The wine industry has been one of the slowest industries to adopt internet-based technologies. There is a big opportunity for wine brands to engage directly with those who drink the wine. Relationships sell wine!

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Social Media Marketing
for the Wine Industry
Presented at the Wine Intensive Executive MBA at
Sonoma State University | January 18th, 2013

2. +
About the
Presenter
Founder and Principal at
Earthsite, a digital media
agency for sustainable
brands.
Learn more at
JoeyShepp.com

3. +
Road Map
n Social Media Overview and
Best Practices
n Wine Industry Case Studies
and Resources
n Specific Tools
(Time Permitting)
Ask Questions Anytime!

4. +
Social Media Marketing, Defined
n Social
media marketing as
building a social network of fans,
followers and connections using
relevant and interesting content
that allows businesses to reach
and engage more people and
drive more sales.

5. +
Wine Industry Slow to Adopt
Social Media
n Thewine industry has
been one of the slowest
industries to adopt
internet-based
technologies
n Big
opportunity for Wine
brands to engage
directly with those who
drink the wine
n Relationships sell wine

6. +
Social Media Marketing is Story
Telling
n Consumersexpect
more than just a
product or service,
they want a story to
engage with.
n What
is your brand’s
story? How can you
49% of American wineries have a
make storytelling a dedicated marketing manager
practice? who creates and publishes content
on social networks.

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Social Media Marketing is Getting
People to Talk about your Brand
n The
number one
reason people buy
wine is based on
recommendation.
n Professional
critics
no longer rule
wine popularity

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The New Media Model

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Develop a Content Strategy
n Predefine Topics
n Content Schedule
n Designate Content
Producers
n Cross-Network Posting
n Get
comfortable with
transparency

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Develop a Social Media Policy
n Define your Brand tone
and voice
n What to talk about
n What not to talk about
n What to do when negative
comments arise
n Who to alert when certain
issues come up
n Ultimately, a training guide
for new managers to ensure
the brand voice stays
consistent

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Common Questions
n What should you measure?
n Community: Fans/Followers/Subscribers
n Engagement: Likes/Retweets/Shares
n What is the right ratio of activity to
fans?
n Depends on specific social network
n Generally, the more the better, so long as they are quality
n See competitors for baseline

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Social Media Return on Investment
n Expect 6-12 months to see an
impact on sales
n Allow time to grow your
network… like growing a
vineyard, you must allow the
the vines to grow before you
can expect to get fruit.
n Think of building “Social
Currency” … the more good
will you generate with fan, the
more likely they will share
your product.

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Measuring Social Media ROI
n Online Purchases
n Relatively easy to track
marketing sources to
purchases and correlate
which efforts are selling the
most wine.
n Offline Purchases
n Retail is much harder to track
n Use a “baseline” method
where you check sales before
and after social media
campaigns
n Use VinTank to compare your
social media stats with
compeditors
n Use physical coupons that can
be tracked offline

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Common Concerns
n Negative Feedback /
Complaints
n Respond quickly and
privately
n Seek to satisfy and
delight, not defend
n Time to Manage Social
Media
n 15 minutes a day
n But must stay consistent

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Social Media Don’ts
n Don’t
pitch, overtly
self-promote or offer
incentives to get
reviews or sharing
n Avoid
sharing
personal information
about politics, religion
or other controversial
subjects

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Wine Industry
Social Media Case Studies
and Resources

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WineLibrary.tv – Changing the
Wine World
n Gary Vaynerchuk, author and
public speaker drives social
media.
n Launched February of 2006
n Regular video series, 1000+
episodes
n 40,000 Fans on Facebook
n 966,000 Followers on Twitter

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WineLibrary.com
n Super wine shopping website
n Delivered to your door
n Extensive selection, lots of
“deals”
n Known for excellent customer
service
n Use WineLibrary.TV as a
marketing vehicle

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Cork’d: Social Network for Wine
Lovers and Wineries, Aquired
n Launched in February 2006
n Acquired by
WineLibrary.TV in May of
2007
n User generated content
n Ad revenue model
n 2,000+ new users per
month
n 2,000+ reviews per month

