Social Media and the Wine Industry: A really Goode job search is now over!

Talk about an intense time… some are still catching up with sleep. I am of course referring to the crazy happenings over in Napa Valley Sonoma County, Healdsburg to be exact and the wrapping up of a really goode job application process.

Fascinating to notice in myself how hyped I was and virtually glued to my screen as the show was underway… what an incredible media smorgashboard! Simply delicious. Live Ustreams, tweets a-flutter, and blog posts galore, not to forget the traditional media-gone-online!

Murphy-Goode Wine Country Lifestyle Correspondent

Hardy

By now you have all heard, Hardy Wallace aka @goodetobefirst, @dirtysouthwine, who is no stranger to this blog, a frequent commentor as well as guest writer to this blog (Tube Mogul) has been chosen to represent the Murphy-Goode winery online.  How exciting!

You can read some of Hardy’s great wine content on his Dirty South blog, his Goode to be first blog.  You can meet him on Facebook and you can listen to his tweets on twitter @dirtysouthwine and @goodetobefirst.  Perhaps it is a good idea to check out Murphy-Goode’s “A Really Goode Job” page periodically in case Hardy starts a new blog up there?

I will always remember Hardy as one of my first contacts in all things wine, his quirky sense of humour and his gentlemanly manner.  He really impressed me on Randulo’s radio broadcast The New Wine Consumer:  This is where I realized that I have still got a lot to learn about what it means to be social.   The guy is simply curious and polite at the same time, you gotta like him.  All the best to you and Murphy-Goode, Hardy!

Murphy-Goode Intern and Murphy-Goode Consultant

Rocky

Kamary

And there were a few surprises along the way: Rocky Slaughter will be starting up soon as MG’s intern (and if I understand correctly, he is planning for a whole year) as well as Murphy-Goode TV’s Kamary Phillips as consultant.

Rocky can be followed on Twitter @RockySlaughter or on his blog.  Of course you can also give him a shout out on Facebook as well!  Kamary Phillips has created the first new post MG application blog and internet campaign:  Wine Time TV.  I would love to encourage you to go visit his new blog as I happen to know that he has a bet going concerning the traffic he can generate…  You can also follow his tweets @winetimetv or become a friend of  WineTime Facebook.

So it should truely be an interesting summer and fall with Murphy-Goode!  Looking forward to learning along side of Hardy, Rocky and Kamary!

Three Cheers:  Hip-Hip-Hooray!

Congratulations to all the top ten for making this such an incredible learning experience for those of us who have been tagging along. We look forward to seeing how you move onward after this incredible experience.

Best wishes go to Hardy. You have owned this job from the start, Hardy. It has been a pleasure to get to know you online. You are a gentleman, a bundle of energy, passionate and you look great in purple !

Rocky, you are in for an awesome ride. I look forward to learning from you as you move through this year. It is really exciting to be able to observe you as you grow in the field of social media and wine. May your water bottle be filled and energy levels stoked!

Kamary, it has been a pleasure to encourage you along the way. You seem to be the “surprise” of the day as I certainly (and I am most definitaly not the only one) did not expect there to be a third position offered (or perhaps we should be calling you the “sleeper of the vintage”?)!  But you have come out of the starting blocks very quickly with your new platform Wine Time TV.  I look forward to watching you grow this network!

How to Conquer Distractions

Yesterday I set out to do some savvy female multitasking — you know, the let’s-kill-6-birds-with-one-stone stuff…  So I grabbed my vid. camera, ironing board and hoards of pressing material and decided to get y’all steamed up and stoked to see a more feminine side of me. They don’t call me Iron Lady for nothing.   Just sayin.

You will see, the video actually turned out way better than I could have staged it.  *Some* of my kids were driving me nuts while I was “working” and I had to edit those fine (personal) moments when I bellowed at them to stop-distracting-me-can’t-you-see-I-am-busy ranting…  While I was getting all huffy about my unruley children, I was fully unaware that essentially, they were just showing you an even deeper look into my life and totally underscoring the message I was trying to convey…

So here is my video on How to Conquer Distractions with guest appearances by my 8 year old (the kid with the banana, face maker and trouble maker) and a very short view of the 5 year old (and if you listen, he speaks German to me…).  I will let you in on a wee secret.  They are truely capable of being even more intrusive and annoying.   Like when I am on the phone or when I am sitting on the pot.  Then they always need my immediate attention.  Yeah.  I am lucky that way, I know.  Go ahead and be jealous.  Really.

