I had a fabulous time at Six Sigma Ranch’s “Pruning and Pastries” event held earlier this month! While there, I thought I’d video the event to not only share with Kaj Ahlmann, the owner of Six Sigma Ranch, but also to create a case study to illustrate how the wine industry can leverage off-line activities with on-line conversation to improve visibility, build wine club members, and grow its customer base.
A Wine Council Consumer Tracking Study issued at the end of 2008 stated:
Generation X adults, now mostly in their 30s, are taking to wine in significant numbers. Moreover, the Millennial generation is exhibiting the same receptivity to wine that leading edge Baby Boomers did more than 30 years ago. Like the Baby Boom generation, their numbers are so great as to make their dominance in the market inevitable, and they offer the wine industry the kind of growth potential not seen in more than thirty years.
Since these newer and younger wine drinkers of the current generation are also the major players in Social Media, a winery seeking to expand its sales beyond generational and geographic borders would naturally consider establishing online conversation via a well-targeted social media plan.
The You Tube Play List: “How to Prune a Wine Grape Vine (Spur Pruning)”
I’m pleased with these videos – not only does do they capture my real experience of the day, but also that of the winery: friendly, knowledgeable, and sustainable.
Here’s the link to my YouTube channel where the originals are posted (you’ll note I selected video titles to appeal to both human and non-human inquiries.)
When you click through to my YouTube channel, you’ll see the grey box containing my profile information (in the right hand column) shows the coding you’ll need to put the above videos on your website. Click on the coding in the box next to the word “Embed.” A white box will open underneath, where you can format the video player to match the color of your website. Make sure you uncheck the box for “include related videos” – you want to keep visitors from straying, don’t you?
You can leverage videos like these to drive more traffic to your website, or generate more responses from it….
…Here are some ideas:
Set up a Winery YouTube channel.
The channel’s focus should be the niche market you’re attempting to attract – a station for wine aficionados will have a very different look and content from one seeking to attract a newer and less educated market.
Once the channel is set up, you could either drive viewers directly to your channel, or use the channel as a source for media you will re-purpose at other locations online. For example, here’s “VintageDirect,” a YouTube channel by the Australian “Nicks Wine Merchants”. See how they use this channel to reach out to the entire world!
Create an alternative TV station for your website.
I love Gary Vaynerchuk’s (pronounced “VAY-ner-chuck”) “Wine Library TV.” He’s done a fabulous job branding himself – a kooky, East Coast 30-something guy – into a sizable web presence. Using social media, “Gary V” has managed to take his dad’s liquor store and turn it into an international company with over $45M in annual revenue. Pretty good!
I wouldn’t suggest trying to duplicate Gary’s site. However, I personally believe there is an opening to educate the uninitiated on all aspects of wine. Hey, if you’re a winery owner, contract me to set this up for you! I’d love to take a crack at hosting this type of channel. Combined with a blog on “Discovering the Joy of Wine,” you’d have a fantastic outreach to this vast and mostly untapped market. And, these social media tactics might resonate with your audience using my voice: my knowledge of wine is “emerging”, as is my passion and love for learning more about this mystical beverage.
Attach a video to your press release.
Send an Online Press Release with a video attachment via PR Newswire and other online news feeds. Your release will get better exposure with more media elements added to it.
Develop an “Online Class.”
Want to establish a brand that show’s you’re a friendly place to come and learn about wine? Here are some ways you can establish your winery as a source of knowledge, and as a subject matter expert:
For starters:
Post an education page on your website or blog. Here you could…
- Feature pre-recorded video tutorials (hosed at YouTube, Viddler, or Seesmic)
- Hold a live education session using video conferencing (e.g., Skype)
- Build a discussion forum where people can ask the instructor questions, as well as converse with each other.
Issue a certificate to successful graduates of your “Online Class” (along with a sample bottle of your wine with a special label commemorating their success!)
Learn from Oprah
I love how Oprah leveraged her 10-Week Webinar with Eckhart Tolle on the book “A New Earth” See if you can adapt some of the elements she uses for your online class.
“Wine U”
If you’re really serious about providing education, there’s Moodle – an open-source site where educators join in conversation and create effective online learning sites. My alma mater, Adelphi University, has a Moodle site. Log in as a guest and go to the “Faculty Support Site” (left column) to see “Moodle Tutorials” (again, in left column) on how to create Moodle classes. Check out the “Moodle Introduction” Flash video for a great overview of this powerful development tool!
And, while I’m at it, here are even more social media ideas for the wine industry:
Hold a Contest
“Celebrating with X” ( “X” is, of course, the wine you want the contest to feature.) Set up a blog dedicated to your contest. Invite contestants to post videos and testimonials of themselves celebrating with your wine – at weddings, family reunions, quiet evenings in, etc. Award prizes for the funniest, most interesting celebration, most unique location, most creative, and so on. Post the contest winners on your website.
You not only get enthusiastic contest winners, but you also attract new drinkers of your wine, more wine sales and great testimonials!
Use Twitter to Listen In
Follow the conversation about your winery and your wines on Twitter. Read this ReadWriteWeb posting on how Zappos, the online and wildly successful shoe store, uses Twitter as a core platform for their social media presence. There’s so much you can do with Twitter – I’ll go into more in future posts.
Get Visitors to Weigh In.
You know those little stars you find at the end of posts and pages? Set up ranking and ratings on your website (your website is in a blog format or can be dynamically updated, right?) so visitors can judge your wines and comment on them.
Here’s where your authenticity gets tested – you’ve got to be prepared for the fans as well as the critics. There’s a huge payoff, though – ratings not only establish your credibility as people other than yourself talk about you, but the ratings also allow you to quickly respond to customers who are less than happy with your products.
…and finally.
There are oodles of exciting uses for social media in this industry. It’s important, though, not to use any one of these ideas in isolation. The tactics I’ve suggested here are far more effective when combined in a well-thought out and comprehensive social media plan (that includes analytics, and is connected to other marketing and branding efforts.)
Winery owners, here’s to your social media success – Bottoms Up!
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