Tag Archive for blogging

hello blog.

June 23, 2009 Food/Restaurant Blog, Social Media Blog, Sonoma County, Wine Blog 4 comments

It really has been far too long since I have written anything here, and that is actually one of the things I tell clients NOT to do. It is worse to have an abandoned blog then to have no blog at all….

People expect me to entertain them once a week, you know, other than on Twitter, Facebook and in person. I need to live up to my statement of being funny by accident and sarcastic on purpose by letting you know what is going on in my world.

So, as some of you may know, I have a huge “gig” in the works that I have been very secretive about over the past few months, well, the website is taking longer to go live then originally thought (note to all brands out there – websites usually take at least a month longer than the original launch date) so I will not be talking about it yet.

What has been going on in my world though has been a lot of writing to prepare for my new project, a lot of consulting jobs and a few speaking gigs, including being on an upcoming panel at the The Wine Industry Technology Symposium (WITS) in Napa on July 17th.  Of course I will be talking about wine and social media.

I also have gotten a tattoo for the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau’s upcoming Sonoma Wine and Food Tattoo contest. The video is pretty hilarious, but thankfully I think they were gentle on me and didn’t post some of the really bad faces I made.  Though, I made the mistake of posting them myself (and posting them here again).

Sonoma County Ink

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korbel’s lack of an online plan.

February 24, 2009 Sonoma County 20 comments

Just a day after reading about a friend’s lack of acknowledgment at Napa sparkling wine maker Domain Chandon, I was asked by a friend of mine to visit the Korbel tasting room to pick up some Zinfandel (yes, Korbel does make some wine).

I tweeted about my experience, briefly saying that

Korbel doesn’t get a lot of wine bloggers. Staff didn’t know what I was talking about.

kor

When I asked the older tasting room attendant if she ever gets any wine bloggers in the tasting room, I was greeted with not only a blank stare, but she almost looked insulted like I was speaking to her in a different language that she was supposed to figure out.  She asked me what a blogger was and when I told her it was a person who wrote about wine online, she still continued her blank stare and simply said no.

Okay fine, this tasting room person was clearly a different generation and my experience was mediocre enough to not give it a second thought afterward.    Expect I live in a world that is centered around the internet and my mind was on the Domain Chandon experience that I just missed out on.  Interesting enough — several hours after tweeting about my experience, and even drinking a bottle of their zin at home (saying it was pretty good) I read an article in the Press Democrat about how Korbel is suing Comcast to make Comcast identify “internet customers” who criticized the wine company on Craigslist.

Without turning this post into a debate over freedom of speech or even talking about what was said about Korbel on the postings (read about that in the article), I will say that I think Korbel is going about this all wrong.

This incident happened a year ago and I remember reading it in the Press Democrat, not really thinking too much about it.  Untrue (or possibly true) and unflattering things are said about brands online and offline everyday.  While I do agree that those who said the slanderous allegations should not be allowed to remain anonymous…  It is how a brand handles the negative PR that matters.  I think if Korbel simply dismissed the allegations as false than I wouldn’t be here talking about them or my experience in the tasting room (they were playing the Bodyguard soundtrack from the early 90′s).  Instead their reaction to the allegations was to sue Comcast to get the names of the people who created the postings, just so they can sue them for slander.  This is not a good PR move, it makes them look guilty and it brings on more negative attention.

This got me thinking about Korbel and if they even have an online strategy….  It isn’t like I hear that much about Korbel within the wine-blogging community and in my daily marketing promotions emails.  Their website, though saying brand new, is already out of date and to have their flash version open in another screen is not only unnecessary, it is annoying.

korbel

It is interesting that their site has a forum that currently isn’t working.  Their Perfect Proposal Promotion link is currently not working as well.

Altogether, my perceived image of them is that they are out of date, and Korbel people, if you are reading this (which I hope you are because it means you at least have done something right online aka Google Alerts) these are not allegations, just one person’s experience at your beautiful, yet boring tasting room.   I am a fan, especially of your blanc de noir sparkling wine.  And, hey, if you need some online publicity help, call me…  It is what I do.

funny by accident, sarcastic on purpose; 25 tidbits of randomness.

February 6, 2009 Wine Blog Comments Off

I have been “tagged” multiple times on Facebook with this Myspace inspired spam called 25 Random Things about you.  Inspired by David LeBovitz’s blog post “89 random things about me”  I decided to also post mine on my blog, mainly because it explains a lot about me and the reasoning behind this blog.

1. I am not sure how to start off these random notes about me. I know I am going to over think everything, get self conscious and start over….

