Wine & New Media: A bloggers perspective

Thea DwelleLuscious Lushes Wine Blog

The world is changing! We are becoming mobile, and we are changing the way we communicate with each other. Do you text before you call? Do you tweet before you email?

As evidence of this shift in communication methodologies, today, over 75% of individuals (in the US) belong to at least one social network. Keeping in mind that social networks can be both professional, and purely social, or some combination of each, you are opening up a widely paved path to communication. With word of mouth marketing being the single most influential driver of purchasing, that’s a huge data mine.

One critical factor in new media is mobile media and the use of the smart phone. One source estimates that of mobile phone owners, 1 in 2 will own a smart phone by the end of 2011. Currently, over 1 million iPads have been sold in the US. Not counting alternative smart tablets, like the wifi enabled Kindle or Nook, this is market is becoming more and more savvy and requires access to data on these devices.

Users can read, edit, update and participate in social media from ANYWHERE - 30000 feet, on a boat, in a wine cellar. This emergence of “anywhere” technology means that your customers are accessing information 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and are seeking meaningful content during these times.

What is new media?

Wikipedia defines “new media” as a catch all term meant to include the emerging methods of digital, computerized, or networked information and communication techniques and technologies. Most often, these technologies are digital.

What does that really mean? We’re talking about Facebook, Twitter, social networks like Wine 2.0, Foh Boh (formerly OpenWineConsortium), Linked in, and the wine blog. These can also include sources such as photo sharing services like Flickr, and streaming media sources like YouTube.

We are, at present, witnessing the fundamental shift in how we communicate. this has been on the move for the last 5 years, and we are just at the cusp of these emerging technologies and methodologies.

Smart Phones, videos, wine blogs, oh my! Advances in technology and blogging tools have made the wine world and open dialogue for wine lovers and related businesses everywhere.Blogging in all forms is viral marketing at an extreme. The classic marketing statement still holds true: If I like something I will tell 10 friends who will each tell 10 friends, etc. However, if I have a negative experience or dislike something, that negative viral effect is even more impactful.How do producers, tour operators, application developers and writers relate to each other and communicate? Join me to have a discussion on one blogger’s perspective on how I navigate the winding road of blogging and new media.

Every product is a potential conversation waiting to happen; with over 200000 active wine blogs out there, that’s a lot of conversations! Collectively, wine bloggers have more readers than Wine Spectator.

So, what does it mean for the wine industry?

Is it important and effective for increasing your consumer base and increasing revenue (are you selling more bottles of wine)?

The answer is maybe, and it all depends on you.

These channels of communication are only a portal for you to share your message. But they are important portals. They allow you to communicate with potential consumers in ways you may not have considered previously.

Whichever method or methods you chose to utilize, it’s important to remember the core basics:

• Engage your readers – bring interesting stories and thoughts and discussions to the table.

• Cover what won’t be covered somewhere else – be unique and be interesting! No one wants to read the same thing 4 different times.

• Build a solid and returning fan base

• Listen to your customers – Engage them in your conversations. Don’t talk AT us, talk WITH us!

• Be authentic – it’s ok if you’re not perfect, we aren't’ either. We want to see the REAL you.

Twitter is one of the fastest growing channels in the social media domain. Businesses from mom and pop shops to world wide brands like Nike utilize twitter to embrace and enhance their brand image.

Twitter is about building relationships. If you embark on a twitter adventure, be sure that you are able to engaged with your followers in a meaningful way.

What does this mean? This means you will need to spend a significant amount of time reacting and interacting with your followers. Companies and personalities that are successful on twitter actively engage the consumer and begin conversations. Host a Q&A with a winemaker. Host a discussion about the region you offer tours in.

One such successful business is Twitter Taste Live. Spawned as an offshoot of a wine retailer, TTL actively engages bloggers and consumers by offering scheduled, themed twitter based conversations regarding specific products. Another example is #VinQ, which is run by @Enobytes, a Pacific Northwest organization dedicated to the education of consumers about wine. This weekly twitter based quiz allows people from all over the world to learn and respond to specifically targeted questions regarding wine, in a fun, informal method.

Remember, Twitter is about conversation, and engaging your followers. If you tweet WITH them they will come; tweet AT them, and they will unfollow and possibly speak negatively of your online presence, something you really don’t want to encourage. As it is a conversation, please refrain from scheduling tweets and auto-messaging followers. This is a deterrent, since it defeats the purpose of Twitter being a two-way conversation.

