Vocus
Encyclopedia
Vocus 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.
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.
, 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.http://www.vocus.com/content/publicrelations.asp 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.
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.
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.
2007: PRWeb announces a partnership with the Associated Press
that would allow PRWeb users to distribute their news to top US news outlets.
2009: PRWeb launches its online news distribution service in the UK.
Application service provider
An application service provider is a business that provides computer-based services to customers over a network. Software offered using an ASP model is also sometimes called On-demand software or software as a service ....
software for public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
, marketing and communications professionals. Their software provides news monitoring and management, social media
Social media
The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...
monitoring and management, press release distribution and reporting and analytics, and includes a media contacts database
Media Contacts Database
A Media Contacts Database is a media database that is specific for people in the media, most commonly journalists. A Media Contacts Database consists mainly of a list of journalists , and the media-type they work for.A Media Contacts database usually contains the following...
. Vocus software is used by more than 4,000 organizations worldwide, and is available in seven languages. Vocus is based in Lanham
Lanham, Maryland
Lanham is an unincorporated community in Prince George's County in the State of Maryland in the United States of America. Because it is not formally incorporated, it has no official boundaries, but the United States Census Bureau has defined a census-designated place consisting of Lanham and the...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, 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.
History
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
Codie awards
The CODiE awards are annual awards issued by the Software and Information Industry Association for excellence in software development within the software industry....
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
Natural language processing
Natural language processing is a field of computer science and linguistics concerned with the interactions between computers and human languages; it began as a branch of artificial intelligence....
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
Help a Reporter Out
Help a Reporter Out is an online service set up for journalists to quickly gather feedback from the public. It is designed to enable journalists to connect with people who have expertise or experience in particular issues, so that the journalists can obtain valuable advice and quotes for articles...
, which connects journalists with potential sources, experts and industry spokespeople.
2010: Vocus launches its Summer 2010 edition, which includes expanded social media monitoring.
Products and services
Vocus sells its software to public relationsPublic relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
, 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
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
. 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.http://www.vocus.com/content/publicrelations.asp 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
PRWeb offers online visibility and publicityPublicity
Publicity is the deliberate attempt to manage the public's perception of a subject. The subjects of publicity include people , goods and services, organizations of all kinds, and works of art or entertainment.From a marketing perspective, publicity is one component of promotion which is one...
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
RSS
-Mathematics:* Root-sum-square, the square root of the sum of the squares of the elements of a data set* Residual sum of squares in statistics-Technology:* RSS , "Really Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary", a family of web feed formats...
feeds and through its website. PRWeb has more than 25,000 customers. Distribution partners include Yahoo! News, Google News, Topix.net, and Excite News.
History
2005: PRWeb expandes its platform with Social BookmarkingSocial bookmarking
Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to organize, store, manage and search for bookmarks of resources online. Unlike file sharing, the resources themselves aren't shared, merely bookmarks that reference them....
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.
2007: PRWeb announces a partnership with the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
that would allow PRWeb users to distribute their news to top US news outlets.
2009: PRWeb launches its online news distribution service in the UK.