Orem, Utah-based social marketing company GroSocial announced Wednesday that it has raised $450K in a round of seed funding led by Kickstart Seed Fund, with help from Monarch Ventures, Rock & Hammer Ventures, and angel investors. JD Garner of Monarch Ventures, Chris Russell of Rock & Hammer, and angel investor Curt Roberts will be joining GroSocial’s board of directors.
Of course, social media marketing platforms are in no short supply. Quite a few have already staked pretty hefty claims on the market, including Buddy Media and Hearsay Social, among others. Roost recently took up the social-marketing-for-SMBs angle. So what does GroSocial have to offer that others don’t?
“Looking at GroSocial and our Customizer platform, it's pretty easy to take a glance and say to yourself oh, cool...another Facebook tab creator,” CEO Zach Magnum told me. “While there is some truth to that statement, our angle is pretty unique and our feature set is much more robust. We are making Facebook page customization much more affordable.”
Founded in 2009, Magnum (easily the most enviable last name ever) explained that GroSocial’s angle is to take some of the features and functionality that were previously only available through higher-end providers (photo contests, promotions, sweepstakes, etc.), and make it more affordable for SMBs. GroSocial’s prices range from $9.95 to $19.95 a month, compared to $500 to $2000 a month through other services.
Offerings include its flagship product, Customizer, which lets businesses design their own Facebook pages, add widgets, and get analytics; Follower, which builds up a business’s Twitter following; a social media bootcamp; and Swap, which helps businesses pick up fans and followers of other like-minded businesses.
GroSocial currently has more than 20,000 paid and unpaid users and has seen a 135% revenue increase since launching its core product, Customizer, in March 2011. Zach Magnum said that revenues have been climbing at a rate of 16% a month over the last quarter.
The company plans to use the new funds to develop tools for additional social networks and refine its product line.