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Vintank – Powering Social
Intelligence for the Wine Industry
n The Wine Industry’s best tool
for connecting your customers
within the social ecosphere
n 1 million wine-related
conversations tracked per day
n Brand mentions, customer
profiles, top customers
n Context to commerce, timing/
customer match, waiting for
the right signal, then taking
action
n $35-$150/month

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Winery Social Index – Top 50

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Sample: Bonny Doon Vineyard

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Snooth.com – Drink Better Wines
n Focused on the shopping
experience, allowing users to
compare prices across
merchants.
n Facebook integration in 2012
allows wine tasking review to
be posted on personal
timelines
n 28,000 Facebook Likes
n 12,000 Followers on Twitter
n 328 on Google+

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Wine-Searcher.com – Price
Comparison
n The Wine-Searcher search
engine lists 5,468,814 wines
and prices from 37,883
merchants around the world
n Wine retailers can include
their price lists for free
n Pro Version
n Access to complete, current
and historical data
n $39/year

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CellarTracker.com – Inventory
Management Gone Social
n Focused on inventory
management, with integrated
professional wine reviews with
personal inventory and
premium service offering
automatic inventory valuation.
n Launched 2004
n Popular Wines
n Tasting Notes by Users

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VinCellar (Powered by VinFolio)
n Online wine cellar
management system
n An active online community
n Tasting notes and reviews
n Seamless integration with
Vinfolio, online store and
marketplace
n Mobile App for Price
Checking

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Adegga – Social Wine Discovery
n Track your favorite wines and
get recommendations from
people you know.
n Organize your wines – track
the wines you taste, make a
wish list or organize your
home cellar.
n International focus
n 4,100 Likes on Facebook
n 2,840 Follows on Twitter

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BottleNotes – Good People. Great
Wine.
n Bottlenotes is the premier online
wine community, where wine
enthusiasts come to learn about
wine, share wine tasting notes, and
buy great boutique and estate
wines from around the world.
n Wine Clubs, Gifts and Registries
n Track Wine in “My Wine Cellar”
n The Daily Sip Email Newsletter
n 167,000 Fans on Facebook
n 11,600 Followers on Twitter

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Using Social Media to Promote an
Underdog Wine CASE STUDY:
Pacific Rim in Portland, Oregon
n Pacific Rim decided to buck traditional wine
industry marketing tactics and go after that group,
investing nearly $10,000 in a social media
campaign to establish its niche.
n “We wanted to turn passive wine drinkers into
riesling zealots”
n Campaign components
n Custom website:
http://www.rieslingrules.com/
n Created and published the “Riesling Rules
Book,” gave away 65,000 e-book copies
n Facebook Page Pacific Rim Riesling Rules
n Catchy videos and calendar cube
giveaways for liking page, 11k fans in first
two weeks
n $1,000 Contest, 15k fans in 10 weeks
n Results
n 30,000 Facebook Fans today
n Selling 200,000 cases of wine a year
n Total Campaign Budget: $10,000

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Specialized Marketing Firms for
Wine and Food
Able Social - NY Grow Creative - Portland

