The acquisition of Buddy Media by Salesforce comes on the back similar acquisitions by rival companies as they look to deliver on the social CRM in the cloud, with social marketing integration.

Buddy Media provides social marketing and specialised campaign management, with a strong sales pipeline and customer base including Mattel, L’Oreal and Virgin Mobile. The acquisition is expected to be around $800 million.

Carter Lusher Research Fellow & Chief Analyst at Ovum, commented: “it is extremely likely that Salesforce will invest heavily in Buddy Media's R&D and sales force. The Buddy Media brand will likely be retained.”