Type | Public |
---|---|
Traded as | NASDAQ: VOCS |
Industry | Technology |
Founded | 1992 |
Headquarters | Lanham, Maryland |
Key people | Richard Rudman, CEO & Chairman |
Products | Internet software & services |
Revenue | US$84.6 million(2009) |
Employees | 475+ |
Website | www.vocus.com |
Vocus (NASDAQ: VOCS) is a publicly held company that provides on-demand software for public relations, marketing and communications professionals. Their software provides news monitoring and management, social media monitoring and management, press release distribution and reporting and analytics, and includes a media contacts database. Vocus software is used by more than 4,000 organizations worldwide, and is available in seven languages. Vocus is based in Lanham, Maryland, but has offices throughout Europe and Asia. According to the Washington Post index, Vocus is one of the top 125 public companies headquartered in Washington D.C. and its suburbs.
Vocus went public in 2005.
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1992: Vocus is co-founded by Rick Rudman and Bob Lentz.
2005: Vocus' IPO (initial public offering).
2006: Vocus acquires PRWeb, an online visibility service.
2007: Vocus is the first PR software Vendor Awarded 2007 SIIA Codie Award for Best Business Productivity Solution.
2008: Vocus launches its Summer ’08 release, which incorporates video clips into the news monitoring service and natural language processing to help determine sentiment of news coverage.
2009: Vocus launches its Spring '09 release, which features enhanced reporting capabilities, a fully configurable home page, and integrates social media monitoring.
2010: Vocus acquired two software makers to expand its client base in Europe and Asia. It agreed to pay as much as $10.8 million for Riorges, France-based Datapress. It also paid an undisclosed sum for China-based public relations software maker BDL Media.
2010: Vocus acquired HARO, known to its subscribers as Help a Reporter Out, which connects journalists with potential sources, experts and industry spokespeople.
2010: Vocus launches its Summer 2010 edition, which includes expanded social media monitoring.
Vocus sells its software to public relations, marketing and communication professionals to help them engage journalists and social networks, identify online influencers, monitor the effectiveness of their communication programs, and protect and promote their brand. Its software includes five primary components: a media contacts database, news monitoring and management, social media monitoring and management, reporting and analysis, and press release/pitch distribution. The software is sold in various editions based on buyer size and needs.[1] Products are also sold as stand-alone components.
Vocus' also offers an edition of its software exclusively for government relations professionals and political action committees.
PRWeb offers online visibility and publicity to organizations big and small through online press release distribution, which is sold on a per release basis via its website.
PRWeb is a Vocus company, enables companies to generate an online visibility and publicity via online press releases, distributed by PRWeb to major search engines, online news outlets, and journalists and bloggers via RSS feeds and through its website. PRWeb has more than 25,000 customers. Distribution partners include Yahoo! News, Google News, Topix.net, and Excite News.
2005: PRWeb expandes its platform with Social Bookmarking technologies.
2006: PRWeb is acquired by Vocus, Inc., for approximately $28 million consisting of $20.8 million in cash and 494,543 shares of Vocus common stock.[1]
2007: PRWeb announces a partnership with the Associated Press that would allow PRWeb users to distribute their news to top US news outlets.[2]
2009: PRWeb launches its online news distribution service in the UK.