North Bay Business Journal

March 15, 2013: The Engine is Red held their 4-Year Anniversary Party at their offices at 840 Fifth St. in Santa Rosa

SAUSALITO — One year after launching its Inside Connections for job seekers on Facebook, Glassdoor is looking to innovate further.

Social media isn’t magic. It won’t fix a broken product or business model. It’s simply a reflection of you and your business.

That said, a social media campaign wouldn’t be successful without a well-thought-out road map for success. Just like having a business plan, planning your social media actions gives you greater odds of achieving your goals.

The Business Journal requests your help in researching a new list of North Bay companies that provide website development and social media consulting services.

SAN RAFAEL — You’ve probably seen the TV spot where an angry ex wife takes a sledgehammer to a red Mustang. The producer of funny commercials for the auto body industry has moved into 31Ten Studios, the former Kerner Optical space, adding artfully destroyed cars to the special effects concocted there.

SAN RAFAEL — Autodesk Inc, the leader in licensed computer-aided design software, has launched a free 3-D design application.

Available to iPad, Mac and PC users and accessible by any mobile device with a web browser is 123D Design, an easy-to-use modeling and sharing tool that Autodesk hopes will tweak the creative impulses of potential future designers and manufacturers. Its the first 3-D modeling app in the 123D Design line.

SAUSALITO — Glassdoor Inc., the online career and jobs community, today said it has raised an additional $20 million in venture financing, and plans to use the funds on staff and technology to drive further growth.

SAN RAFAEL — Marin Association of Realtors released a new, mobile version of its Marin Housing Turnover Index, an interactive website financed in part by the National Association of Realtors and designed to illustrate how certain mandated repairs are discouraging home sales and slowing the turnover of housing stock in Marin County.

PETALUMA — WellFX, a startup that seeks to integrate a private social media platform with health care providers, announced that West County Health Centers has officially signed on to use the service for its patient population.

SAN RAFAEL — Three partners with backgrounds in electronic payments have launched a loyalty card platform they say will enable small-and-medium-sized businesses to thrive.

In case you haven’t noticed, young adults no longer wear watches. Is it because they are indifferent to the time of day and have nowhere to be? Of course not. It’s because smartphones have taken the place of watches, as well as encyclopedias, dictionaries, phone books and in many cases, even traditional computers in the lives of many so called “Millennial” consumers.

MILL VALLEY — Therapydia, Inc., announced recently that it raised $5 million in venture funding to launch a website that will be “an online community” for physical therapists, which the Mill Valley-based startup said is one of the fastest growing areas of health care professionals.

SAN RAFAEL — Design, engineering and entertainment software developer Autodesk Inc., (Nasdaq: ADSK) today said it signed a deal to purchase Socialcam, a year-old creator of a video capture, editing and sharing mobile app and cloud sharing service, for about $60 million.

Public Relations Jay and Janet Silverberg, long-time Petaluma residents, have established Silverberg Communications, a public policy, media and crisis communications response firm. Mr. Silverberg served 11 years as a senior vice president for Xenophon Strategies, a Washington, D.C.-based firm, during which he managed multiple projects for clients such as The Salvation Army, Airbus, Rolls Royce, [...]

NORTH BAY – The Santa Rosa Young Professionals Network is hosting its first Professional Development Day on May 17 at the Finley Community Center.

The Business Journal asked the four members of the Direct Sales and Social Media panel for the upcoming Wine Industry Conference 2011 about trends in sales of wine directly to consumers and use of social media in that endeavor.

MILL VALLEY – Marin County is new home to another interesting Internet company, joining Glassdoor, ImageSpan and many others in Sausalito.

In conjunction with the story “Wineries increase use of smartphone, social media technologies,” the Business Journal is collecting ideas wine marketers submitted about how their experiences.

Smartphones and social media are being employed in new ways as many wineries increase their use of the latest technology to reach consumers and maintain control of branding — all across the U.S. To add your experience, comment on this story.

ROHNERT PARK — PNN (Personal News Network), the first company to join the Sonoma Mountain Business Cluster, closed its doors on Jan. 1, according to founder Lauren Elliott.