Brick-and-mortar retailers everywhere are trying to find new ways to connect with customers on social networks, most recently highlighted by Starbucks announcing that it plans to begin rewarding Foursquare and Brightkite users with drink discounts at its stores.

Valuevine -- a Snoqualmie startup led by former Jobster executives Neil Crist and James Gallagher -- sees opportunity in this emerging field. And today, the year-old company is unveiling more details about how its service helps help restaurant owners and other merchants connect with social media users who may be nearby.

Though it has kept a pretty low profile until now, Valuevine is adding paying customers at a rapid clip. It is already nearing profitability, with Crist noting that it has landed 10 large enterprise customers and about 250 smaller businesses in the past year.

"We found an early niche where Valuevine can serve as the work flow and approval engine for social media marketing activities," explains Crist. "Local stores then can adopt and send messages and promotions 'anointed' by corporate."

For example, Bad Ass Coffee Company in Hawaii has begun to use Valuevine to coordinate social media marketing activities across their 30 stores. The Valuevine tool helps local store owners connect with customers who may be using Twitter, Facebook or MySpace, with Crist describing it as kind of like a Google alert for social media users.

Furthermore, it allows marketers at the coffee shop to manage all social media campaigns from one account, so the digital coupon promotion or news alert can be easily distributed throughout the coffee company.

Other companies using the service include Seattle Sun Tan and Emerald City Smoothie. On the back end, Valuevine's service is designed to help those retailers discover what promotions are working best on social media channels and what followers are nearby.

Valuevine's competitors include CoTweet and HootSuite, the latter of which is backed with $1.9 million from Hearst Interactive Media, Seattle angel investor Geoff Entress and others. Crist said that those companies are more "brand management focused," adding that Valuevine's focus on promotions makes it stand out.

Valuevine's social media marketing service.