LoopFuse, a cloud-based marketing automation software company, has merged with Nearstream, a provider of social engagement software. The combined company, to be called Nearstream, will offer an integrated customer engagement and automated marketing platform spanning the web, email and social networks.

Nearstream scans social networks such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to identify and engage customers based on their intent to purchase. LoopFuse provides marketing automation to manage sales prospects through the buying process – website visitor tracking, email lead nurturing, lead scoring, CRM integration and conversion analysis.

Infusionsoft, a provider of sales and marketing automation software for small businesses, received $54 million in growth capital financing from Goldman Sachs. The funds will be used to ramp up product development, accelerate marketing and sales and to grow its partner and education programs in the U.S. and internationally, according to company officials.

 “We're pleased to welcome new investors who share our belief that successful small businesses are the engine behind the economy,” said Infusionsoft Co-Founder and CEO Clate Mask. “We will use this new funding to further transform the way small businesses grow.”

A recent survey of sales and marketing professionals found that just 16% believe that their teams' activities are fully aligned, and one in 10 respondents say they are not aligned at all.

The Channel Partnership, in conjunction with The Leadership Foundation, commissioned a survey of 1,000 B2B sales and marketing professionals that focused on the nature of relationships between the two organizations. The results, according to The Channel Partnership, suggest that "tensions, misunderstanding and a lack of communication between the divisions are threatening business success."

When it comes to consumer behavior and business marketing on mobile devices, the growth stats are always staggering. Here’s one of the latest, from Pew Internet: 87% of smartphone owners check the Internet or email on their phones, including 68% who do so every day and 25% who say they "mostly go online using their phone, rather than with a computer."

That last number is an important one. “Rather than with a computer” shows that consumer behavior is on a fast track to be the dominant, rather than secondary, content-consumption screen.

Salesforce.com recently issued a set of release notes that offer a detailed preview into the company's planned Spring 2013 update for its CRM platform.

According to the release notes posted to the Salesforce.com web site, the company's Spring '13 update will include scores of new capabilities across a number of platform components. These include previously unannounced upgrades as well as planned changes already announced during the second half of 2012.

If the latest 2012 ad spending numbers are any indication, 2013 is going to be quite a year for mobile marketing.

According to recent eMarketer data, U.S. mobile ad spending grew much more quickly than expected during the last part of 2012. The research organization now expects mobile ad spending to increase 180% this year to $4 billion – much higher than the $2.61 billion previously forecast in September 2012.

2012 was an action-packed year for B2B marketers and for the companies that serve them. Social media, mobile technology and new analytics tools offered both opportunities and challenges. The vendor landscape changed dramatically thanks to a high-profile IPO and major acquisitions. Through it all, B2B buyers continue to rewrite the rules of the marketing game.

All of these trends are evident in Demand Gen Report's roundup of our top stories for 2012. In fact, if there's one common theme linking the following stories, it's that B2B marketers now work in an industry where fast-paced – and often disruptive – change is a fact of life.

Social media has become an integral part of many lives worldwide, and shows no signs of stopping. According to Nielsen’s Social Media Report 2012, online time spent using mobile apps was up 122%. Mobile web time has increased 22%, while PC time experienced a 4% increase.

The report revealed that people spent more of their time on social networks than any other web site type. People were more engaged with these social channels, and businesses have leveraged social media as digital marketing tools.