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SF Bay Area Wine Marketing Firms
n Jean Arnold / Founder, Jean Arnold Group, President, Hanzell Cuttings Wharf Road, Napa 94559; 707-253-9065;
Vineyards, 103 E. Napa St., Ste. C, Sonoma 95476; 707-935-7020; www.paladinwine.net
www.jeanarnoldgroup.com n Paul Novak / Owner, Novak & Associates, 3448 Young Ave., Napa
n Veronica Barclay / Owner, Barclay & Company, P.O. Box 71, St. 94558; 707-246-3060;
Helena 94574; 707-963-3185; www.barclayandco.com n Jim Razzino / Weibel Family Wine Group, P.O. Box 87,
n Jeremy Benson / President, Benson Marketing Group, 2700 Napa Woodbridge 95258; 800-932-9463; www.weibel.com
Valley Corporate Drive, Ste. H, Napa 94558; 707-254-9292; n Gib Rockwood / Senior Vice President of Marketing, Wilson
www.bensonmarketing.com Daniels Ltd., 1201 Dowdell Lane, St. Helena 94574; 707-963-9661;
n David Biggar / Managing Director, Vintage Point, 564 Broadway, www.wilsondaniels.com
Sonoma 95476; 707-939-6766; www.vintagepoint.com n Craig Root / Owner, Craig Root & Associates, 10 Upland Road, St.
n Barbara Bowman and Jan Mettler / Partners, Boss Dog Helena, CA 94574; 707-963-7589; www.craigroot.com
Marketing, P.O. Box 1494, Healdsburg 95448; 707-433-8484 n Don Sebastiani Jr. / Director of Marketing, Don Sebastiani & Sons,
n Elizabeth Candelario / Director of Consumer Sales & Marketing, P.O. Box 1248, Sonoma 95476; 707-933-1704; www.donandsons.com
Chateau Montelena, 1429 Tubbs Lane, Calistoga 94515; n Jay Schuppert / President, Director of Marketing & Sales,
707-942-5105; www.montelena.com Cuvaison Estate Wines, 4550 Silverado Trail North, Calistoga
n John Gillespie / Partner, Wine Colleagues, P.O. Box 536, St. Helena 94515; 707-942-6266; www.cuvaison.com
94574; 707-963-9009; www.winecolleagues.com n Elaine Smith / Wine marketing consultant and owner, Wine Savvy,
n Mark Feinberg / Vice President of Marketing, White Rocket Wine 2924 Marty Way, Sacramento 95818; 916-444-1909;
Co., 455 Devlin Road, Ste. 210, Napa 94558; 707-254-4811 www.winesavvyconsulting.com
n Dan Leese / President and partner, 585 Wine Partners, 585 W. First n John Stallcup / Principal, Stallcup & Associates, 3513 Foxridge
St., Sonoma 95476; 707-933-2640; www.585winepartners.com Court, Napa 94558; 707-252-7340
n Christopher Lynch / Chief Marketing Officer, Beam Wine Estates, n Neil Tallantire / Senior Vice President of Marketing, Diageo
375 Healdsburg Ave., Second Floor, Healdsburg 95448; Chateau & Estates Wines, 240 Gateway Road West, Napa 94558;
707-433-8268; www.beamwineestates.com 707-299-2600; www.diageowines.com
n Mike Lynch and Jean Jacoté / Partners, Big Bang n Paul and Jennifer Tincknell / Partners, Tincknell & Tincknell, P.O.
Communications, 10 Brookside Drive, San Anselmo 94960; Box 1879, Healdsburg, CA 95448; 707-433-3671;
415-250-2373; www.bigbangcommunications.com www.marketingwine.com
n Christine Martin / Owner, Firefly Creative Co., 432 Center St., n Dan Wildermuth / Vice President of Marketing, Rodney Strong
Ste. A, Healdsburg 95448; 707-433-6044; www.fireflycompany.com Vineyards, 11455 Old Redwood Highway, Healdsburg 95448;
n Michael Merriman / Owner, Paladin Wine Marketing, 2081 707-433-6521; www.rodneystrong.com

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Social Media Jobs in Wine
n 14 Jobs Listed Currently on
WineJobs.com relating to
“Social Media”

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Social Media
Recommended Tools & Tips

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Facebook Stats 2012
n Over 1 billion users
n 71% of US Population is
using Facebook
n 40% of Facebook users are
age 35 and older
n Wineries on Facebook
n 94% of U.S. Wineries Are On
Facebook (73% on Twitter)
n 47% of US wineries said that
Facebook helps them
generate sales (72% sell
wine on their website)

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Facebook Page Strategy
n A “Page” is different than a
personal profile
n Graphic Setup
n Content Production
n Apps (i.e. Contests)
n Wildfire
n Social Candy
n Insights (Stats)

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Facebook Content Examples
n Questions: Polls and surveys
n Event homepages and
registration pages
n Archived email marketing
newsletters
n Links to Blogs (yours and
others’)
n Links to Websites (yours, and
others in your area of expertise)
n Relevant videos, photos and
podcasts

