As you may know, I’m a consulting technology advisor with SBDC TAP. SBDC = Small Business Development Center. TAP = Technology Advisory Program (and sometimes Technology Adoption Program) which runs out of the Silicon Valley SBDC. SBDC has centers all over the Northern California region. TAP serves all of these centers in the region.

I attended the regional meeting today in Berkeley for all of the center directors and advisors in NorCal. When it came time for awards, much to my surprise — I mean, really, I was not expecting this — I received an award for “Excellence in Economic Impact Performance 2011.” Wooot! Apparently I had the highest percentage of clients in TAP that had positive economic performance. That’s nice to know. I’m pleased and proud.

Aside, the best part of the day was that I got to meet so many of the business advisors and directors that I’ve worked with by email and phone for the last four years.

From the Silicon Valley SBDC website:

We’re dedicated to the success of entrepreneurs in the Greater Silicon Valley Area, which includes Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.

The Silicon Valley Small Business Development Center offers a wide variety of services for present and potential small business owners. Our services include no-charge expert consulting, low-cost training, information resources, events and seminars. All consulting services are confidential and free of charge.

For Santa Cruz folks, our local center is Central Coast SBDC, located at Cabrillo College.

These days, using Social Media for marketing is a best practice. In my work with the SBDC TAP program and in working with clients directly, I’ve been helping businesses get started on using Facebook FOR BUSINESS.

Here are examples of some local Santa Cruz Business Facebook Pages:

Bookshop Santa Cruz
Cafe Delmarette (One of my favorites!)
Cruzio, internet provider
Downtown Santa Cruz
Good Times Santa Cruz Newsweekly
Karen Kefauver, sports and travel journalist and social media consultant
New Leaf Market
Santa Cruz  Beach Boardwalk
Santa Cruz Integrative Medicine
Santa Cruz Sentinel
Santa Cruz Weekly
Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History
Sara Isenberg Web Consulting & Project Management
Stone Soup Magazine
The Bicycle Trip
The Penny Ice Creamery
Think Local Santa Cruz

Thanks!
Sara
Website: http://saraisenberg.com
Blog: http://saraisenberg.com/blog
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SaraIsenbergConsulting
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/saraisenberg
Twitter: @saraisenberg

[Note: Scroll down to see the great list of resources/links. Originally posted June 15, 2010. Updated with more resources July 22, 2010. Updated again on December 22, 2010, January 5, 2011, January 14, 2011, February 7, 2011, February 22, 2011, May 17, 2011.]

One of the things I do as a consultant is technology advising with the Silicon Valley Technology Advisory Program (aka TAP). TAP is a program that is part of the Silicon Valley SBDC (Small Business Development Center).

From the Silicon Valley SBDC website:

We’re dedicated to the success of entrepreneurs in the Greater Silicon Valley Area, which includes Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.

The Silicon Valley Small Business Development Center offers a wide variety of services for present and potential small business owners. Our services include no-charge expert consulting, low-cost training, information resources, events and seminars. All consulting services are confidential and free of charge.

I’ve been a Technology Advisor with the Silicon Valley SBDC TAP for two years. Most often what I do is review (“audit”) websites of TAP clients — they’re usually owners of small businesses — and create a written report with recommendations for improvement, and then we discuss the recommendations. I review a wide range of websites!

Recently I’ve been working on creating a Social Media Report with a collection of resources that will help Silicon Valley SBDC TAP clients learn more about Social Media. Note: It’s for Social Media newbies! One of the Appendices that I’ve recently created is chock full of great links for people getting started on Social Media, so I’ve decided to share it here. Here you go!

Social Media Resources (general)

• Mashable’s 150+ Business and Marketing Resources From 2010: http://mashable.com/2010/12/22/business-marketing-resources/

• Mashable’s 10 of the Best Social Media Tools for Entrepreneurs: http://mashable.com/2009/10/26/socia-media-entrepreneurs/

• Mashable’s Social Media News: http://mashable.com/social-media/

• Social Media in Plain English (video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpIOClX1jPE&feature=player_embedded

• Hotdesign’s Getting Started with Social Media: http://blog.hotdesign.com/2008/12/getting-started-with-social-media/

• Hotdesign’s 5 Reasons for Social Media Marketing: http://blog.hotdesign.com/2009/03/5-reasons-for-social-media-marketing/

• Social Media Tune-Up: Tips to Strengthen Your Social Media Marketing Campaign: http://socialmediawithkaren.blogspot.com/2011/01/social-media-tune-up-tips-to-strengthen.html

• New! Monitoring Your Online Presence for Free: http://blog.hotdesign.com/2010/07/monitoring-your-online-presence-for-free/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

• New! 11 Free Services for Scheduling Social Media Updates: http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/technology/article/11-free-services-for-scheduling-social-media-updates-erica-swallow

LinkedIn Resources

• LinkedIn’s website: http://linkedin.com

• What is LinkedIn: http://learn.linkedin.com/what-is-linkedin/

• What is LinkedIn (video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVlUwwgOfKw&feature=player_embedded

• LinkedIn Learning Center: http://learn.linkedin.com/

• LinkedIn Webinars: http://learn.linkedin.com/training/

• LinkedIn Help: http://linkedin.custhelp.com/

• LinkedIn’s Timeless Guide to Small Business Success: http://blog.linkedin.com/category/linkedin-for-small-business/

