- During the <strong><a href="http://www.cbcfinc.org/alc-2011.html" target="_blank">41st Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference</a></strong>, <strong><a href="http://hansenclarke.house.gov/" target="_blank">Congressman Hansen Clarke</a></strong> of metro Detroit hosted a panel entitled, “<strong><a href="http://www.blackenterprise.com/2011/09/21/congressional-black-caucus-discusses-social-media-entrepreneurship/" target="_blank">Social Media and Entrepreneurship</a></strong>” on September 23, 2011. One of the action items from the panel was to create a ‘Social Media + Entrepreneurship Resource List’ that entrepreneurs could use to grow successful businesses. Below, you will find a comprehensive resource list of third party apps, blogging, financial, calendar, and mobile tools that entrepreneurs can utilize immediately. <strong><em>—Compiled by <a href="http://hajjflemings.com/" target="_blank">Hajj Flemings</a> and <a href="http://socialwayne.com/" target="_blank">Wayne Sutton</a></em></strong>
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- <ul> <li><strong>Third Party Applications – Social Media/Status Updates/Listening</strong></li> </ul> These apps allow you to review, listen online and post updates to multiple social networks via your desktop or mobile device. <ul> <li><strong><a href="http://hootsuite.com/" target="_blank">Hootsuite</a></strong> helps organizations use the social Web to launch marketing campaigns, identify and grow audience, and distribute targeted messages across multiple channels.</li> <li><strong><a href="http://www.tweetdeck.com/" target="_blank">TweetDeck</a></strong> is a tool that helps you manage multiple social media platforms from one dashboard.</li> <li><strong><a href="http://socialmention.com/" target="_blank">Social Mention</a></strong> allows you to easily track and measure what people are saying about you, your company, a new product, or any topic across the Web's social media landscape in real-time.</li> <li><strong><a href="http://addictomatic.com/" target="_blank">Addictomatic</a></strong> is a multi-platform buzz dashboard.</li> <li><strong><a href="http://www.blogpulse.com/" target="_blank">Blogpulse</a></strong> is a tool that searches blog posts for specific mentions -</li> <li><strong><a href="http://www.trackur.com/" target="_blank">Trackur</a></strong> is a social media monitoring tool designed to assist companies and PR professionals in tracking what is said about brands on the Internet.</li> <li><strong><a href="https://seesmic.com/" target="_blank">Seesmic</a></strong> brings sales force to the palm of your hand.</li> </ul>
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- <strong>Online Financial Tools</strong> <ul> <li><strong><a href="http://www.crowdrise.com/" target="_blank">Crowdrise</a></strong> is a crowdsourced funding tool.</li> <li><strong><a href="http://www.freshbooks.com/" target="_blank">Freshbooks</a></strong> is an online invoicing and tracking device.</li> <li><strong><a href="http://gofundme.com/" target="_blank">Go Fund Me</a></strong> is another useful crowdsourced funding tool.</li> <li><strong><a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/" target="_blank">Kickstarter</a></strong> is a popular crowdsourced funding tool.</li> <li><strong><a href="https://www.paypal.com/" target="_blank">PayPal</a></strong> is an online payments and money transfer service.</li> <li><strong><a href="https://squareup.com/" target="_blank">Square</a></strong> is a mobile credit card payment system.</li> <li><strong><a href="http://www.getharvest.com/" target="_blank">Harvest</a></strong> allows you to easily track time, send invoices and run your business.</li> </ul>
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- <strong>Mobile/Virtual Working</strong> <ul> <li><strong><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/" target="_blank">Dropbox</a></strong> is an online file storage and sharing tool.</li> <li><strong><a href="http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/homepage" target="_blank">Skype</a></strong> is a software application that allows users to make voice calls over the Internet.</li> <li><strong><a href="http://www.gvconnect.com/" target="_blank">Using iPad as a Phone</a></strong> with the GVConnect App, which converts your iPad into a phone.</li> <li><strong><a href="http://basecamphq.com/" target="_blank">Basecamp</a></strong> is an online project management software that enables online collaboration.