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Twitter – Pulse of the Planet
n Short Format Blogging
n 140 character limit
n Totally public forum
n Focus on headlines/links
n Content
n Listen/Respond
n Frequent updates
n Gaining Followers
n Monitor keywords related to your
brand and competitors
n Follow others, hope for follow-
back
n Recommended Tools
n Hootsuite
n TweetBot for iOS and Mac
n TweetDeck

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Facebook vs. Twitter
n Facebookis the
superior social media
platform for
generating sales (48%
for Facebook vs. 28%
for Twitter).
n But Twitter
is seen as
better at capturing
media attention (53%
for Twitter vs. 32% for
Facebook).

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YouTube – The New TV
n Get comfortable with video
n People love video
n Reveals transparency
n Demonstrate Lifestyle
n Single Cut Videos avoid
editing!
n Setup YouTube Channel
n Graphics and branding
n Regular video uploads
n Build playlists of other
favorite videos
n Respond to comments

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Pinterest – A Social Scrapbook
n What is Pinterest?
n Pinterest is a visually-
beautiful, digital bulletin
board that takes your
magazine cutting and
scrapbooking habit online,
and makes it searchable for
others with similar interests.
n Visual Lovers Paradise
n Pinterest is perfect for
wineries and wine regions
looking to engage potential
customers online with cool
visual (image + video)
elements of their winery and
wines, pairings and recipes,
new label ideas, etc.

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Instagram – Photo Blogging
n Mobile-Based Platform
n iPhone/Android Smartphone
Cameras
n Filters for the Romantic
n Easy to apply filters allow
for artistic photos
n Photographer on Staff
n Define Instragram
photographers who can take
photos of the everyday
work, events, behind the
scenes and lifestyle shots.

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LinkedIn – B-to-B Networking
n Setup Complete Profiles
n Employee Profiles
n Company Profile
n Participate
n Join Groups
n Read News
n Post Links/Info
n Input Contacts
n CardMunch Mobile App

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Email Marketing
n Email Still Vital
n People Check Email First
n Setup Mechanics
n Email Template
n Subscription Forms
n Import Subscribers
n Recommended Services
n MailChimp
n Constant Contact
n Vertical Response

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Questions?

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References & Sources
n http://www.slideshare.net/pierrickbouquet/social- n https://www.facebook.com/pacificrimwine
media-marketing-in-the-american-and-french-wine-
industry-in-2012 n http://vincellar.vinfolio.com/do/vincellar/home
n http://www.winesandvines.com/template.cfm? n http://www.cellartracker.com/
section=news&content=104433 n http://cruvee.com/brand-index/score
n http://www.winesandvines.com/template.cfm? n http://www.slideshare.net/jonjoseph1/corkd-case-
section=news&content=104433 study
n http://readwrite.com/2012/05/28/94-of-us-wineries- n https://winelibrary.com/
are-on-facebook-73-on-twitter
n http://tv.winelibrary.com/
n http://www.slideshare.net/pierrickbouquet/social-
media-marketing-in-the-american-and-french-wine- n https://winelibrary.com/
industry-in-2012 n http://garyvaynerchuk.com/
n http://www.winebusiness.com/classifieds/winejobs/?n http://www.winesandvines.com/template.cfm?
go=search&q=social
section=news&content=104433
+media&s1=&country=&region=&state=
n http://www.vinography.com/archives/2012/02/
n http://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/15200/
social_media_and_the_wine_indu.html
who-who-in-wine-marketing/
n http://www.1winedude.com/where-can-wineries-
n http://ablesocial.com/
really-innovate-in-engaging-the-people-who-actually-
n http://grow-creative.com/ drink-the-stuff/
n http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/06/using- n http://readwrite.com/2012/05/28/94-of-us-wineries-
social-media-to-promote-an-underdog-wine/ are-on-facebook-73-on-twitter
n http://www.rieslingrules.com/ n http://www.vinography.com/archives/2012/02/
social_media_and_the_wine_indu.html
n http://www.winesandvines.com/template.cfm?
section=news&content=104433

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