The Action Machine by Derek Franklin

But essentially you don’t need to spend a dime on the software if you have a pencil and notepad on hand… (but my kids keep taking these instruments away from me… and using them to draw plans for their catapults and other medieval *stuff*).

How do you stay on track?

Wine Social Media “I’m in” Squidoo page: How does it work?

The squidoo lense was created to highlight everything going on around the Murphy-Goode Wine Country Lifestyle Correspondent Social Media campaign – including your own efforts to help MG move forward while working on your own social media skills and keeping your profile up front for wineries looking to join the SocMed scene.

Wine Social Media: I’m In! (squidoo lense)

Presently there are the following modules on the page to highlight your action and MG action:

Wine Social Media Whiz: an introduction to the purpose of the page

Ingredients for Wine Social Media: a list of the contents (with hyperlinks) to all aspects of the squidoo page

Murphy-Goode in the blogs: everytime someone mentions “areallygoodejob”, “murphy-goode”, “murphy-goode wine country lifestyle correspondent” on a blog and google picks it up, it will be show cased here

Wine Social Media: I’m in: this is the up-to-date live twitter stream for the hashtag #imin as defined on the post How to leverage the social media action around the murphy-goode campaign:  I’m in! – this can have direct links to your journal blog stating how you strategically move forward to further your own campaign, showing potential future employers how you are progressing, where your talents and strengths lay and how you manage your way around your weaknesses (excellent chance to push yourself ahead of the crowd here).

“A Really Goode Job” google search: A really Goode job with the same keywords as in the blog search – same principle, when news releases go out with the tags and google catches them, this will be fed to the squidoo page

Murphy-Goode Top 10: the top 10 are featured on the squidoo page. If you want to increase your chances of going places with SocMed, consider following and networking with one or more of these people, cause chances are very good that they all get picked up by wineries in the next few months…

Social Media on Squidoo: just some advertisment for other lenses which I thought may be of interest to you, I’m open for suggestions, especially if you create your own lense related to SocMed or your wine campaign…

Social Media Tips via AndysGoodeLife: Ok, is this spammy? I put my feed from my blog tips on the squidoo page…

Wine Social Media–Give us your juice!: a chance for any and everyone to leave a message, encourage one another, ask questions, say hello and write the usual “Killroy was here” texts…

A Really Goode Job: Here is the official feed of the winery twitter account. Once the WCLC sets up shop, I will add that specific feed too.

Social media, social marketing & social networking job opportunities: diverse up-to-date job offerings for social media gigs.

Hot tech gadgets: cause essentially, we are all a bit geeky when it comes to techie gadgets, no?  Just some up-to-date posts about gadgets for those who might be interested in seeing what is out there.

And last but not least (and no where near exhausted) tossed all over the whole squidoo page will be all submitted videos for the MG gig, so you will also be profiled there too.  Please leave a comment down below if you want me to use your YouTube channel instead of MG’s to increase your exposure.

So that is the Squidoo page in a nutshell, you can have a look at it here:  Wine Social Media: I’m in!

Want to read about How to Leverage the Social Media action happening around the Murphy-Goode Wine Country Lifestyle Correspondent position?  Click here

Suggestions, critic, praise, questions?  Hit me up in the comments.

How to leverage the social media action around the murphy-goode campaign: I’m in!

Please read this whole blog post – its a bit long BUT – It will CHANGE YOUR MARKETING LIFE!

WHY should you read this now?

Simple this is your chance to get noticed NOW. . . with the Murphy-Goode areallygoodejob campaign, you probably had the feeling that a lot was not really under your control. Submit a video, get a few votes, write a blog post or two and wait for the MG Gods to make a magical decision. But in the end, many matrixes played a role and perhaps you just weren’t the right fit for the people at MG.

The truth is: Murphy-Goode is the first winery to embark on such a social media journey and many, many wineries (and other businesses) are watching to see how lucrative this method of marketing is going to pay out for MG. What does this mean for you?

Well, if you have been involved by submitting a video, chances are, ‘people’ have noticed you! And although you may not have been a goode fit for MG, you may very well be the perfect fit for someone else!

The time is ripe to place yourself for that awesome social media job you know you would be perfect for!

Interested? Keep reading . . .

I want you to take ACTION RIGHT NOW.  So here is what we are going to do – I am announcing the drumroll please . . .
We were going to call it . . .

