Ins and Outs of Social Media for Small Wineries Part 1: Planning Your Social Media Strateg
When I proposed the topic "Ins and Outs of Social Media," I knew it was going to be a difficult beastie to tackle. But I also knew how important it is to the future of wine marketing for the smaller wineries and so when that topic won the vote (WHY couldn’t y’all have voted for "Common winery website mistakes?"), I started researching what would be the most beneficial Social Media (SM from here on out and NOT to be confused with S & M) avenues for you to pursue and how to utilize them.
Because this is too large a topic to tackle in one post, I’m going to break it up into sections with ‘Planning Your Social Media Strategy” appearing today, and then an indepth review of one or two Social Media sites will appear each following Monday. Since SM is especially challenging for small, boutique and micro wineries who do not have the budget for a marketing and/or social media director, my focus in these reviews will be how each SM site could (or could not) benefit you, briefly explain how it works, and some ideas on how to use it. Next week, I’ll be posting my review of FaceBook.
Define Your Goals
Although it may seem like a constantly growing, complicated entity, SM should be treated just like any other marketing tool in your arsenal and you need to develop a strategy on how to use it. Your first step? Deciding what you hope to gain from your SM efforts. Do you want more site visitors? More wine club sign-ups? Wine sales? Tasting room visits? Defining your goals will help you decide which SM avenues will benefit you the most.
Choose Which SM Sites to Pursue
Now you need to decide what SM sites will not only benefit you the most, but also which ones you would be able to successfully participate in. For example, although YouTube could help you in your marketing efforts, if you aren’t interested in videography this would not be a viable option for you.
After A LOT of research, I’ve put together a list of what I feel are the most important SM sites for small, boutique and micro wineries. Please know this is by no means a comprehensive list of ALL the SM sites out there!!! Its just the ones I feel we have heard the most about and/or have the most potential to help you achieve your goals. (I’ve included some that may not be very beneficial just because I’m sure you’ve heard of them and if I don’t list them, you’ll wonder why.)
This list could possibly change over the next few weeks as I start reviewing them and if I’ve missed anything, PLEASE let me know!
- Yelp
- YouTube
- Flickr
- StumbleUpon
- Winery Blog
- Cruvee
- digg
- Delicious
- Friend Feed (I didn’t think this one was a big deal until I found out it was purchased by FaceBook)
- Yahoo Answers
Set Up Tracking
Before you actually start participating in the SM of your choice, it is INCREDIBLY HELPFUL to have tracking tools in place so you can measure your SM effectiveness. The two tracking tools I recommend are Google Analytics and Google Alerts (which I discussed here).
By setting these up, you’ll know when and where your wines/winery are mentioned on the Internet and if this has affected your website visits. Both of these tools are free, only requiring you to set up a Google Account.
Decide How Much Time To Invest EACH DAY
Because Shana Ray of Breath Media explained this so well in her planning for her presentation for the Social Media Success for Wineries panel at the Wine Industry Technology Symposium, here is a direct quote from her website:
15 Minutes Per Day
"First I want to talk about the VERY bare minimum that is recommended – 15 minutes a day. This is the starting point of listening to what is being said about your brand and your competition online."
"Within these 15 minutes a day you may find time on Twitter to send out a few links to promotions you are doing or to great articles about your brand and hopefully reply if anyone says anything about your brand, but this doesn’t give you enough time to engage people."
1 Hour Per Day
"By putting in one hour a day, you allow for engagement with your followers and online friends. You can create actual relationships with bloggers, journalists and consumers. Do this both on Twitter and Facebook, but you can also do this on the blogs themselves. Take some time to read some wine or food or travel blogs and interact on these websites, many times you will get new followers simply by making a well written comment."
"Set some time each day in the morning when you first get into work and then in the afternoon to be on these sites – Ask questions, post links, have conversations and go beyond the small talk to get to know people."
You can read Shana’s entire article at here.
Get Started!
Beginning your SM campaign is more then just setting up accounts and participating. It also involves linking to your SM accounts from the home page of your website and getting everyone involved. Let your tasting room staff know about any ‘Twitter’ promotions and encourage visitors to post comments and pictures about your wines/winery on your FaceBook page.
Understand SM Success Won’t Happen Overnight
Building relationships through SM takes a long time — so plan to be in it for the long haul and try to make it a regular part of your business life.
Next Week: FaceBook
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Tags: small wineries, social media, social media for wineries, social media strategy, wine marketing