• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, March 10, 2010

Email marketing firm StrongMail said it has launched a new "campaign management application" for social media marketers tabbed Social Studio. Among its aims is to help marketers use social-media channels to find brand advocates, while measuring their effectiveness in carrying forth messages.

"Brands understand very clearly that consumers have surrounded themselves with influencers and the trick is how do you communicate with those consumers, given the fact they're not necessarily as easy a direct target as they used to be," said Ryan Deutsch, vice president of emerging media at StrongMail.

It is critical, Deutsch said, to help marketers scan a database to find the most effective potential ambassadors on the social Web and "really incent them and motivate them to advocate on the brands' behalf" whether on Twitter, Facebook or elsewhere.

Social Studio is marketed as an adjunct to the Social Direct product, which can help launch direct-response efforts in Twitter and Facebook and is in beta testing. StrongMail has moved aggressively into the social media arena after acquiring Popular Media last year.

Social Studio allows marketers to better "target, measure and optimize multichannel" viral social media efforts along with providing analytics capabilities for "reach, engagement and performance -- all while identifying their biggest brand advocates and tracking conversions."

Part of Social Studio helps facilitate the sharing of messages, not just within social media spheres, but via email and on blogs.

Separately, StrongMail said it has a new arrangement with social-media firm Radian6 to track "real-time brand sentiment data" -- including challenges that a brand may be facing with consumers -- which can help marketers modify messages swiftly. The capabilities can be synched with Social Studio.