Friday, April 16 has been named the official Foursquare Day.

To those who don’t use Foursquare, we are a bunch of crazed stalkers who tell people where we are at all times.  But for those in the ‘know’ it is a great marketing tool for people and businesses!

After tomorrow, anyone who comes in contact with myself or any of my other Foursquare/Twitter Sonoma County friends will see Foursquare in action.    Hopefully we can even show those who disbelieve that it actually is a great marketing tool, one that businesses should be at least paying attention to.

We will be swarming the Brasserie Lounge at the Hyatt Vineyard Creek for snack and drink specials for first time Foursquare friends, drinking wine flights at Cellars of Sonoma and hanging out at Third Street Aleworks for some beer and appetizers.

I wrote about the Hyatt Vineyard Creek in my Sonoma County Online feature on my Two Five Media blog a few weeks back because they were the ONLY business in Santa Rosa to have a special deal on Foursquare  (Now, Third Street Aleworks and Cellars of Sonoma both have specials).

The official Twitter name for tomorrow is @4sqday and the official hashtag for the Sonoma County Wine Swarm will be ….. #4sqSR or  #4sqdaySR. I am thinking the shorter the better though.

So make sure to tag your Foursquare check-in’s and tweets with the hashtag!  If you are a newbie or want to learn more, just ask me.. I will be sure to be at one of these three places tomorrow!

More details:

• The Hyatt is trying to get a swarm badge, which means if 50 or more people check in, everyone gets a badge.  First time check-ins also get a free drink.  There will be other specials too!
  • You can earn up to three badges just by checking in – First-time users get the Newbie Badge, if we get 50 people to check-in, a Swarm Badge and all check-ins to the Brasserie will get the FourSquare Day Badge (remember, Foursquare changed the rules, so you actually have to be there to get points of a badge!) More info, click here.

• Third Street Aleworks is doing happy hour pricing ALL DAY for check-ins… Oh, and if anyone takes away my mayorship they get a free t-shirt! (Not that I am gonna allow that!) More info, click here.
• Cellars of Sonoma is giving away a free flight of their wines to anyone who checks in!  More info, click here.
  

See you in Santa Rosa!

+Shana.

And it was amazing….

I have gone into detail on all my other blogs, so here I will just add some of my favorite pictures from the past month.   Yes, they all have to do with food…..   I am thinking my next client needs to be a gym.

A few weeks back I received a DM stating that I won the Sonic.net prize for their latest Twitter contest celebrating their 15^th year anniversary in business in Santa Rosa.  The 15^th anniversary gift usually calls for crystal but Dane and the Sonic.Net team decided to launch a Twitter-only contest in which they would give away a year of free internet service in a random drawing once a day for fifteen days….  The two requirements for entry  –  to add the hashtag #SonicNet to any tweet and not to get too spammy with the #SonicNet tweets.

So there I was, just days after signing the lease to my new office in Downtown Santa Rosa (25 Old Courthouse Square, Santa Rosa, Ca 95404) looking at pricing for business connections and I heard about the contest.   Of course, I posted many different tweets from both my @sharayray account and my newly created business account @twofivemedia.  Each tweet talked about how awesome it would be to win Sonic.Net internet for the new office.  My winning entry below.

Now I sit in my new office with my business partner Philip Wyers, with high speed internet and a giant smile on my face.  Such an amazing first step to opening our new agency, 2five Media.

Over the years many people have told me that I would make a great teacher, that I have a commanding voice (I think they mean loud) and now it is official – I am breaking out the glasses, the khaki pants and a plain blue blouse (memories of Mr. Murdock and Mr. Kaufman my two favorite teachers in high school) because I am going to start teaching social media classes for the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau.

The Sonoma County Tourism Bureau (SCTB) recently started an extensive social media campaign and in addition to a presence on Twitter (@InsideSonoma), Facebook and YouTube,  as well as their blog Inside Sonoma, they are also trying to get Sonoma County businesses involved in the web 2.0 world.

This is where I come in….