“I’M IN – Get Off Your Butt And Market Now”
or the IMINGOYBAMN try and remember that one!

So we will name it:

“WHO IS IN?”

OK lets get into it!

You have already created and submitted your Murphy-Goode Wine Country Lifestyle Correspondent application video.

Now I want you to DO SOMETHING WITH IT!

To start – this is more about the JOURNEY than any big successes.

In this option, we are looking for “action” marketers who can detail / journal each step of the way (what I call mini-milestones).  So I don’t care if this is your first day online or if you are a big time marketer – EVERYONE is included . . .

STEPS:

• Keep up with the MG campaign and be actively supportive throughout the duration.  This is your key social networking that will not go unnoticed!
• Pick a niche (any niche will do, but if you want to target yourself for the wine social media, then you will choose something from this industry)
• Do something with it – ANYTHING
• “Journal” your process / progress (Blog AND Twitter)

This journal is to be seperate from your actual theme blog. For example, if you have a niche blog like Dirty South Wines, then you will want to create an extra blog for the sole purpose of documentation and journaling (like Goode To Be First).  Here on your journal blog,  you will take your notes, discover what works, what needs tweeking and what does nothing for your campaign. It will also chronical your journey for potential social media employers.  Go to wordpress.com or blogger.com and start a free blog to keep your notes on.

ACTION IDEAS (actions to your journal blog in purple, actions to your niche/themed blog in blue):

• Do your keyword research (journal your steps / results or even better record them!)
• Build a Web 2.0 property for your niche (Squidoo, Hubpages, it doesn’t matter just pick one or even better pick MANY!)
• Record a video of yourself (or use a slideshow or screen-capture) promoting your niche market and submit it to Youtube AND put it on your blog too! (take notes to your journal on how well it was received, how to improve…)
• Write an article (or a press release) about your niche and submit it (Ezinearticles, etc)(journal what worked, how the timing was, did the strategy come off well, what was bunk…)
  
• Find another MG candidate, winery or offer that would work with your niche and write about it (even better PROMOTE it and journal your results!)
• Look for opportunities to guest post to other blogs within our circle of participants.

- Key: keep connected with each other and make sure you keep your profile up and active within the MG campaign – the more successful the MGWCLC is, the greater your exposure to those wineries watching on!

BLOG ABOUT YOUR PROGRESS

• If you have not already done so for the MG gig, create a NEW blog for this niche–your take on wine.
• Link to the ‘I’M IN’ lense at squidoo, use this link — http://www.squidoo.com/imin from your niche blog (this is where we hope to all point the wineries to so they can see the pool of awesomeness you all represent within the Wine Social Media networks we have going).
• Start blogging by telling YOUR STORY.
  
• How long you have been marketing, your experiences, your successes, your failures – if this is your first niche project or your 100th. Remember newbies are more then welcome! Tell us who you are and why you are IN in your marketing! (this belongs on your journal blog or if you can wrap it up in a wine story, then you can publish it to your wine niche blog).
  
• Blog updates on what you are learning in researching and promoting this niche – be as specific as you can and post as often as you can.
• Blog about your “growth” during this process and how much you are accomplishing. Remember EVERY step matters and every little action item is a SUCCESS!
• Link to (on your niche AND on your journal blog) ALL of your Web 2.0 properties, article submissions, videos, etc. EVERYTHING you are putting online for each niche. This is the CRITICAL step that future employers will have an eye out for! To see your progress / work.  You will present it differently on each platform, be bold and boastful on your journal blog but also analytical. Wrap it up in a story on your niche blog or have a page with your outer-blog accomplishments.
• Talk about your successes – did you get a page / Web 2.0 site indexed by Google? (take a screenshot of it) did you see any traffic? Blog it!
  

TWITTER YOUR PROGRESS:

• Twitter about your progress and add links in your Tweets to your blog, your Web 2.0 spots etc.
• Twitter about others who are also in the network, about their blogs and web2.0 spots.
• All Tweets MUST include the hashtag: #imin to be included on the squidoo page “I’m In”.