2. I only rewrote five of them and I decided to keep one at the last moment and it is the fact that I love sauerkraut and am craving it right now.

3. Sparkling wine from any region is my drink of choice, though it gives me the worst hangover.

4. I became a vegetarian at age 12; right after the McDonald’s opened in my town.

5. At 16, I worked at Windsor Waterworks. Being around the smell of hotdogs, cotton candy and pepperoni pizza’s, I started craved the taste of a hot dog again. I bought one, went into the break room and ate one bite before spiting it out. I have not purposely eaten meat since.

6. I hate the term “Sleep is for the weak.” I love sleep, and I always have needed at least 7 hours a night to feel sane the next day. It is healthy and I hate that people try to make me shameful for this.

7. I would love to open my own gourmet vegetarian cafe. I love to cook, though I would not make a good chef because I tend to be clumsy with a knife and I hate recipes.

8. Ever since watching the Real World Season 2 in Los Angeles I have wanted to be on a Reality Show. Though I have never moved forward with this dream because I am not as over the top as anyone who is on these shows (well, anyone after the Real World Vegas – when reality shows jumped the shark).

9. I will admit it – I love the Reality Shows on VH1. I will watch no matter how many times it takes for Bret Michaels or Flavor Flav to find “true love.”

10. I fear I have become desensitized to the thought of true love.

11. I have a very deep spiritual side that no one knows about. I plan on connecting with this during a month long trip to India.

12. As a child, my first “dream job” was to be a lawyer, my second was to be a teacher, and third (and final) was to be a marketing executive.

13. I have always loved watching TV commercials and when I discovered that someone actually got paid to come up with the ideas for them, I knew that is what I wanted to do with my life.

14. I break things easily, including wine glasses and two of my friend’s pinky fingers, though I have never broken any of my own bones.

15. I am thankful for Corelle dishes.

16. The reason I have a tattoo on my wrist that purposely says “Breath” without the “e” on the end is to remind me to breathe before I do or say anything without thinking (like spell things wrong).

17. The reason my Twitter name is ShaRayRay started with an email from my friend Melody. A co-worker saw this email and soon Sharayray, Ray Ray or Ray-Dawg became my name. I was once introduced to a client as “Sharayray.” I have a feeling one co-worker even thought that was my name.

18. The reason my blog is currently called “Shana; not out on VHS yet” is because when I was asked if I had seen “No Country for Old Men” my mindless response was that it hasn’t come out on VHS yet. Seconds later I realized my mistake and the whole office laughed at me.

19. I am great at making people laugh, though I do it unintentionally. When I actually try to be funny – I am not.

20. I have been known to yell loudly and demand to be the center of attention, and then when everyone is looking at me, I sometimes turn red and get embarrassed for my outburst.

21. When I am embarrassed, I am not really that embarrassed. I still love the attention.

22. I did not enjoy eating tofu bacon.

23. I really, truly wanted to enjoy tofu bacon.

24. For the life of me, I do not understand the obsession that people have with bacon.

25. Though, cupcakes I get.

work and life to intertwined together…

April 21, 2008 Social Media Blog One comment

Lia Huber, Clos du Bois’ blogger for swirlingnotions.com just posted a blog asking the question, does having the experience just for the sake of a blog post make the experience satisfying enough to blog about, or is it that the experience was so satisfying that it creates a good blog post?

Her post made me think about my own time spent outside of my 40-60 hour work week.

The back of my head is in a constant state of circulating ideas for my current, potential and dream clients; it doesn’t matter where I am: at the store, at a friend’s house, watching a movie, driving, walking down the streets of San Francisco… My friends have all rolled their eyes each time I pull out my camera to take a picture of a billboard, graffiti, in-store signage, a front of store display, a cool new high tech product, almost anything that I think should be forwarded onto my co-workers, blogged about or remembered for later.

Granted, there is nothing I enjoy more than great friends, the perfect wine and laughing until my eyes tear up, but it doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice the experience for what you do for a living.

When I was younger I used to be the one at the parties taking the pictures. When I would get them developed I noticed that I was never in them, I was watching other people having fun. I finally realized that there is a balance of actually living and capturing the moment to share with others.

I don’t really think that I answered her question, nor do I even believe it is a question that can be answered, because it all comes down to enjoying life the way you want to without having it pass you by.

I wouldn’t want to be in any other profession, and yes, I do tend to obsess about work, but the best ideas come from real life experiences, being in the pictures, and maybe some time spent lounging on a hammock.