WINE MARKETING: New world vs. Old school ?
Writer: Svetlana Bekker
When I planned to post a photo of a Cassette tape on my Instagram, I was thinking how modern and progressive I thought I was when my dad bought me my first CD Walkman, I was the only kid in the block who had one. People preferred to buy cassettes rather to invest their time and money in exploring something new.
Nowadays CDs are rarely used, cassettes went totally into history. Digital improvement changed the world by creating endless opportunities for businesses to be heard through internet and social media.
Old School – If you opened a winery 30 years ago, how would you sell your wine and get a consumer awareness? You would probably use distributors and retailers that would help you sell it. Of course, some sold directly to the end customers, but the restaurants and the wine-stores helped you to get known. You took part in wine festivals, used PR services and tried hard to get to as much wine consumers as possible. Today you have some new toys to play with – you have the social media channels that frankly speaking are not so new anymore.
New World – Social media is simpler than you may think and as I said before, it’s not new anymore and it’s here to stay. Remember the Walkman story, it’s the same here – if you want to ‘bite into the market cake’ you must adapt. I will show you 8 shades of Social media that may change how you think about it.
Let’s start:
No matter the size of your winery, as a start you should have both – Instagram and Facebook accounts. They work in a different way and both will be important for your business.
YouTube and Twitter also important but not as the other two, nonetheless managing a YouTube channel takes a lot for your time, do you can start with Facebook and Instagram and after some time grow to more platforms.
Who are your ideal customers? Are they under 35 years old? That mean that most of them use Instagram – they love good content (pictures and videos) less commercial content but more fun and educational one. Instagram will be your branding point for the young wine consumers.
Don’t post the same content on both platforms. Yes I know it’s easier to do so, but if you want your content to work better – you should think first what are your goal for this photo or video you want to post; to rise awareness of your brand, tell your followers about things that are happening in the winery, to tell about new wine, to show the vineyards, give a discount to encourage more wine sales.
Pay for Ads only on Facebook, not Instagram. I firmly believe in organic managing of Instagram account and having small campaigns on stories or working with niche micro influencers. Remember that likes are cool, but we are here for the reach and the interaction more – comments, post saves, directly massaged posts and more.
Don’t “boost” your Facebook posts. If you want to donate your money to Facebook and pay for likes do it but there is a better way. Manage small campaigns – by 3 stages of buyer Journey – Awareness stage, Consideration stage and the Decision stage. My favorite one is a 1$ a day campaign (I will talk about it in my next posts). For now, know that you can use your post as a content for a future campaign, but you shouldn’t just boost all posts that you place on your business page.
Facebook Groups is the new “black”. If you part of any group, you can see it already how other wineries and wine stores publishing and cooperating with wine niche groups. The best way would be creating a cooperation with the group manager but also just resharing your content can be quite useful.
Post Videos not just photos. Forbes published in 2017 that after watching a video, 64% of users are more likely to buy a product online. Yes, good videos can help to sell your wine.
After reading this post I expect you to think about 3 things: 1) that if you don't have Facebook and Instagram accounts - you are going to open them before the closest harvest. 2) that you understand that "just posting" on those accounts is not the best option of how you should use social media. 3) That if you are not sure what to do, maybe you should go and get an advisor that will assist you with branding your winery and selling more wines.
Hope you liked this one - next post will be all about Instagram.
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