Shoutlet Receives $2M in Series A Funding

Today we're proud to announce that Shoutlet, our social media platform, received $2 million in Series A funding. The funding will allow us to maintain the pace we've set the past several months in terms of sales and development updates.

With exciting new clients added weekly, including companies such as American Family Insurance, Solo, Cannondale, and others, the investment helps us press ahead to accomplish the many goals we've set and help more companies effectively integrate Shoutlet into their social media marketing initiatives for 2010.

The financing was co-led by Origin Ventures and Leo Capital Holdings, both based in Chicago. The statement from Steve Miller, managing director at Origin Ventures, sums up our excitement about the future of Shoutlet:

"Shoutlet is a game-changing technology that empowers brands to market themselves with maximum impact through all major social media outlets. We see tremendous potential for the platform and for Sway, as all companies looking to manage and coordinate their social media Internet marketing are potential customers."

Shoutlet, BlueHornet Announce Partnership

We're excited to announce a partnership between BlueHornet Networks Inc., a leading provider of permission-based email marketing solutions, and Sway's social media communication platform, Shoutlet. We've teamed up to offer the interactive, social features of Shoutlet to BlueHornet clients, with plans to integrate BlueHornet's industry-leading email functionality into the Shoutlet platform.

From today's release:

BlueHornet Networks, Inc., a leading provider of permission-based email marketing solutions and subsidiary of Digital River, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRIV - News), today announced it has joined forces with Sway, Inc., developers of a social media communications platform called Shoutlet. The companies have launched a new joint marketing solution that combines social media communications with targeted email messages.

The solution, which is based on the integration of BlueHornet’s flagship eMarketing Suite (eMS) email marketing solution and Shoutlet, is designed to help marketers identify and engage their brand’s social influencers, track their reach across a wide network of Web 2.0 channels, and send strategically targeted messages geared toward sales conversion. Companies using the new solution have full access to a comprehensive email marketing platform as well as SMS, RSS, podcast, widget and video campaign creation tools, distribution capabilities, and reporting features.

“Bare Escentuals partnered with BlueHornet and Shoutlet to test a combined email and social marketing campaign in support of a new product launch,” said Sarah Wilcox, online marketing manager at Bare Escentuals. “We were pleased with the results. We plan to continue using email and social media together to maximize engagement and increase the ‘share-ability’ of our messaging.”

“We’re excited to offer our clients tools that build strong bridges between their email marketing initiatives and social media strategies,” said Susan Tull, vice president of marketing for BlueHornet. “Thanks to Shoutlet’s social media tracking capabilities and open distribution channels, we can help our clients consistently engage their brand’s social influencers throughout the email messaging lifecycle, making sure they receive and share relevant messages that are proven to increase sales.”

“Email plays a strategic as well as a tactical role in generating results through social marketing initiatives,” said Jason Weaver, CEO of Sway, Inc. “In Shoutlet’s pursuit of ROI-focused social commerce programs, we recognized the need for a partner who could move beyond point solutions and take a holistic view of the relationship between social media and email marketing. BlueHornet stood out for its customer lifecycle management expertise and because its email marketing platform is built completely around the needs of retail marketers.”

Holiday Advertising: When Do Consumers Want It?

A fun post for this Friday!

AdWeek released the results of a poll they conducted on LinkedIn asking individuals "When should marketers begin their Christmas-shopping ads?". The poll yielded 4,055 responses (since August 31, 2009). Here are the results:

42% After Halloween
35% After Thanksgiving
12% Never
8% After Labor Day

Shoutlet Social Sharing Buttons Now Fully Customizable

Social sharing options have become common lately on websites and blogs, with social sharing/bookmarking buttons increasingly visible. For those of us who frequently tweet, share, and bookmark, having a simple way to do this makes our pass-along easy and seamless.
 
That's why we're excited to roll out fully branded share buttons to our licensees. Now the "share this" button provided to a client's website and blog visitors is customizable. Third-party branding no longer conflicts with a website or blog's branding and design.

Companies who use Shoutlet to power social media efforts can enjoy the full functionality of these accessible buttons, including full tracking capabilities, while also adding their own logos to the button.

Below: An example of the branded widget for our company, Sway, Inc. (Or here if you can't see it in your RSS reader.)

TiVo Partnership Brings Content to DVRs through Shoutlet

Today Sway, Inc. announced its partnership wth TiVo. Through Sway's social media marketing platform, Shoutlet, users have the option of distributing video podcasts to TiVo DVRs in a variety of topic categories.

"This relationship provides an extremely efficient and effective way for marketers to get their message directly in front of their audiences, with measurable results -- an important feature, given tough economic times and increased financial accountability in the advertising community," said Jason Weaver, CEO of Sway, Inc. "We are bringing relevant, engaging advertising content to TiVo subscribers and creating a new revenue stream for TiVo."

More details in the press release.