Everyone is talking about social media. In fact, that is what social media is, getting everyone talking. But are they talking about you? And if so, what are they saying?
So perhaps you do want to be involved in social media. What is social media anyway? Social Media is simply a set of tools to enable individuals and businesses to communicate easily with other individuals and businesses.
Unlike traditional media, social media is a two-way street. Traditional media, whether it is newspapers, TV, or even websites, is a one-way street. Information comes from the source, and is distributed to the readers, viewers, and users.
But with social media, everyone creates content, and everyone absorbs the content that is created—if they choose to pay attention to what you create.
So it’s important to get people to pay attention to you. But here’s an important question: How? And Who?
And the answer to that is called a strategy.
But a strategy really doesn’t need to be a dozen people sitting around a conference table for 6 months figuring it out. That is quite daunting. There are just a few steps involved, and that involves asking questions about both your customers and yourself:
1. Know your customers. Are they young, impulsive, eager to try something new? Or are they older and buy full cases of your $200 Cabernet solely by allocation?
2. What is lacking in your current marketing efforts? Are your sales declining in restaurants, in the wholesale market, at the winery itself, through the wine club? Or do you sell everything you make and then go skiing in Switzerland for 6 months?
3. Do you have a marketing department and/or a large staff generally? Do you do everything including making the wine and sweeping the floors or are you a multi-brand Mega Winery?
4. Are you looking to establish new brands? Social media is great for this.
5. Look at the existing social media sites and see where your competitors are. Do they know something you may not?
6. Are you patient? Or are you the type to expect results from Day One?
7. Are you nimble enough to change tactics and strategy if necessary?
All of this is relevant to what strategy to pursue. And it will be different for each winery. And monitor the results and make changes based on what you find.
Most important though for the winery to think about, if you don’t really “get it,” if you just don’t see the point of social media, then don’t do it. You won’t do it well, and may actually harm your brand.
And sometimes the best strategy is to sit it out until it is clear just how to monetize all this. There’s no need to buy commercial time on TV if you don’t know whether your customers are watching 60 Minutes, Desperate Housewives, or the WWE Smackdown.
Plan your destination first. It’s better to be left behind at the station than to get on the wrong train.
-Larry Chandler
Add a comment
