LB Media Recommends: Crush it!

From our e-mail newsletter sent 10/29/09

Have you picked up your copy of Gary Vaynerchuk’s “Crush It” yet? While some may find benefit in the book’s motivational “live your passion” pages, we’re recommending it to our clients because of Gary V’s sagacious approach to social media.

Most people receiving this e-mail have already expressed to us interest in social media. Some of you have embraced this new marketing opportunity and are beginning to reap the rewards. Others remain a bit hesitant.

To those who have already embraced social media, Gary V will continue to broaden your awareness of your social media reach. New promotions will come to mind. New platforms will be introduced. To those who have remained hesitant, we believe Gary V can alleviate your social media fears while assuring you that any time spent in the world of social media will be greatly beneficial to your business or organization.

Finally, we’re recommending this book to you, our clients, because Gary V chooses, in many instances, to play the role of photographer, wine shop owner, restaurant manager, real estate agent, non-profit organizer and public relations manager. Since so many of you fall directly into these categories, and so many more fall into closely associated categories, we felt obligated (and excited) to share this book with you.

Again, if you want the motivation, it’s there for you. However, if you’re like us, you’ll want to focus on the social media sections. It’s a quick 120 page read, and spending the afternoon absorbing it may forever change the way you think about your business…and that’s a great thing.

Buy Crush It! from Amazon.com

For Borders Rewards members, feel free to use this 40% off coupon if you choose to buy from Borders.

Social media certification programs? Tweet me to be Lunabean Media certified

Does anyone else get the feeling that these social media certification programs that a popping up across the country are a scam? Pay upwards of $3000, take an 8-week course, and you can walk away with a certificate saying you’re “certified” in social media?

I’m all for the education and the spreading of the social media love, but, seriously, if anyone came to us with a resume that included their social media certificate, the first thing I’d think is that they got scammed, which isn’t a great personality trait to display when seeking a job.

The second thing I’d think is their brain doesn’t work in the way I’d expect from a social media “expert”, because, this early in the game, the true experts out there either get it or they don’t. In that eight week course, that expert might learn a couple of new techniques, but $3000 worth? The true experts aren’t going to bite, so those who are certified are going to be the people who weren’t at the top of the social media game to begin with.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe these courses are creating social media geniuses, but I have yet to find one.

Feel free to prove me wrong. I’d love to get some feedback on this. Otherwise, tweet me @LunabeanMedia and ask for the Lunabean Media Social Media Certification program. It’s for those who are think that these certification programs, at this point in the game, smell a little fishy. I’ll certify you right on Twitter…for free.

Add Social Media to your Gmail signature with WiseStamp

We love Gmail. In fact, we love Gmail so much we redirect all of our Lunabean and LunabeanMedia e-mail accounts to Gmail. In our opinion, Gmail’s only fault is that it only allows for plain text signatures. Not cool for those of us who want to spread the social media love via our day-to-day e-mails.

This is where WiseStamp, a Firefox extension, comes in. With WiseStamp, you can add Rich Text, HTML, and/or all of your favorite social media links your Gmail signature (it also works for AOL Mail, Hotmail, and Yahoo! mail). I even have it hooked up to point to my latest blog entry. How cool is that?

Check out this WiseStamp demo video and get your e-mail connected to the social media accounts of your choosing. It’s an easy way to get your contacts to check out your social media presence, which, for most of us, is a good thing.

New IPNC site has launched

We’re pleased to announce the launch of the newly redesigned
International Pinot Noir Celebration (IPNC) website.

If you’re familiar with the site, you might not see much difference between this year’s design and that of last year. However, the subtle changes have made a tremendous impact in the realm of web site navigation and usability.

Why, if we’ve been designing the site for nearly ten years, did we need to improve over last year’s site? Because this was the year that we were finally able to get across to our friends at the IPNC that a web site is a web site, not an online version of a print brochure. And, for a web site to be a web site, usability and navigation are the most important elements. Period. Once you accept that, everything else will fall into place.

So, we got to it. We increased the font size, widened the site container, introduced a new and prominent navigation system, added breadcrumb navigation, added a new footer, and popped Facebook, Twitter, and Wordpress icons to the top right corner (social media training still to come).

We are thrilled with the result, as is the IPNC. Please enjoy: IPNC.

If you have any comments, positive or negative, please share, as they will certainly be taken into account.

Social Media for Wineries (Training Kit)

It’s time to join the conversation. Features Instantly downloadable 113-page eBook. Read it on your computer or print it out and create your own hard copy. Written by 10-year social media veterans with extensive knowledge of the wine industry. More info… Broken into three sections: Strategies, Facebook, and Twitter. 9 how-to videos. Over 20 actionable marketing ideas that you can implement now! More info below $29.99

Details

Included in Lunabean Media’s “Social Media Training Kit for Wineries” is everything we offer in our winery social media training sessions with the exclusion of our warm bodies. Training comes in the form of Downloadable PDF documents and several easy to access training videos.

Whether you are completely new to social media or you just aren’t getting the results you need with your current social media campaigns, this Training Kit will help you!

Included you will find:

Social Media Strategies for Wineries (PDF).

This manual provides an overview of social media, best practices, brand reputation management, how to measure success, and most importantly over 20 easily executable social media marketing ideas that you can use at your winery to engage customers, build a fan base, and create brand evangelists.

Table of Contents

Facebook for Wineries (PDF).

Facebook is a powerful tool for wineries, but you have to know how to use it effectively. This manual covers every detail of Facebook from creating a Fan Page to adding custom applications to creating a Facebook ad. Most importantly it details the type of content to post and how to effectively post it. In addition, it includes best practices and 7 how-to videos that will save you time and help to focus your efforts.

