• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, June 7, 2012

Riding a wave of interest in social marketing platforms, Shoutlet on Thursday is expected to announce another $15 million investment, led by FTV Capital.

 As CEO Jason Weaver explains, Shoutlet is taking a cloud-based, self-serve approach to distinguish itself from larger players in the space. “Marketers are seeing a self-serve platform provide power and flexibility not easily accessible via service-based tool vendors,” says Weaver. “The wave of customers making the change to in-house management has exceeded our wildest expectations and has validated our do-it-yourself model.”

This latest round brings Shoutlet’s total funding to $24.2 million in outside investment, having previously received $9.2 million in Angel, Series A, and Series B rounds.

Weaver declined to talk revenue at this stage, but insisted that year-over-year growth is greater than 200%.

In recent months, meanwhile, Shoutlet has added global brands, including Canon, Nokia, Wrangler, K-Swiss, NASCAR, Sandals Resorts, to its roster of some 400 customers.

Shoutlet helps marketers publish, “engage” and measure social marketing campaigns and activities on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Larger companies that offer similar services are currently in high demand. Salesforce.com just agreed to buy social media marketing firm Buddy Media for nearly $689 million in cash and shares, less than a month after Oracle agreed to buy rival social marketing firm Vitrue for a reported $300 million.

Analysts don’t see such market consolidation stopping anytime soon.   

“I expect acquisitions to continue,” Melissa Parrish, in interactive marketing analyst at ForresterResearch, predicted in a blog post this week. “When I talk to marketers about their requirements for these [social media marketing] platforms, integrations with other enterprise systems are high on the list.” 

“The two most frequently requested integrations are with an analytics suites, (usually Omniture and Google Analytics) and a CRM system (usually Salesforce; sometimes Oracle and SAP),” Parrish added.

With capital in hand, Shoutlet plans to build out its existing slate of products, including Social Canvas, Social Switchboard, and Social Profiles.

In addition, Weaver hopes to forge additional partnerships and grow staff across all departments, including expanding account management and technical support offices in San Francisco, New York and London.