Oracle Corp has agreed to buy cloud-based social marketing platform Vitrue, the enterprise software giant's third cloud-computing acquisition in just five months.

The move comes a day after arch rival SAP AG agreed to acquire cloud-based business and commerce network company Ariba Inc for $4.3 billion. (See: SAP to acquire Ariba Inc for $4.3 bn).

Oracle did not disclose the financial terms of the Virtue deal, but TechCrunch said that the software giant paid $300 million.

Founded in 2006 by its CEO Reggie Bradford, the former chief marketing officer for WebMD, Vitrue offers the industry's most scalable and secure cloud-based social marketing solution, enabling brands to harness the full marketing potential of social links on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube and emerging platforms.

The Atlanta-based company's platform collectively manages more than one billion social relationships in over 100 countries across more than 4,500 social accounts for its clients.

Virtue helps the marketing department of companies to access and update accounts on social networking sites. The company counts McDonald's, Procter & Gamble, American Express, YouTube, AT&T and Best Buy among its clients.

"The proliferation of social media and an increased demand by consumers to engage with brands across multiple social channels is driving chief marketing officers to look for an integrated social marketing platform," said Thomas Kurian, executive vice president, Oracle Development.

"Vitrue's leading social marketing and engagement platform coupled with Oracle's leading sales, service, and commerce products offers a complete social experience solution to our customers," he added.

Along with IBM, Oracle and SAP have recently been acquiring cloud-based software companies in order to offer the popular services to customers.
 
Oracle, with its more complete, tightly linked collection of software, has enjoyed an edge over SAP, which has been feeling the impact and has been looking to acquire the technology sooner to counter Oracle.

Oracle acquired Taleo Corp, a maker of Web-based talent management tools, and RightNow Technologies, a maker of customer-service applications that are delivered over the cloud, while SAP acquired Sybase Inc, a maker of software for wireless internet transactions and web-based software company SuccessFactors.

Cloud software or software as a service, or SaaS, allows companies access services through remote servers maintained by vendors, allowing them to save on server space and use tools through multiple portals, including mobile devices and tablet PCs.