Facebook is perhaps the easiest social media outlet to become involved in. Here, you can create a page for your company, and introduce it to people you know. In turn, people that “Like” your page, can recommend it to their friends, thereby creating the viral marketing that is so powerful. Facebook, like other social media outlets, is inherently viral. It is an opt-in marketing tool, where people choose to Like your page, and then choose to tell their friends about your page.

If you create a page on Facebook, Be sure that you are actively engaging with your audience on your page. you will need to spend a bit of time posting short, meaningful content pieces that people will be interested in reading. this in turn, will encourage your readers to repost this content to their readers.

I also encourage you to have Facebook related contests and deals. Have a prize for your one thousandth “like” on Facebook, or offer an extra percent off coupon for your Facebook followers.

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In contrast, Twitter tends to be more personal than Facebook and requires you to have someone that will interact with your followers. Posting meaningful content that is unique for your Facebook and Twitter audience is key. You should NOT simply repost your Facebook or blog content on twitter. It’s ok to cross post links to blog posts or your website, but there should be some unique content from both areanas.

You will have a cross segment of followers on both platforms, but more so, you will have unique followers on each platform. Part of the fun of social media is that you can create unique content to encourage followers in each space.

Twitter is an excellent resource to promote your blog. It is also an excellent resource to promote mini reviews of your brand. In the case of wine, bloggers and wine lovers often post mini reviews on twitter. Using tools to search for your brand mentions can greatly impact your marketing message. With these search tools, you can rewet, quote, and repost valuable marketing b

Video content can be an important component in your new & social media strategy. Increasingly, video content draws viewsers from across a braoder market segment.

Some successful business that have added video from the wine industry include Gary Vaynerchuck from Wine Library, where video is the mainstay of his blog.

Whne you think about adding video to you program, it is important to have the expertise to product clear, conscise, quality material rather than home grown efforts. This will reflect on your brand.

In the wine business, some ideas for video content include

–Discussions with the winemaker

–Harvest videos

–Virtual tours

–Interactive video such as real time Q&A and wine tastings

What about video content?

Regardless of how you choose to communicate your message, it is essential that you know your audience! The core of any new media program is to communicate with your audience.

This doesn’t mean that you have to have a complete and full demographic profile on hand to refer to, but you should have a basic idea of who your target audience is and who you are trying to attract.

In order to have a real-time knowledge of what bloggers, as well as other people on the internet are saying about your product, brand, or wine, setup Google Alerts. This is a simple, easy process that is and extremely powerful tool that lets your know when your name comes up.

If you open the communication early, you will already know when blogger, as well as consumers on the web – using services like CellarTracker and other wine sites, s are talking about you.

Use search engines on a regular basis to search for your name. This will give you a bigger picture of what is going on.

–Social networks like friendfeed and StumbleUpon are aggregators that take material from many sources and make it public to a personal network. This can be a great resource to spread the message about your brand.

–Finding trends and tracking back to them is the key to successful measurements of ROI. You can, and should, track referneces to your site, including mentions on Facebook and Twitter.

–Track the use of hastage (#hastags) that mention your brand-use coupon codes to promote your business through bloggers

–Use affilliate tracking to track sales from various sites

Keeping Track of it All

Consistent branding is essential. Your message should be clear, across all social media platforms as well as your traditional marketing materials.

Think of international brands such as Nike and Coke. Even though they have progressed through the years, the brand images and core messages are still the same.

Coke is it. Just do it. These messages have been consistent through the years giving these brands a core identity that is internationally recognizeable today.

By buyilding your brand, selling more tours or wine, you will increase your customer base long term. As wine is a long tail business, building a lo9yal customer today will be a long term relationship tomrrow.

Using these new media tools can help you do this indirectly, by building loyal followers who are interested in your brand. Blogging, social media platforms, and social networks help you outsource your PR and marketing to a database of bloggers who can and will build your brand by word of mouth. For free.

Be Consistant

Not every wine business should blog. Sometimes it’s not appropriate. Additionally, it’s important to blog regularly, whether that’s is once a week or once a month. Blogs are an excellent source of information for a wider audience, and you have a powerful tool to keep people updated instantly.You can start your blogging efforts with an update on the harvest, or your most recent tour offerings. Do you have a mailing list? Invite them to view your blog. If these people enjoy your efforts, they are likely to share it with their friends.

And overall social media strategy is more important than a blog. new media will give you more exposure, word of mouth exposure, virual marketing, and new fans. Your message must be relevant. Spam is just spam, no matter what format it’s in.

Don’t expect an immediate payoff. wine is a long tail business, and social meida is a long tale communication technique.

Should YOUR business blog?

How can I get bloggers to talk about us?

Bloggers are not such a picky bunch, but we would like to have some access that the general public does not have access to.

