Yesterday, search and display media buying platform company Efficient Frontier acquired Context Optional which the company said “expands Efficient Frontier’s social media offering [and] will combine the company’s advertising campaign management and optimization with Context Optional’s page management platform,” according to the release. Read it.
Efficient CEO David Karnstedt discussed the implications of the acquisition.
AdExchanger.com: Why is this the right time for this acquisition?
DK: Digital marketing is in the midst of a dramatic shift with the explosion of social media — much like we saw with Search 10 years ago. Social media marketing is expected to grow from $2.1 billion this year to $8.3 billion in 2015, according to a study released this week from BIA/Kelsey. Efficient Frontier launched its Facebook ad platform in September of last year and we’ve seen tremendous client interest since then. Additionally, we have been working with Context Optional as a partner as clients have been asking for a joint ad/page management solution so we thought this was a good time to join forces officially.
How does this mesh with your search and display efforts specifically? Or do you consider it a separate product offering?
Efficient Frontier’s overall strategy is to offer our customers cross-channel optimization and attribution. With Context Optional’s social media platform, we expect to further enhance our ability to value conversion events and how customer/ fan messaging and engagement impact customer lifetime value.
Please provide a brief use case that includes the social engagement metrics and insights that a marketer might see with Context Optional as part of the EF platform.
In the EF platform we define and target audience segments. Social engagement metrics include everything from comments to likes/shares as well as metrics specific to application engagement (forms, games, catalogs, etc.). Via our integration with Context Optional we can understand how certain segments are performing against those engagement metrics and tie that back to ad optimization.
Will you be able to tell a marketer what a Facebook fan is worth? If so, with what accuracy – what are the variables?
Fan value is very dependent on marketers goals; are they driving for brand awareness, commerce, leads, loyalty, and service. In combination, our analytics are very comprehensive helping marketers evaluate success against their goals.
What is the cost of Context Optional? How many are on their team and how will they be integrated into Efficient Frontier?
We didn’t disclose terms of the deal. For the immediate future, Context Optional will be managed as division of Efficient Frontier with Kevin Barenblat and Scott Kleper, the two co-founders continuing at the helm. Context Optional’s management will work with the EF senior management in order to find synergies and go-to-market strategies that will grow both businesses. Both companies expect to to hire and invest aggressively to continue accelerated growth.
By John Ebbert
