Salesforce to buy social-media marketer Buddy Media

SAN JOSE — San Francisco cloud-computing powerhouse Salesforce.com Inc. girded itself against assaults by large software companies Monday by announcing an agreement to buy enterprise social-media company Buddy Media Inc. for near $700 million.

Salesforce is in a hurry to build on its offerings as it faces increased competition from Oracle Corp. of Redwood City, Calif., and other software giants. Oracle has been buying cloud-computing companies over the last few months, including RightNow Technologies, Taleo and Buddy Media rival Vitrue.

Buddy Media focuses on marketing through social networks, giving companies tools to manage accounts across multiple social networks during hosting all the software on remote servers, the basis for cloud computing. Salesforce has been ahead of the competition and claims more than 100,000 clients.