Starting in April I will be holding beginner social media classes at the SCTB headquarters off of Airport Blvd in Santa Rosa for Sonoma County business owners.

In addition to teaching people what social media is and why they should incorporate it into their marketing budgets, I will be teaching people how to set up Twitter and Facebook accounts and giving basic tips on how to start thinking about an overall social media campaign.  If you know of anyone in Sonoma County who wants to be a part of the social media world, yet doesn’t know where to start then please let them know about these classes!

Dates and Times:

Wednesday April 14^th 10:00 -11:30AM

Wednesday April 29^th 10:00 – 11:30AM

To RSVP, please contact Keri Hansen at the SCTB:

khanson@sonomacounty.com

707-522-5815 or 800-576-6662

www.SonomaCounty.com

Depending on the response of the classes, we will dive deeper into developing social media strategies, so if you want more classes, please feel free to request them from the SCTB and help refer others to my beginner classes!

I was told by one of my male friends that my posts as of late have been a bit pessimistic and that I should write about something pleasurable and not just promotions or brands that upset me.  Though I don’t believe him, especially looking at the overwhelming exceptional customer service I received (and wrote about) from my favorite wineries over the past two Barrel Tasting weekends, I figured I would take a look at some places I have been to recently that I think have the right idea.  Two Sonoma County restaurants instantly came to mind.

Jack and Tony’s Whisky Bar- They opened up in Railroad Square in downtown Santa Rosa last month, but local Sonoma County chef, Jack Mitchell (of Sassafrass) knows that a good restaurant is nothing without a great staff who is dedicated to providing a memorable experience.  They literally rolled out the red carpet for their customers this past Wednesday.  It was their Grand Opening celebration and no matter how cheesy it sounds, the party was in fact  Grand.

A limo drove guests from the Santa Rosa Hyatt and dropped them off at the front door.  Here guests were greeted by a red carpet and a smiling Jack saying “thank you” for coming.  For part of the day, a paparazzi style photographer snapped candid photos, the mayor showed up for a ribbon cutting ceremony and they gave away free appetizers.  The drinks were delicious and the garlic parmesan fries were cooked perfectly.

Jack personally went from table to table to greet each of his guests and to chat for a bit.  It will be interesting to see if they can keep up this level of great customer service, but as Jack told me “He had the best restaurant staff to choose from in Sonoma County,” so look for people who know what they are doing.

Bovolo Restaurant- One several different wine tasting occasions, myself and a group of wild women have entered into Bovolo (behind Copperfield’s on the Healdsburg Square) to dine on their infamous mac and cheese and carbonara dishes.  Other than my friends being obsessed with the handmade bacon, we go there because they offer free corkage for locals and I have a bit of a crush on one of the staff members at the cash register.  I like that you order off the menu at the cash register and you go to sit down, it brings a more informal vibe to the place.

We tend to get a bit rowdy, so instead of yelling (which has happened at various restaurants or hotels), the staff will come in the back and simply ask us to keep it down.   I understand that sometimes we need to be reminded to use our inside voices, but asking us nicely goes much further than coming back and acting like we are ruining your life.

(Bovolo picture taken from Google Images)

Both of these restaurants have proven to me on more than a few occasions that it is the simple things that create an experience worth coming back for.

His reaction to my question was that he hadn’t thought about that and he wasn’t sure how to go about finding the right person to help him out.

This comment got me thinking about local photographer/creative director/social elite Todd Brilliant’s new project the Creative Job Agency and the large number of freelance creative people I know around the area.

The CREATIVE JOB AGENCY will position itself as “LinkedIn for Creatives,” only with a real-world social element that will help form and cement critical professional relationships.

What is great about this “agency” is that it allows like-minded creative people to network, online and offline to discuss work opportunities and possible collaborations.   It is a great opportunity to meet freelancers and build up your list of recommended graphic artists, website developers, pr people, etc.  What it doesn’t do is get the word out to other, non-creative businesses and people who might be looking for our services.  That is up to us.