Table of Contents

Twitter for Wineries (PDF).

Twitter provides wineries a unique opportunity to not only engage their customers but, perhaps more importantly, to listen in to conversations about their wine and the industry in general. The problem is there are many misconceptions about Twitter and many wineries get overwhelmed by the plethora of Twitter options and opinions. Our Twitter manual for wineries explains Twitter and teaches you how to use it. You’ll be retweeting, tagging your tweets, and using Twitter advanced search faster that you can say #TTL (Twitter Tasting Live). In addition, it will teach you how to search effectively, create a following, and use tools that will help to manage and simplify your Twitter efforts. This manual also includes 2 how-two videos (Twitter basics and advanced practices).

Table of Contents

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Don’t kick off a social media campaign the same day Facebook launches a redesign

A letter from Jeremy:

Dear Facebook,

You screwed us today. Please send us $1 million of your $1 billion to make up for it.

Best,

Lunabean Media

Since that’s not going to happen, let’s just learn from this mistake, shall we?

Today was the day we were supposed to launch Lunabean Media on Facebook. I know, I know, it’s pretty late in the game to be doing so, but we are masters of perfecting our clients’ web efforts while ignoring our own.

Anyhoo, I began the day by contacting my 300 friends to let them know about the new Lunabean Media page on Facebook. I used the handy “Suggest to Friends” feature to do just this. When ten minutes went by and nary a friend had fanned, I knew something was wrong. I hopped on over to my home page and…ARE YOU KIDDING ME FACEBOOK DECIDED TO REDESIGN THE HOME PAGE NOW!?!?!?

I went into panic mode. My invites had been lost in the overhaul…or some had been. Others were received, but the Facebook generated link to my page didn’t work. And the worst part about it? That was my one shot. All 300 of my friends are now locked out of an invite, because Facebook thinks I already invited them.

So, here I am, on the eve of my launch, with 16 Facebook fans. Time to crack a beer, watch last night’s DVRed “Grey’s”, and get on with my life. It looks like I’m just going to have to get my fans the old fashioned way…kick ass content that people will be excited to read. BooYA! So, to the 16 of you, get ready, because I’m about to blow your mind.

Oh, and to my clients, those of you who pay for my expertise, I have two tips for you today:

1. Don’t kick off a social media campaign the same day Facebook launches a redesign.
2. Don’t invite your entire list at once. Instead, break it up into groups of 20 or so. This way, if you fail, your entire list won’t be shot to hell.

Did I mention I got in a car accident today, too? Yeah, and, get this, it was MY FAULT. Not a good day. At all.

15 Best Wine People to follow on Twitter (Wine Tweeps)

Twitter can be challenging to explain to those who are new to the realm of social media. This includes a number of our winery clients, whose primary focus is (and should be) on making good wine. The fastest and easiest way for us to introduce them to the world of social media is to provide them with a list of Wine Tweeps they should be following. Below you will find that list.

1. @garyvee – This one is a no brainer. Gary Vaynerchuk is known as the “Social Media Sommelier”, and was among one of the earliest adopters of social media and wine. He has since turned his family’s wine business, and his own name, into multi-million dollar industries. Not bad.
2. @BinEndsWine – Bin Ends is a wine shop in Braintree, MA that pioneered #ttl, or Twitter Taste Live. Buy their wine, then share your thoughts on Twitter along with the tweeps who are drinking with you. Because, with Twitter, you never need to drink alone.
3. @CraigDrollett – Bin End again, this time the founder. It’s good practice to study both the “official” account (above) and that of the founder.
4. @WineWonkette – A great wine blogger who does a good job of mixing it up with personal tweets that have nothing to do with wine.
5. @JancisRobinson – Most in the wine industry are more than familiar with the internationally known wine writer Jancis Robinson. However, did you know Ms. Robinson is a social media master?
6. @SokolBlosser – Well, here goes one of our biggest secrets at Lunabean Media. Our secret motto? “What Would Sokol Blosser do?”. Watch and learn. Oh, and congrats to Sokol Blosser for their appearance on Top Chef. So awesome. See? Do what they do.
7. @RStuartWine – R. Stuart is one of our most recent social media clients. We told them to focus on one thing right now, and that thing is Facebook. However, since they are doing such an exceptional job on Facebook, we’re going to be graduating them to Twitter soon. It should be fun to follow them.
8. @EaglesNestWine – Quite honestly, this one is a bit of an enigma to me. Over 16,000 followers, and I’m not sure why. It’s not that they’re not good at what they do…they are. But why so many followers? They must have great PR.
9. @WFMWineGuys – The Whole Foods Market Wine Guys tell you about wine deals at Whole Foods. Not a bad Twitter relationship for a small winery to have.
10. @scottpaulpn – I love Scott Paul wines, therefore, I love knowing what’s going on in the winery. The tweets come regularly and with purpose.
11. @eljefetwisted – Jeff “El Jefe” Stai is the owner of Twisted Oak Winery. While his focus is on wine, his tweets are all over the place and he takes part in many a twitter conversation.
12. @stsupery – This Napa winery’s social media efforts are led by the incredibly talented @RickBakas (also worth a follow). If our motto wasn’t already, “What would Sokol Blosser do?” it would be “What would St. Supery do?”.
13. @enobytes – The tweet of the online publication EnoBytes.org. Also founded the original original #VinQ wine trivia game.
14. @BillDaley – Mr. Daley is, of course, the Food and Wine writer for the Chicago Tribune. He’s also a fantastic Tweeter.
15. @kingestate – King Estate was one of my earliest follows. What most impresses me about them is how complimentary they are to other wineries. Having worked in the wine industry for nearly 15 years, this is common practice in the real world. It’s nice to see it translate to the Twitter world.