Back to Basics: What Can Social Media Do For You and Your Winery?

On Dec 1st I published a blog post entitled: ‘Winery Guide to Measuring Results of Social Media Efforts. Click Here to read that post. I think I posted about Measuring results a bit preemptively. Perhaps you know what Social Media is, but are curious about whether or not you should be on-board. If that is the case, please read on. I have done some thinking and have taken those same Social media proponents spoken about in the Dec 1st post, and have compiled a list of how Social Media can help your winery or business. This post is dedicated to Woodinville’s NW Totem Cellars, whose efforts to be a unique and small production winery will very soon be coupled with a Social Media campaign (they have reached out to me and expressed an interest in getting their presence off the ground). Please help them out by following them on Twitter: @NWTotemCellars.

When done properly,

• Social Media are an extension of customer service and relations. Social media allows customers direct, and often real time, interaction with and access to you, your staff, and family (if you so chose). When done right, it also offers clients and potential clients the feeling of exclusive insider access (“you hear it first”, coupon codes, new release info etc). It also allows you as a business direct access to what people are saying about you, and allows you to jump in on the conversation.
• Social Media establishes trust through dialogue, participation, and conversation. Rather than speaking ‘at’ your customers, and telling them what you want them to hear, social media enables you to listen and exchange ideas with them. This provides a human touch and puts a human face on your business.
• Social Media increases your reputation. Providing information and/or services free of charge (via blogs, articles etc), you not only develop customer appreciation, but also become a respected authority/expert in your field.
• Social Media increases word of mouth and recognition. The more people that are talking about you and/or your products on the web, the more people that are talking about you to friends, family coworkers etc. in the ‘real world’ Here is an example of how powerful this can be.  There are currently more than 300 million active Facebook users, the average of which has 130 Facebook friends. If you get just 10 of them to post a comment mentioning you, that comment has the potential to be read by 1,300 people, who may then mention you in their own comment posts!
• Social Media efforts lead to an increase in SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Once efforts to increase product/company mention online become established and implemented, online mention of your company, and any other topic that you may be blogging, tweeting about, or discussing online will be directly connected to you when someone searches said topics. For example, if you write, post, and publish enough articles with the key words “ fine wine on a budget”, when someone does an online search to find out how they can afford good wine on a tight budget, your company name appears at the top of the list. 
• Social Media , when done properly, increases sales. Social media efforts that have a strategic focus, plan, and goal, as well as a properly maintained and executed campaign, will result in an increase in sales. Trust building, increased visibility, reputation, word of mouth, and SEO all directly increase the amount of interest, foot traffic and sales for your business.

All of these factors tie in together. Social Media is cyclical and aspects of it are interwoven. This can make it a tricky endeavor to trust due to the nature of the difficulty in measuring results. I have offered a few ideas about measurement, please feel free to check out my Dec 1st post. Also, as always, please feel free to contact me directly if you would like more Social Media tips or an in-person one on one tutorial.

Seattle Wine Gal: Social Media for Seattle Area Wineries and Wine Shops