Montecito Bank & Trust will present its final Business-to-Business (B2B) event of the year titled “Social Media for Your Growing Business” at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Resort, 633 E. Cabrillo Blvd.

Author and entrepreneur Peter Shankman will discuss new ways of thinking about social media in regards to public relations, marketing, advertising and customer service. Local social media experts Lynda Weinman of Lynda.com, Shawn Mulchay of SocialMash Media and UCSB Web analytic professor Nikki Gauthier will join the panel discussion.

“Peter has a reputation for being edgy and provocative, so I think it will be fun and it will really open the conversation on what we should be thinking about in regards to social media and our business,” said Janet Garufis, president and CEO of Montecito Bank & Trust.

Shankman is the founder and CEO of The Geek Factory Inc. and Help a Reporter Out (HARO), and his clients include American Express, Sprint, the U.S. Department of Defense, Snapple, NASA, Walt Disney, Discovery Networks and Harrah’s Hotels.

Shankman’s latest blog post discusses Ashton Kutcher’s decision to hand over control of his Twitter account that had more than 8 million followers.

In the wake of the firing of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, Kutcher tweeted: “How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste.” Kutcher explained that he walked by the television and simply saw a headline that Paterno had been fired that he assumed was related to his age.

Shankman said Kutcher did everything right after that point by admitting wrongdoing, apologizing and owning it, until he decided to give control of his Twitter account to his handlers.

“We want our celebrities, our CEOs, anyone we follow to be, more than anything, real,” he wrote. “That means never knowing what’s coming next. If you’re afraid to be real because of one little screwup, you don’t deserve an audience to begin with.”

Click here to register for Wednesday’s event or for more information.

— Noozhawk business writer Alex Kacik can be reached at akacik@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.