Tweeting while Wine Tasting is Fresh & Easy @FreshandEasy

Happy Halloween everyone! This post comes at an appropriate time because today I’m blogging about some of my favorite treats: wine and food!

Fresh & Easy is a newer name among all the grocery options in San Diego. It wasn’t until this year that I went to Fresh & Easy for the first time. I heard many commercials for the place, but there isn’t one in my neighborhood so I never went out of my way to go. I first tried some food and wine from Fresh & Easy earlier this year thanks to my social media buddy @JenBoydSD. Jen is very involved in the community and is a leader for Social Media Club San Diego. Fresh & Easy reached out to influencers and asked them to host a Taste and Tweet.  Twitter has already provided me with many opportunities to enjoy food and wine on the San Diego Bay and taste the Gaslamp while teaching you marketing lessons so when Jen asked if she could host the first Taste and Tweet at my place, of course couldn’t turn away more wine, food and a chance to connect with my social media friends.

I have since hosted 3 Fresh & Easy Taste and Tweets. Here’s how the wine tastings work: They send the host a gift card to cover the cost of the wine and a couple snacks. They also send information about a hashtag, tasting order and suggested appetizers. We are given a specific date and time to host the wine tasting. This way, everyone hosting can taste and tweet at the same time.

This is such a clever way for a grocery store to promote themselves for many reasons so I’m sharing some takeaways that other brands can learn from the Fresh & Easy Taste and Tweets.

1. Provide Value- We are all tired of companies asking us to retweet something for no good reason.  Fresh & Easy provided us with something of value to tweet about and they made it very easy by giving us a relevant hashtag, food, wine and great company to create buzz with. If you’re going to ask customers to use a hashtag or encourage them to tweet something related to your brand, make sure you’re providing value not only to your customer but to potential customers who may read all those tweets.

2. Be Generous- Give away your product and view it as a marketing investment. Many times I see business owners being very hesitant to let people try their product because they see it as wasting money. When it comes to consumable items, sometimes the best way to attract customers is to give them an actual taste of your product. Fresh & Easy was definitely generous by providing at least 3 or 4 bottles of wine for us to taste at each event. Make sure you’re smart about doing this though and you’re not devaluing your product. You don’t want people to think of your product as a free item that they wouldn’t have to pay for. The wine tastings are a little bit more upscale than just sampling something from a street promoter so I commend Fresh & Easy for doing a great job with this idea.

3.  Be Strategic About Your Target Market- My impression of Fresh & Easy is that they’re a grocery store which serves high quality food at the same they are very cost effective. This is a great place for people who are both health conscious but want to shop on a budget. Fresh & Easy made sure that the people they sent gift cards to fit this demographic. With any promotion that you’re doing, it’s important to target the right people. This goes back to one of the basic first steps of marketing and that is to be crystal clear on who your target demographic is.  I have come across many business owners who describe their target demographic as being “everyone”. This mentality isn’t necessarily bad. Of course you want everyone to like your product or business, but think of who is actually going to be your ideal customer to come back and do business with you over and over again.

Alright enough of my marketing lessons! Here are some fun photos from Fresh & Easy Taste and Tweets I have hosted. And yes one of the photos really is Fresh & Easy Wine gone Gangnam style (look closely at the computer screen).

If you are interested in attending a Taste and Tweet in the future, please let me know by leaving a comment below and I’ll include you on the invite list for upcoming events.

Thanks @infinitinews for an Amazing Afternoon at San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival

Social Media is amazing! I keep receiving opportunities that prove this to be true over and over again. From Social Media driving my business, to sending me all over the world to places such as Hong Kong and Beirut, Lebanon to getting me cast in a Microsoft Commercial to connecting me with like minded, awesome nerdy friends, I can definitely say that Social Media plays a significant positive role in almost every aspect of my life!

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Social Media and Infiniti sent me to the San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival! It was such a gorgeous, sunny day in San Diego and I was given the opportunity to enjoy it while sampling some of the finest food and wine. As an aspiring foodie I was in HEAVEN being surrounded by 170 Wine & Spirit Purveyors  and 70 of San Diego’s Top Chefs!

How did this opportunity come about? I’m connected to someone from Infiniti on Twitter. She knew I lived in San Diego and wanted to offer me the tickets on Infiniti’s behalf. Infiniti offers a full-line of luxury performance automobiles that inspire at every turn. They sponsor several culinary events around the country to connect on the epicurean side of inspiration. They were at the San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival to promote Infiniti’s Road to Inspiration sweepstakes for a chance for a two-night getaway in a culinary city.

I’ll let the photos speak for themselves showcasing what a gorgeous day it was in San Diego and how much fun I had!

Thank you again to Social Media and Infiniti for sending me to this amazing event! I’m so grateful and honored each and every time I come across opportunities like this! If you’re reading this, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at any time!