Hootsuite Buys Social Listening Firm Talkwalker

Social media management software firm Hootsuite is to acquire listening specialist Talkwalker, for an undisclosed sum.

Previously acquired by global investment firm Marlin Equity Partners in 2018, Talkwalker monitors and analyzes online conversations in real time across social media networks, news web sites, blogs and forums, in nearly 200 languages. Its AI-based Blue Silk Insight app can 'concisely' capture the results of thousands of consumer reviews or surveys in a few sentences; while its 1-Click AI Classifier app enables marketers to draft short descriptions in natural language about the insights they want to categorize, and then instantly classify millions of unstructured social media conversation data sets. The firm has made a number of its own acquisitions in the last few years, including Nielsen's social media TV measurement and audience insights software provider Nielsen Social in 2020, and review management platform Reviewbox a year later.

Hootsuite says it expects the future evolution of soclal media to be fuelled by customer demand, and believes the buy will enhance its mission to help customers unlock the value of their social media relationships: '...businesses will, for the first time, have a social media performance engine to turn insights into action into impact - all fueled by AI'.

The combined company promises clients increased brand awareness, via predictive analytics and social intelligence to get 'a head-start on a cultural trend'; more qualified leads from social through a deeper understanding of audience intent; comprehensive social media listening reach across 100+ social networks and 150 million web sites; and experience AI BlueSilk built specially for social media - all accessed from 'a single control room of insight, action and impact'.

Irina Novoselsky, CEO of Hootsuite comments: 'We have had listening for years. But it was industry standard, just like everyone else's. While that worked then, the industry is entering a new era of social media performance. To achieve this, we're building a social media performance engine, a feedback loop where AI takes consumer data and generates insights for actionable strategies and measurable impact. The combination of social listening's best insights technology, Talkwalker, brought into Hootsuite, will leapfrog the industry into the future of social marketing'.

Pictured is Talkwalker's CEO Lokdeep Singh, promoted to the role from EVP and CPO eighteen months ago.

Web sites are at www.hootsuite.com and www.talkwalker.com .