Social marketing company Three Ships Media raised an undisclosed seed round from digital media entrepreneur Jeff Giesea. The company helps corporate marketers leverage social and emerging media to generate leads, promote their brands, and retain customers. It also conducts quantitative analysis on behalf of its clients.
Three Ships Media, based in Raleigh, N.C., has signed more than 30 clients — including numerous Fortune 500 clients, since launching in September 2009. Founder Zach Clayton is a recent graduate of Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar.
Giesea, who founded B2B e-media company FierceMarkets, has been an advisor to the company since inception. He was named non-executive chairman following the investment.
“Social media marketing budgets are forecast to grow more than 30 percent annually for the next four years,” Giesea said. “Three Ships Media is already demonstrating value for customers, and I’m thrilled to support the Three Ships team.” Examples of early results for clients include delivering impressions at 1/5th the cost of Google ads, higher page rankings in Google, and quality leads with a high conversion rate.
“Interruption marketing can only get you so far,” added Giesea. “Social communication has become an essential piece of the marketing mix, and Three Ships is bringing business discipline and know-how to help marketers through the process.”
