Contact: Debbye Omlie, WWU Small Business Development Center, (360) 733-4014, ext. 126.
BELLINGHAM - Western Washington University's Small Business Development Center (SBDC), the Technology Alliance Group (TAG), and Whatcom Community College will host the first Social Media Conference NW, the New Word of Mouth Marketing, Sept. 10 and 11 in Bellingham.
Featuring speakers leading the social-media revolution and targeting small- to medium-sized businesses and organizations, the event will focus on exploring how the groups can benefit from social media marketing, including practical plans and resources that can be used to participate in the social media market to generate revenue.
"Speakers will be presenting on a wide range of topics pertaining to social media marketing, with sessions for beginners to more advanced professionals. From Apple to Zoodango, we have speakers from some of the leading social-media marketers," said SBDC Director Tom Dorr. "We have worked hard to create a conference to address topics that will enable our clients to better compete in the global arena."
James Sun, CEO and founder of Seattle-based social networking site Zoodango.com, will serve as the opening keynote speaker, and will discuss how the rules for marketing have changed.
Matthew Dunn will be the dinner keynote speaker at the American Museum of Radio and Electricity in downtown Bellingham. Dunn, founder of Bellingham-based Socratech, also ran the Los Angeles-area music technology startup Music IP as CEO and president. He will discuss the impact social networks have had on the music industry as a lesson for others.
The conference, held at the Whatcom Community College campus, will feature six plenary sessions and 21 breakout sessions featuring presentations, discussions and hands-on labs. A few of these include: bottom-line reasons for businesses to blog; social-media research and marketing strategies; podcasting, vodcasting, and crosscasting; bulletproofing your organization for social media; the risks of ignoring social media; Google adwords; building online communities that matter most to your business; and ways to determine return-on-investment for social-media efforts.
Early registration is $198 until Aug. 27, and $275 after that. To register for the conference or to learn more go to http://www.socialmediaconferencenw.com/ or contact Tami Eastwood at the Small Business Development Center at (360) 733-4014, ext. 111.
The SBDC is one of the premier economic development service providers in Whatcom County. Significant positive impacts in 2007 include 436 companies that have stabilized or expanded; those clients, in turn, saved or created more than 750 jobs and generated almost $24 million in new capital investments. The SBDC is shaping the economic future of our region one business at a time.
The SBDC is funded through the Port of Bellingham; the State of Washington, Washington Department of Community Trade and Economic Development; the U.S. Small Business Administration; Western Washington University's College of Business and Economics; the cities of Bellingham, Ferndale, Blaine, Lynden, and Sumas; Whatcom County; the Economic Development Administration; and private donations.
For more information, contact the SBDC at (360) 733-4014 or visit the Web site at www.cbe.wwu.edu/sbdc.
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