• Mashable’s HOW TO: Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn: http://mashable.com/2009/07/27/linkedin-personal-brand/

• Hotdesign’s Getting Started with LinkedIn: http://blog.hotdesign.com/2008/12/getting-started-with-linkedin/

• LinkedIn for Dummies (video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV_7yAPnkFw

• HOW TO: Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile: http://mashable.com/2010/12/15/optimize-linkedin-profile/

Facebook Resources

• Facebook’s website: http://facebook.com

• Facebook Pages (with step by step instructions): http://www.facebook.com/advertising/?pages

• Facebook Pages Product Guide [PDF]: http://www.facebook.com/advertising/FacebookPagesProductGuide.pdf

• Facebook’s Help Center: http://www.facebook.com/help/

• Facebook Pages Help: http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=175

• Mashable’s Facebook Guide Book: http://mashable.com/guidebook/facebook/

• Mashable’s Facebook Privacy: 10 Settings Every User Needs to Know: http://mashable.com/2011/02/07/facebook-privacy-guide/

• Hotdesign’s Getting Started with Facebook: http://blog.hotdesign.com/2008/12/getting-started-with-facebook/

• 32 Ways to use Facebook for Business: http://webworkerdaily.com/2009/07/21/32-ways-to-use-facebook-for-business/

• Open Forum’s How to Set Up A Facebook Page: http://www.openforum.com/articles/how-to-set-up-a-facebook-page

Twitter Resources

• Mom, This is How Twitter Works (not just for moms): http://www.jhische.com/twitter/

• Twitter’s website: http://twitter.com

• Twitter 101 for Business – A special guide: http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/

• Twitter 101 (video): http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/starting

• Twitter Best Practices: http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/best_practices

• Twitter’s Help: http://twitter.com/help/start

• Twitter Search: http://search.twitter.com/

• Twitter for Business: https://business.twitter.com/

• Mashable’s Twitter Guide Book: http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/

• Mashable’s How to Make the Most of Your Twitter Profile Page: http://mashable.com/2010/05/10/organize-twitter-profile/

• What is Twitter?: http://webtrends.about.com/od/socialnetworking/a/what-is-twitter.htm

• TweetDeck: http://www.tweetdeck.com/

• Hootsuite: http://hootsuite.com/ (new to this list)

• Hotdesign’s Getting Started with Twitter: http://blog.hotdesign.com/2008/12/getting-started-with-twitter/

Blogging Resources

• WordPress: http://wordpress.org and http://wordpress.com.

• More on WordPress: http://learn.wordpress.com and http://wordpress.tv.

• Printer-friendly version of the entire Learn WordPress.com tutorial.

• Blogger: http://blogger.com

• Business Blogging Best Practices: http://socialmediab2b.com/2009/06/business-blogging-best-practices/

• Business Blogging Best Practices (video): http://everything.typepad.com/blog/2009/02/typepad-business-class.html

• Blogging Best Practices: http://www.echoditto.com/blogging

• New! 30 Tips On How To Make Your Company’s Blog Rock: http://www.jeffbullas.com/2010/02/21/30-tips-on-how-to-make-your-companys-blog-rock/

• New! 20 Blogs Every Business Owner Should Read:  http://www.businessinsider.com/20-blogs-every-business-owner-should-read-2010-7

• 9 Things to Do to Make Sure Your Next Blog Post is Read by More than Your Mom: http://www.problogger.net/archives/2009/09/03/9-things-to-do-to-make-sure-your-next-blog-post-is-read-by-more-than-your-mom/

• New! The Yahoo! Style Guide: http://styleguide.yahoo.com/

Stimulus Opportunities for Small Business

Thursday, July 9, 2009, 9am-1pm

Brought to you by the Silicon Valley Small Business Development Center (SBDC)

[View Full Details and Register]

The Stimulus Opportunities for Small Business program is a FREE half-day session featuring buyers for state and federal government projects, as well as buyers from large corporations.  It will also feature local panelists able to offer insight into the latest developments in surety bonding and local workforce investment initiatives.

Business Matchmaking specializes in small business procurement with a track record of facilitated more than 70,000 face to face buyer-seller meetings throughout the country. California Small Business Development Centers provide free and low cost business consulting and training for thousands of California small businesses annually.  For more information go online to:www.businessmatchmaking.com, or www.californiasbdc.org.

Who should participate?
This course is designed for small business entrepreneurs who have an interest in learning about what opportunities exist for contractors implementing President Obama’s Economic Recovery plan.

San Jose Panelists:

• Public Sector Panelists include:
  • • Lori Falkenstrom, General Service Administration
    • Osayahde Nesbitt, Caltrans
    • Michael Aquillio, California Department of General Services
    • Denise Rodriguez-Lopez, Teaming USA
    • Mark Quinn, District Director SBA

• Private Sector Panelists include:
  • • Brian Tippens, Hewlett Packard
    • Vaughn Mootoo, Chevron
    • Walter Rossman, City of San Jose Purchasing
    • Don Gonneville, Small Business and Veteran Representative
    • Bob Lane, Federal Technology Center
    • Dorothy Davis, DoVeDa Enterprises, Inc.

Where:
San Jose Scottish Rite Center
2455 Masonic Drive
San Jose, CA 95125
MAP

Navigating the Storm: Tools, Tips and Opportunities for Small Businesses

SBDC’s monthly event:

Search Engine Optimization brown bag discussion with Drew Arenson, Equity Marketing Solutions.