BOSTON, MA -- (Marketwire) -- 03/12/13 -- Skyword, the leading content production platform, today announced high growth across all key market segments, including business and consumer brands, digital marketing agencies, and media publishers. The company's momentum is fueled by market-wide investments in content marketing, named the top priority for digital marketers for 2013 in a recent industry survey by Econsultancy. The market for production and distribution of branded content is estimated to climb to $77 billion by 2016, according to Forrester Research.

In today's always-on, search-driven world, where Google is claiming more than one billion monthly searches and 75 percent of Americans get their news online, brands and media companies must create compelling content that makes lasting connections with their consumers on a daily, if not hourly, basis. As the need for quality digital content that performs well in search and on the social web expands, navigating the complexities surrounding content strategy, writer recruitment and management, and content creation and optimization becomes increasingly critical. Skyword is gaining strong momentum in the marketplace by delivering the technology and services that organizations need to create targeted, compelling digital content to reach and engage their audiences.

2012 Skyword Growth Highlights

• Skyword drove more than 134 million views from natural search and social media to its clients' properties in 2012;
• Skyword experienced a 300 percent increase in the number of programs on the platform from December 31, 2011, to December 31, 2012;
• Leading brands and media companies on the Skyword Platform include IBM Midsize Insider, United Way Worldwide, Iron Mountain, Rosetta Stone, Cox Media Group, and AutoTrader.com.
• With Skyword for Agencies launching in September 2012, Skyword signed nine agency partners, including Digitas, a digitally led, integrated global brand agency that builds brands for some of the foremost companies in the world.
• Skyword increased its workforce 33 percent from 40 employees as of December 2011 to 53 employees as of December 2012;
• Skyword expanded its executive team with new appointments:
  • David Krohn, Vice President of Sales
  • Patricia Travaline, Vice President of Marketing

Skyword Writer Community Growth

• Total number of available writers on the platform grew from 13,336 at December 31, 2011 to 21,544 at December 31, 2012 -- a 62 percent increase;
• Areas of writer expertise include business and finance, high technology, medicine, science, travel, arts and entertainment, education, health and beauty, and sports, among others.

Commentary

• Tom Gerace, Founder and CEO, Skyword: "The rise and relentless growth of search and social have transformed how people discover new information. This creates tremendous opportunity for brands and media companies to develop core marketing strategies designed to succeed in this new world. Brands, media companies, and agencies face numerous challenges when it comes to creating quality content that succeeds in search and social; they are hungry for innovative technology solutions that can automate and streamline the content creation process. We help organizations capitalize on the improved brand awareness and audience engagement, inherent revenue opportunities, and increased site traffic associated with well-executed content programs."
  
  
• Brian Cox, Director, Web Experience, United Way Worldwide: "As we continued to develop innovative programs, we needed to find a scalable way to share great ideas and capture and manage knowledge from our communities. We chose Skyword's content production platform to help us scale our content program as a core element of our market outreach."
  
  
• Ashley Friedlein, CEO and Co-founder, Econsultancy: "The rise of content marketing has been fueled by the realization that the success of SEO or social media or email marketing -- most forms of marketing -- isn't about 'doing more SEO' or 'investing in social' but is about creating great content that people will want to read, link to, talk about, and share."
  
  

About Skyword
Skyword is the leading content production platform. The Skyword Platform enables brands, retailers, media companies, and agencies to acquire and engage customers by efficiently producing quality content optimized for search and the social web. Skyword for Agencies is an offshoot of the Skyword Platform designed to meet the specific needs of marketing and advertising agencies that manage content programs for multiple clients. Quality content is essential for reaching and engaging consumers today, but the creation process is messy, inconsistent, and immeasurable. The Skyword Platform makes it easy to produce, optimize, and promote content at any scale to create meaningful, lasting relationships with customers. Skyword is a privately held, privately funded company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Investors include Allen & Company, Progress Ventures, Cox Media Group, and American Public Media Group.

Connect with Skyword
Blog: http://www.skyword.com/blog/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skyword
Twitter: @skyword
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/skyword-inc.
Google+: https://plus.google.com/116106239912491759886/post
The Content Standard: http://www.contentstandard.com/

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