</li> <li><strong><a href="http://www.evernote.com/" target="_blank">Evernote</a></strong> allows users to capture, organize, and find information across multiple platforms.</li> <li><strong><a href="http://grasshopper.com/" target="_blank">Grasshopper</a></strong> allows small businesses to sound more professional and streamline communications.</li> <li><strong><a href="https://www.yammer.com/" target="_blank">Yammer</a></strong> is an enterprise social network, providing a secure way for employees to communicate, collaborate, and share information.</li> <li><strong><a href="http://autriv.com/" target="_blank">Sign My Pad</a></strong> is a tool that allows you to sign and annotate PDF files. No more printing documents to sign and fax them.</li> </ul>
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- <strong>Blogging/Website</strong> <ul> <li><strong><a href="http://wordpress.org/" target="_blank">WordPress</a></strong> is a Web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog.</li> <li><strong><a href="http://blogger.com" target="_blank">Blogger</a></strong> is a blog publishing platform.</li> <li><strong><a href="http://www.squarespace.com/" target="_blank">SquareSpace</a></strong> is a completely managed environment for creating and maintaining a beautiful website, blog, or portfolio.</li> <li><strong><a href="https://www.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Tumblr</a></strong> is a re-envisioning of tumblelogging, a subset of blogging that uses quick, mixed-media posts.</li> <li><strong><a href="http://central.ly/" target="_blank">Central.ly</a></strong> is a central place to let companies promote themselves online and on mobile.</li> </ul>
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- <strong>Events/Calendars</strong> <ul> <li><strong><a href="http://startupweekend.org/" target="_blank">Startup Weekends</a></strong> are 54-hour events where developers, designers, marketers, product managers and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and launch.</li> <li><strong><a href="http://www.meetup.com/" target="_blank">Meet-up Groups</a></strong> are groups that organize locally around specific areas of interest.</li> <li><strong><a href="http://plancast.com/home/all/100498" target="_blank">Plancast</a></strong> is a calendar typically for tech or social media type events.</li> <li><strong><a href="http://eventbrite.com/" target="_blank">Eventbrite</a></strong> is an event organizing calendar/tool, which is a great resource to identify conferences and workshops.</li> </ul>
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- <ul> <li><strong>Google Account</strong></li> </ul> Creating a Google account provides you access to a suite of products, listed below is a sample listing of some of the available products. <ul> <li><strong><a href="https://plus.google.com/up/start/?continue=https://plus.google.com/&type=st&gpcaz=14d10dbb" target="_blank">Google Plus</a></strong> is Google’s social network. One of the best business features that Google Plus currently offers is the hangout feature, which allows you to conduct video conference calls with up to 10-people and integrate YouTube videos for free.</li> <li><strong><a href="https://accounts.google.com/ServiceLogin?service=writely&passive=1209600&continue=https://docs.google.com/&followup=https://docs.google.com/<mpl=homepage " target="_blank">Google Docs</a></strong> allows you to create and share your work online and access your documents from anywhere. Manage documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.</li> <li><strong><a href="https://accounts.google.com/ServiceLogin?service=sierra&continue=https://checkout.google.com/main?upgrade%3Dtrue&hl=en_US&nui=1<mpl=default&gsessionid=5PRnzuJtH2qtHPUjjMoCEA " target="_blank">Google Checkout</a></strong> is Google’s payment service.</li> <li><strong><a href="https://accounts.google.com/ServiceLogin?service=grandcentral&passive=1209600&continue=https://www.google.com/voice&followup=https://www.google.com/voice<mpl=open" target="_blank">Google Voice</a></strong> provides you with free voicemail.</li> <li><strong><a href="http://www.google.com/alerts" target="_blank">Google Alerts</a></strong> is an online reputation notification system.</li> </ul> <strong><em>Compiled by <a href="http://hajjflemings.com/" target="_blank">Hajj Flemings</a> and <a href="http://socialwayne.com/" target="_blank">Wayne Sutton</a></em></strong>