My current side business (still in initial start up phase) is social media and public relations focused, which is not a discipline that local businesses usually think to use when budgeting their marketing dollars.   This means it is up to me to get out into the community to let them know that I am available to help them cheaply market their brands online.  I currently am doing this by networking with business owners and other creative people, linking businesses that might not need my services with other freelance people that can currently help them.

Other reasons a freelance PR/Marketing/Website person might be the best answer for you*

1. Price -  Freelancers do not have the same overhead as agencies, which means it costs less for them to create
2. Attention – More personal attention because they have less clients
3. Localized services – Help keep freelancers in business and they will continue to live in Sonoma County and help out the economy instead of moving away to work at agencies in the big cities
4. Talent -The lack of work  in agencies means that talented people (like me) are doing more side work

So before you go looking for a Sonoma County agency, ask yourself if you know anyone who might know a freelancer that could help you out.

*Sorry to agencies I have previously had worked for or will work for in the future.  I am not discounting the work that any Agency does, but during economic hardships, I think that freelance work is the better choice, especially for smaller businesses.

Even though hard working people are being laid off every single day, the downtime allows people to assess their situation and do something about it. As Scott Ginsberg, motivational speaker and business blogger says in a recent article titled How to Dance in the Rain of Our Current Economic Storm:

Take advantage of your downtime to accomplish projects and activities you wouldn’t be able to do if you were booked solid.  With this approach, you’ll probably end up accomplishing more than ever…

In tough times, one still has to believe that hard work, dedication, creativity and persistence will (hopefully) prevail.   I am lucky to have inspiration from my father who owns a carpet store in Santa Rosa.  Many other carpet stores are closing down because of lack of sales, but my dad has managed to not only stay afloat, he is actually still doing relatively well.  When this recession ends and consumers start having more confidence to start buying products, he will be the one they will buy carpet from because he will still be around.

Will your business be around at to see the rainbow at the end of the storm?   What?  Too cheesy?  How about will your business stay afloat after the hurricane?

One thing that Sonoma County businesses can do to help make sure that they stay afloat is to invest in Social Media Marketing.   An unfortunate trend I am seeing at both the national and local level is that brands are cutting back on most or all of their marketing budgets to save some money.  This is fine, if you want your competition to hog the spotlight and take away your business.  But, if you want to stay relevant and keep your brand on top of mind when consumers do get their purchasing confidence back, then you need to keep on reminding them that you are still here.

Top Reasons Sonoma County businesses should use Social Media Marketing to publicize their brand online:

1. It is cost effective
2. It provides national coverage (especially great in such a touristy place such as this)
3. It can improve SEO rankings and website traffic
4. You can be responsive to negative comments (as well as thank those with positive comments)
5. It also provides the opportunity to connect with other members of your community

Chris Brogan, Social Media guru has an awesome post back in October of 2008 on using social media to help you get through the economic downturn.

New Media Type, a Web 2.0 blog explains that Social Media Marketing is sometimes the first to be cut because of the unknown but that it shouldn’t be.

My dumb ass was too much of a procrastinator when it came to actually purchasing a ticket so I wasn’t able to buy one before it sold out. Thankfully, I am now helping out with the CIA’s Blind Tasting Challenge so I am now able to get in! Whoo hoo.

The best part of the event: meeting all of the people I talk to on Twitter on a daily or weekly basis, including @winebratsf (whom I have already met and already know she kicks ass) of Vinquire and Luscious Lushes Wine Blog, @Sondara of WannabeWino, @DrXeNo of WineLog Blog, @smellslikegrape of Smells Like Grape Wine Blog and those are just the ones I talked to today…  There will be many, many others that would take me all night to write down.

Any wine bloggers reading this right now: I will be the one handing out Scharffen Berger chocolate, so look for me at the event!

More about the event next week, for now I leave you with a quote from everyone’s favorite internet wine geek, Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV.

“People are always talking about what you’re doing now… To me, it’s not what you’re doing now, it’s about where you’re going.”