* this is CRITICAL so future employers can track AND judge your progress!
- Example Tweet / Format:
Check out my new Web 2.0 site I just
hit for the “Dog Walking” niche [LINK HERE]
#imin

SCREEN CAPTURE YOUR PROGRESS: (This is all for your journal blog) (or this can be thought of as BRAGGING)

• A key element of understanding “I’m in” marketers (in addition to your Blog & Twitter posts) will be based on how detailed (and how often) you post screen captures of your progress / journey.
• If you have Camtasia or another screencap program feel free to use it. If you don’t we suggest this FREE screencam / capture software its AWESOME – JING Project (click here)
• Take screencaps of your Google rankings
• Do videos reviewing your Web 2.0 sites, how you are promoting on Twitter, ANYTHING and EVERYTHING related to this one niche.
• Video & talk about EVERYTHING from your keyword research, to engaging in social networks like digg, stumbleupon…, to articles, etc. (again this is IMPORTANT)

How to get noticed?

• Be “REMARKABLE” marketers — think of Seth Godin’s Purple Cow
• This is as much about the “journey” and how detailed you are in your Blog posts, Twitter, and IMPORTANT – screen captures (videos).
• Aim for innovation and ACTION (a real effort) No small item is insignificant – everything is an accomplishment (mini-milestone) to be praised! This is for newbies AND experts alike!

IMPORTANT: Every “I’m in” participant who Blogs / Tweets will receive access and exposure on the Squidoo lense, I’m In, setup with the sole purpose to let all you wine social media whizes strut your stuff and bring you together for the wineries to have a hub from which they can see who is in and who is active.  The Buzz you generate can be captured through many different avenues on the Squidoo lense.  For more information on how the Squidoo lense works, please read this post and give me your suggestions, tips and critiques.  I will update the format on a regular basis.

NEXT STEPS / TO BE INCLUDED

• To participate: Post a comment (in this Blog post).  Include your name, email address (not in the comment area, in the admin area) and your Blogspot/WordPress blog (setup as per the above) and Twitter URL
• I will review your Blog and Twitter for updates on a regular basis (but you have to post them in a comment on this blog below or I won’t be able to find you!)
• If you have something cool to show us – then DO IT! Leave another COMMENT in this blog post below (include your name / email and Blog and of course the action items you want to impress us with!)
• Note: The niche HAS to be from a wine related theme if you want to be included in the squidoo „I’m in“ page. You CAN pick multiple niches (we would love you to!). But each niche should be its own Blogspot blog (you can use the same Twitter account for multiple niches)
• By participating, you are agreeing to the rules. Click here to read the rules & disclaimers

YOUR NEXT STEP

Are you IN?

You already know what the benefits are:
(exposure to the wineries who are NOW looking, planning and observing the Murphy-Goode Social Media campaign.)

• Step #1 Create your Blogspot/WordPress blog to track your “journey”
• Step #2 Leave a comment on this blog post BELOW so we all know you are IN and we all can track your progress
  (include your name, email address, Blogspot URL, & Twitter URL)

I look forward to seeing how REMARKABLE you can be!  And I look forward to seeing you go on to the wine social media Hall of Fame!

Lets go. . . . NOW!

Murphy-Goode and Seth Godin’s Purple Cow

What does Murphy-Goode have to do with Seth Godin?

The world is changing ever more rapidly, and the rules of marketing are no different, writes Godin, the field’s reigning guru. The old ways-run-of-the-mill TV commercials, ads in the Wall Street Journal and so on-don’t work like they used to, because such messages are so plentiful that consumers have tuned them out. This means you have to toss out everything you know and do something “remarkable …
Mehr” (the way a purple cow in a field of Guernseys would be remarkable) to have any effect at all, writes Godin (Permission Marketing; Unleashing the Ideavirus). Godin’s wide-ranging advice-be outrageous, tell the truth, test the limits and never settle for just “very good”-is solid and timely.

Murphy-Goode recently placed a purple cow in the vinyard… The question is this:  can you drink the milk of the purple cow?  I do and I believe you can, too!

7 more days… a spectacular week for A Really Goode Job!

It’s the final countdown! I cannot believe how nervous I am, those fortunate 10 must be *oh I don’t know what they must be*–geesh!

Here a little distraction for y’all.

And have a great week. Life will never be the same, no matter what happens!

How to choose the right keywords to rank in the search engines and reach your target audience

Google has recently come out with some very nifty tools for your search engine.  One of them I actually discovered because of scoping the web for any buzz on the wine industry (and I am sad to say I cannot remember *where* I first saw it, only remember it was a wine blogger out there).

I made a quick video to demonstrate how you can pick targeted keywords for your posts to rank well and hit your audience.

more about “Keyword optimization in 5 minutes“, posted with vodpod

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Click here to see it at VodPod (where the screencast is easier to read).

