#wamerlot Twitter Tasting – March 25

After the success of Rick Bakas’ #calicabs twitter tasting there has been much interest in similar events for other regions and varietals. We are happy to be part of the first ever Washington Merlot (#wamerlot) Twitter tasting which will happen on March 25th between 5pm and 7pm PST.

RSVP to the Event

If you’re not familiar with the concept of a Twitter tasting, just think of the good old days (c. 2001) of chat-room tastings where a winery’s customers would all sign in and taste wine along with the winemaker on AIM (or some now irrelevant service). Well, the year is 2010 and chat-rooms have been replaced by Twitter. In this case, the goal is to get some delicious Washington Merlot into the hands of as many people as possible and then have them all talk about it on Twitter between 5pm and 7pm PST on March 25th.

For those of you worried about the juxtaposition of something “social” yet seemingly done in a dark room in front of your computer, do not fret. Many wineries will be hosting TweetUps during the event where you can meet up with some real life Twitter-folk and tweet from your laptop or phone, while of course engaging in some real-life conversation and sipping some amazing wines.

For more information about the event, please visit @drinknectar’s website: http://drinknectar.com/.

If you are a winery and would like to participate, please check out the information here.

Oh, and we’ll both be there…well, here, but there. Can’t wait!

Best social media reads of the week (thus far)

It seems people were thinking hard about social media over the holiday break, as some FANTASTIC social media articles and blog posts have been published this week. Below you will find a list of the writings we considered to be the best of the best (thus far).

1. Pepsi Chooses Social Media Over Super Bowl (Media Bullseyse) – If you’re only going to read one article about social media this week, make it this one. Just as the title suggests, Pepsi is redirecting its Super Bowl fund to a Super Social Media campaign. In other words, “It’s been decided that they would rather be talked about in a positive light by millions than have their ad seen by millions of people, even it is the Super Bowl”. Cool move, Pepsi Co.

2. Why Social Media is Still a Red-headed Stepchild (Web Worker Daily) – So true, it’s almost painful to read. Highlights reasons why there is so much resistance from PR and marketing departments regarding social media.

3. How to Say Stupid Things About Social Media (The Guardian) – “Why do people care what I ate for breakfast?”, is a common comment we’ll hear from Twitter skeptics. This article explains why…and they don’t care what you ate for breakfast, so there.

4. 91% of Companies Used Social Media in 2009 (Simply Zesty) – Nice analysis of stats released by the Center of Marketing Research at UMass.

5. 3 Helpful Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2010 (Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide) – Jeremy liked this one so much, he wrote a full analysis of it here, that is equally important to read.

6. Breaking Up in a Digital Fish Bowl (NY Times) – This one doesn’t have anything to do with social media and business, but it is a fascinating read about dating (and breaking up) in the age of Facebook. So happy I’m married. So happy.

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.