ShanaRay.com

To have some fun and let even more people to know about Wisdom of We 2010 I am asking my Twitter friends (and anyone who comes across this blog post)  to help spread the word.  Each person who helps spread the word will be entered into a drawing for a one night stay at the beautiful Hilton Sonoma Wine Country, during the night of the event on September 10th, 2010.

The rules:

Copy and paste the following tweet below to your Twitter account, making sure to use the hashtag #WOW10 & the link http://bit.ly/WOW10

#WOW10 w/ @shelisrael & @scobleizer is all about wine, food & community – Check it out! http://bit.ly/WOW10

More info on the contest can be found on my work blog  Wisdom of We.

I posted an image on my posterous site the other day of a commercial I saw on Hulu.  The commercial for a Buick Lacrosse allowed me, the viewer aka the consumer, the option of which of the three videos I wanted to watch based on what was important to me – the interior of a car, the design or how envious someone might be by seeing me drive this vehicle.  Of course, I chose Envy, because isn’t that part of the reason we purchase items, for an unconscious attempt at getting someone else to notice you.

I have cable at my house but I hardly ever watch it anymore.  Websites like Hulu and other sites where I can watch my favorite shows online have fed my need to watch what I want to watch, WHEN I want to watch it.  And, that is how I look at the online world in general.  I can now watch Days of our Lives at 2AM, while talking to others that are up on Twitter and while purchasing Christmas presents on Amazon.   I make up the rules.

This is the future of retail.   It is all about allowing your customers to customize what they want to read/watch/look at.  Social Media is more than just Twitter and Facebook ~ It is an overall change in the way we access information.  The brands that “get that” will keep our attention.

I work from my laptop which means when not working from my kitchen table, I work out of various coffee shops around Sonoma County.  Mainly in Healdsburg and Santa Rosa, but I have been known to frequent a few in Sonoma, Petaluma and Windsor.

I would also like to add that I worked as a supervisor at Starbucks for over three years while living in San Diego, so I know what it takes to provide great customer service while managing employees.

Many times while working, I tend to twitpic images of what I am eating or drinking or talk about my surroundings.  Mostly I experience great customer service and while my drinks/food may not be outstanding, my overall experience is usually pleasant.

Then there is my experience at one specific place where I have tweeted on three separate occasions about my displeasure with an owner of a coffee shop in Santa Rosa.  I hesitate to call them out because even though I really hate what I have to listen to (I will explain soon), it is such a great location and it is quiet so it is a coffee shop I will be going back to again.  Anyone who lives in Santa Rosa reading this probably already knows which place I am talking about and most likely has had a similar experience.  And, if you ask me, I will gladly tell you their name.

Okay, imagine this:  You are sitting at your table, drinking your tea, eating a bagel at about 8:30 in the morning.  The cafe has two or three other customers on their laptops or socializing with each other.  The owner of the cafe is working from her own laptop at a table near by.  She gets up to talk to the barista and instead of taking her in the back room to discuss work matters, she proceeds to yell (yes, yell) at the young girl, telling her that if she didn’t do the order right she would write her up.  You look at the other customers who also can hear this woman yell and then look at the barista apologizing for her mistake, clearly noting that everyone is listening to the conversation.

Or, another scenario: One of the barista’s is 10 minutes late and the owner yells at her saying she was writing her up… Oh, in front of a short line of customers waiting to order their coffee.

Or, the owner yelling at one of the barista’s for leaving something in the food shelf out.

All of these obviously happened and all of these events could have really been simple matters that wouldn’t be a big deal if handled properly.  In this economy and this new media age, I am astounded that any small business owner thinks that yelling at their employees is a good idea.  In any era it is not good business practice, but with inventions like wifi, Twitter, blogs and Yelp, I am even more in shock.

Employees are usually the first contact that a customer has with a brand.  The servers and tasting room staff and sales people are the people that create an experience for the customer and they are also your best Word of Mouth advocates because they talk about their job to their friends and family, thus bringing in customers that already have a connection with the brand, which means that they will possibly tell their friends and so on and so on.   Why would anyone want to mistreat the people who can make our break your business?

Second, the internet has allowed me to voice my own opinion of this restaurant though Twitter, turning away several people I have talked to about which cafe it is… Even if their Yelp page has 8 comments, all with fairly good reviews (all commenting on the new decor) it is the repeat customers that  make a coffee shop or restaurant stay open.

Anyways, now that I am done with my rant on mistreating your employees, I will end it on a high note.  For restaurants or anyone in the customer service industry, the Food Channel has a few words on building your brand by connecting with your customers.  Also, I just came across an awesome blog called ALL THINGS WOM and their latest blog post on a hamburger joint called Mighty Fine Hamburgers in Austin, TX gave me hope that some small business people still do have the common sense to treat their employees and customers with respect.

I am sure you all have heard…. But I am in Tampa, FL about to partake on the largest and most exciting journey of my life …  Project Y-ine is a social media expose that myself and Ashley, the Beer Wench have created.

We are traveling around the United States, conducing interviews with members of Generation Y that are over the legal drinking age (aka people 21-33).  The project is an attempt to get into their heads and find out what goes on up there when they go to purchase wine or beer at the store. To truly do a study, unlike any other, that focuses on the next generation of wine/beer drinkers.

This first leg of the project takes us from Tampa, through NOLA, Houston & Austin, TX, Southern New Mexico, Phoenix, LA and back up to Northern California — aka The South!

But, you can read all about that here: http://www.projectyine.com.

See you all in a city near you!

Below is an expert from a post from today’s top story on MediaPost Publications: A Tale Of PR And Social Media

Like any disruptive innovation, social media has come at a time when everything in our lives — online and offline — has changed so dramatically. We could almost document the rise of social media over the past 18 months of turbulence in the US and abroad. So it’s no coincidence that social media will become the marketing be-all as we kick off a new decade: social media will be to 2010 what email was to 2000.

We’re starting this journey and mapping out a new course, making it up as we go along, friending each other — PR and Social Media — until we get it right. There are many lessons to be learned and like anything new, there are bound to be mistakes. Practice, after all, makes perfect. Companies big or small are not immune to public ridicule in having “tweeted” out of line or handled a social media crisis poorly. Corporate Tweeting now comes with a 25-page “how to” manual. PR companies, digital marketers and corporate Tweeters – we are bound to mess up along way. The point is that most of us simply don’t know until we try.

The article as a whole is a good one to read for any PR/Marketing person working at for a brand or at an agency getting into Social Media Marketing.  And, yes I am taking just one of the many points that author, Vanessa Horwell brought up.  But I think it is a valid  thought to bring up the idea that social media is NOT the marketing be-all.

It is not.

It is still just as much about the message as it is about the medium.  Social Media is a buzz worthy word, but it is a tool.  A simple and fun tool, yes.  But still — it is only a tool to get your message across.

As soon as people see them like this, the sooner Social Media won’t seem as scary to brands as it once was.