SocialBro: Influence not numbers key in battle to leverage Twitter for business

Spain and UK-based SocialBro has been set up to help organisations make the most out of social media and Twitter, something which co-founder and CEO Javier Buron believes is key to corporate success.

Javier Buron first found success in the social media world with his Followfriday app, and has now turned his efforts to helping the business community make the most of Twitter.

It was through a desire to find out what kind of followers Followfriday had that led Buron to his new SocialBro business, a venture which provides a wide range of tools for businesses to leverage social media.

Using his mantra of, ‘Twitter is not just broadcasting, it is conversations,’ Buron launched SocialBro in April 2011 and has 35,000 users by September of the same year.

Despite originating in Spain, SocialBro decided to incubate the business at Seedcamp (located in London’s Google Campus). It was a move aimed at integrating the company with sales and marketing strategies found in the UK and getting greater access to the funding that would be pivotal for growth.

With contributions coming from the likes of smartFOCUS CEO Chris Underhill, SocialBro was successful in raising €500,000 in November 2012. Creating a revenue stream has resulted in a premium service which now has 4,000 paying users to go with the 200,000 using its free version.

The initial seed round was then backed up in June when the business turned to UK-based investor Scottish Equity Partners, which joined SocialBro’s existing angels to lead a £1.2 million Series A round.

Buron believes that the power of social media is only just starting to impact on how businesses interact with customers – existing or would-be. Having been billed $4,000 dollars for internet usage while away on business in San Francisco, a quick mention on Twitter from Buron soon had this amount revised down to $300 – a reflection of how much companies are beginning to value social reputation.

Here’s Buron at the Digital Shoreditch Festival giving his insights on ‘How To Generate Revenue From Your Twitter Marketing’.

Hunter Ruthven

Hunter Ruthven

Hunter was the Editor for GrowthBusiness.co.uk from 2012 to 2014, before moving on to Caspian Media Ltd to be Editor of Real Business.

Related Topics

Twitter