So love to hear about your keyword questions, suggestions and successes, hit me up in the comments!

It’s all Goode — Rock on Kamary!

Viral Marketing Murphy-Goode style

guest post by the young yet ambitious Rocky Slaughter

Around 3:00 p.m. (EDT) yesterday, I checked my Facebook profile only to find that a few friends of mine already knew that I was in the Top 10 for Murphy-Goode’s “A Really Goode Job” campaign.

Not only was I surprised – mainly because I thought I would be the first to know if I made it – but I realized that I had just seen living proof of Murphy-Goode’s success with social media. Some of my friends are so excited about the campaign that they check up on it more religiously than I do, and they didn’t even apply! This is what viral marketing is all about.

The second I confirmed my Top 10 status on areallygoodejob.com I got out of my chair, danced like a complete amateur and ran around in circles with my arms in the air.

Before the news, I was worried because the competition was steep.  After all, I just turned 21 and know very very little about wine (though I’ve been reading books! Watch out ‘the other nine!’). I also know quite a bit about Web 2.0, but I definitely did not have the portfolio that some of the other applicants mentioned in their videos.

As the news sank in, it became clear: Murphy-Goode is serious about letting the world know that wine can be enjoyed by everyone, with any background, at any age, and at any level of sophistication.

This isn’t the first time I’ve been surprised by Murphy-Goode’s eagerness to make wine more accessible. The first time I met Dave Ready Jr. at the Michael Jordan Steakhouse in Grand Central Station, he approached me very casually, wearing a suit jacket with all three buttons buttoned – a relatively standard faux pas in the fashion world. After we shared some really down-to-earth conversation I realized: “This guy has never had to wear a suit in his life. He’s living it up. He is essentially the archetypical version of ‘the man.’”

Anyway, my flight is booked to San Francisco. My thoughts are flying. I am truly appreciative, excited, and just completely jazzed.

I would like to seriously and genuinely congratulate everyone who applied to the job. This goes for both those still in the running and those who didn’t quite make it.

Back in March, I applied for Tourism Queensland’s “Best Job in the World.” I got past the “Top 200” benchmark, but got cut before the “Top 50.” I remember being a bit down for a few days after the news broke, but when the dust cleared I looked back on my video with a smile. Then, I was able to use some of the content from that video for my Murphy-Goode application!

I hope you will find the same comfort in your video and that it will enable you to have success in future ventures. Just by applying, you are by far ahead of many people in the ‘social media world,’ and it’s becoming increasingly important to get connected as the job market shifts in the next few years. Please feel free to contact me so that we can exchange e-mails. Even if I don’t land “A Really Goode Job,” I know some of you fellow applicants will be going somewhere someday and networking is all a part of getting ahead in the Web 2.0 world.

In closing, I really think I bring a unique angle to this job. I’m WAY younger than the other nine applicants and I think I bring an interesting and unique set of skills to the table. I’m a musician, photographer, web designer, traveler, tour guide, press relations expert, baseball player, chef, bartender, and just a laid-back, easy-going college kid who likes sharing ideas and laughs.

That said, I’m not yet 100% established in the career world and haven’t yet developed my ‘artistic ego.’ It is just as important to bring my skills to the table as it is to bring my ‘listening abilities.’ With over three million media hits to the Murphy-Goode site, the marketing team at the winery knows what they’re doing. I hope that I can prove that along with skills and ideas, I will also let Murphy-Goode shape me into a better marketer as I will let them shape me into a wine expert. After all, this dream wine job could be just the ticket to all of my future careers, and this, my friends, is so exciting.

Please check out my website at http://www.rockyslaughter.com . The site is still a bit of a work in progress (things are a bit busy these days…) but I should keep adding content as time continues.

Everyone out there better be having an excellent day!

Rocky

***************

Well, thank you, young man — key thoughts for all of us:  networking will be what brings us together and brings us further in life!

It is my pleasure to feature your video here today, Rocky:

You can also reach Rocky on Twitter @RockySlaughter

Top 10 choosen for Murphy-Goode

To those of us who did not make the cut, you may think the world of wine (social media) is confusing (or the choosing of a wine country lifestyle correspondent), but this video shows you that even the straight forward world of coffee can be just as daunting…

You have run a wonderful campaign and the game is NOT over, regardless which side of the fence you are sitting on.

Stay tuned for further developements and strategies.