HispanicBusiness

A UK company spin-off that helps small and medium businesses use social media to market themselves has relocated to Cambridge after securing $1.1 million from a Boston venture capitalist.

MarketMeSuite, an affiliate of London-based Pie Dog Media Ltd., moved to the Cambridge Innovation Center after realizing the commercial advantages for local tech startups.

The Boston area "proved itself to be the ideal new location for our headquarters," said CEO Tammy Kahn Fennell. "Its vibrant, creative and technically charged atmosphere is the right environment for us to continue growing our product, company and community of users."

MarketMeSuite has more than 30,000 users, 70 percent of whom log in daily to access their Inbox for Social, a dashboard that helps them manage their existing social connections, Twitter feeds and Facebook and LinkedIn posts and turn them into sales leads, Kahn Fennell said.

Inbox for Social also enables users to uncover opportunities outside their current network by searching social channels, identifying people who are talking about topics related to their business and then opening a dialogue with those people, she said.

David Gerzof Richard, professor of social media marketing at Emerson College, said there are many Web companies, including HootSuite and Newton's SocialMadeSimple, that offer similar services to MarketMe.

"There may be some features that they're offering that are different, but similar companies have been around for a while," he said. "The tools they offer are definitely helpful -- to see a discussion happening about your brand and be able to jump in on it."

Jeff McCormick of Saturn Partners, the venture capitalist funding MarketMeSuite, acknowledged that social media marketing is a growing area, and it's difficult to predict who the winners will be.

"But we clearly think MarketMeSuite has a vision for differentiating itself from other players in the market," McCormick said. "Its execution and performance will ultimately decide."