• If you are a tour operator, perhaps offering a local blogger a sample day trip to write about.

• Wine producers should allow bloggers to become familiar with thier products by offering targeted samples.

• .Travel agents can offer bloggers who specialize n a particalr region more information.

Make the experience personal. The best experiences a blogger has is the one that you make unique for them.

Know your audience. Regardless of the type of blogger or media that you are working with, you need to know your audience. Target your media list accordingly. More on that in the next discussion point.

Spread the word - communicate and communicate wisely. Decide what your channels of communication can be. You don’t have to start out all at once. It is better to choose one channel, and use it well, than it is to use all the channels poorly. Social media is an interactive business.!

Wine producers should not be afraid of bloggers and other media representatives. While some may worry that we might paint them in a negative light, by putting your best foot forward, you give a new audience an opportunity to taste your wines at that own pace and formulate their own opinions. My personally developing relationships with bloggers, you can determine who would best be served by discussing your wines, and who might not be the right demographic.

Bloggers do not like being talked AT. We want to talk WITH you. The vast majority of wine bloggers in particular, and bloggers in general, do it for the passion about the subject matter, not because it’s our vocation. It’s important to open the discussion and actively participate in the community. While this doesn’t have to be a full time enterprise, you do need to dedicate some time to communicating in your chosen channel.

Make your writing interesting! We want to hear about your business, and how it impacts us. It is less interesting to hear the same harvest report in a general sense, than it is to hear the specifics of what happened in your vineyard, or what tour you led during the season and why others would enjoy it.

Bloggers and the wine industry must work together. This is not a one way street! Find your voice and talk to us

Be creative, and be involved. It is not the best approach to blindly send emails or sample bottles of wine if you don’t know your audience. Take the time to review the blogs that you are approaching. You don’t want to send a sample of a dry white wine to a blogger who only does big reds for California, as that would not be focusing your efforts on the right demographic.

Wine bloggers are a powerful bunch. We spend most of our discretionary income on wine. We like to explore. If you promote a region, or offer a tour or a product that is related to wine, you should get to know the creature that is a wine blogger. As a blogger who tastes many wines every week, you might offer a new wine preservation system to review. Perhaps you are promoting a book on Port and would like people to talk about it. Bloggers can be very useful in discussing this information online. Co-branded product giveaways can also be useful - if you offer a blogger a product, include a second sample so we can give it away to a reader who expresses interest.

Working with Bloggers - It’s a two way street!

Choose your blogger audience wisely. Do you produce wine from a specific region? Do you offer tours in an area of interest? It is important to know who you want to talk about your business.

A blogger who writes about cosmetics would not be the appropriate audience for a post on a tour operator in Porto.

Likewise, a blogger who focuses on wines under $10 or a small region in California, such as Sonoma, would not be a good audience for your wine if you produce $50 wines from Australia.

What am I getting at? Know who you are communicating with! The most successful press samples are sent with thought and care. Reach out to your list and ask if they are interested in writing about your business. Doing this prevents unwanted spam and solicitation, and also opens the doors of communication early. For winemakers, it also prevents the loss of wine to a blogger who may never taste it because it is outside of the scope of their business.

Take a risk and host a blogger event. Many regions get a bubble of coverage during these events and are trending topics on social media sites. This can add exposure to your business in a very short time period. These events may be a lunch at your winery, a sample tour that you might offer, or a week visiting a region that you represent. These opportunities allow bloggers to learn about your products in a personalized manner, where they know that they will have access to the information they need without trying to compete for attention.

Bloggers offer viral and virtual marketing. Allowing us to enter your family, however temporarily, gives us access to information that we can share with our readers that they might not necessary know.

What?! They didn’t like me?

Don’t take it personally if we don’t like, or don’t write about your wine or product. Wine bloggers in particular often have sample policies posted on their sites for your review, prior to sending out information or product. Again, an introduction email will let you know if we are interested in talking about your product.

If, by chance, we don’t like a product and we do write that, don’t be offended. We are only offering our opinion. It also a critical time for you to reach out to discuss with us WHY we didn’t enjoy the product.

It may be a matter of personal taste, or on rare occasions, with wine – it may be an off bottle.

If there was an issue with another product or tour for example, this is your opportunity to reach out and correct it, thereby allowing us to write a follow piece on how you handled the issue.

Having personal experienced one issue while tasting at a winery, my previously terrible experienced was turned around by a few emails and a follow up visit.

Again, this goes back to communication.

Wrapping it all Up

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Questions & Answers

Thea Dwelle@winebratsf / @luscious_lushes

thea@lusciouslushes.com