 2 Best Place for Millennials. At that time, 70 percent of the company’s employees were 30 years old or younger.[24] Sprout Social has grown quickly since its founding in 2010, outgrowing its office and moving into 64,000 square feet in Chicago’s Citadel Center in February 2014.[25] Founder Justyn Howard cites “open communication creates progress” as his motto.[4]

Awards

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ http://www.inc.com/profile/sprout-social
  2. ↑ sproutsocial.com Site Overview. Alexa.com (2015-01-09). Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  3. ↑ http://careers.stackoverflow.com/company/sproutsocial
  4. 1 2 3 Justyn Howard of Sprout Social is on Crain's Chicago 40 Under 40 2014 list. Chicagobusiness.com. Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  5. ↑ About Us. Sprout Social. Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  6. ↑ Interview with Sprout Social founder Justyn Howard. DoesWhat (2013-04-22). Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  7. ↑ Sprout Social Gets $10 Million From NEA – Digits – WSJ. Blogs.wsj.com (2011-02-22). Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  8. ↑ Sprout Social snags new funding, continues to shake up social media management. Thenextweb.com (2011-02-23). Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  9. ↑ Sprout Social launches giant new edition of its social media toolkit. Thenextweb.com (2011-11-09). Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  10. ↑ Sprout Social Releases New S2 Edition of Social Media Management Platform. Business Wire (2011-11-09). Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  11. ↑ Sprout Social and Zendesk Team Up. Thenextweb.com (2012-05-08). Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  12. ↑ Facebook Marketing Partners. Facebook-pmdcenter.com. Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  13. ↑ Twitter Adds Sprout Social To Elite List Of Certified Products. Business Wire (2012-11-13). Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  14. ↑ Twitter Knights Sprout Social. Thenextweb.com (2012-11-13). Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  15. ↑ Eaton, Kit. (2012-11-13) Having Already Wooed Facebook, Sprout Social Now Gets Twitter Love, Too | Fast Company | Business + Innovation. Fast Company. Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  16. ↑ Sprout Social Introduces Google+ Pages API Integration. Business Wire (2013-05-21). Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  17. ↑ Team, Product. (2014-12-17) Publish to Your LinkedIn Company Pages. Sprout Social. Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  18. ↑ http://thenextweb.com/apps/2015/06/26/sprout-social-introduces-instagram-integration-to-its-platform/
  19. ↑ Pros, Cons of Sprout Social for Social Media Management. Practical Ecommerce. Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  20. 1 2 SMToolbox: Manage Your Social Media with Sprout Social. Social Media Today (2014-02-23). Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  21. ↑ 10 Questions to Ask When Measuring Your Social Media ROI. Entrepreneur.com (2015-03-18). Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  22. ↑ Sprout Social Helps Brands Improve Customer Service – 'Net Features. Website Magazine. Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  23. ↑ Social Media Tools Review: Sprout Social. Peakinboundmarketing.com (2014-08-26). Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  24. ↑ Subscription Center. ChicagoBusiness.com. Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  25. ↑ Subscription Center. ChicagoBusiness.com. Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  26. ↑ http://www.inc.com/profile/sprout-social
  27. ↑ http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/sales/awards/426_2281_25576.cfm
  28. ↑ Best Social Media Management Tools: Spring 2015 report. About.g2crowd.com (2015-03-18). Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  29. ↑ The Hubbies | The Hub Convene | Tech Events | The Hub. Thehubcomms.com. Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  30. ↑ WOMMA on Twitter: "Congratulations @SproutSocial on the Silver Social Media Monitoring Implementation #WOMMY for Sprout Social + @TechSmith". Twitter.com (2014-11-18). Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  31. ↑ Subscription Center. ChicagoBusiness.com. Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  32. ↑ Subscription Center. ChicagoBusiness.com. Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  33. ↑ Crain's Chicago's Coolest Offices of 2014. Chicagobusiness.com. Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  34. 1 2 The Techweek100 – the most influential people and organizations in technology. Techweek.com. Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  35. ↑ 8 Coolest Tech Offices in Chicago. Built In Chicago (2014-03-05). Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  36. 1 2 And the 2014 Moxie Awards go to.... Built In Chicago (2014-06-21). Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  37. ↑ ITA. Illinoistech.org. Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  38. ↑ The 2014 Top 100 Digital Companies in Chicago. Built In Chicago (2014-11-02). Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  39. ↑ The 15 Best Startups To Work For. Business Insider (2013-10-08). Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  40. ↑ 2013 Winners | Social Media Awards. Socialmediaawards.ca. Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  41. ↑ ITA. Illinoistech.org. Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  42. ↑ The Moxie Awards 2015 | Celebrating The Best in Chicago Tech. Moxieawards.builtinchicago.org. Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  43. ↑ Brill Street Announces Top 50 Employers for Gen Y Emerging Talent in Chicago – CHICAGO, Dec. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/. Prnewswire.com (2013-12-17). Retrieved on 2015-05-18.
  44. ↑ http://www.builtinchicago.org/blog/top-100-digital-companies-chicago
  45. ↑ http://www.businessinsider.com/the-30-most-creative-social-media-marketers-ranked-2013-7
  46. ↑ http://old2.illinoistech.org/page.aspx/clhistory
  47. ↑ http://www.builtinchicago.org/2012/06/22/congratulations-moxie-award-winners
  48. ↑ http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20111001/PAGES/110929913/crains-tech-25

External links

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