Wine Tourism and the Use of Social Media: Better for Business
A few days ago, I came across some notes from the EWBC, the European Wine Bloggers Conference, that I had attended this past autumn in Lisbon. During one of the sessions, I had begun to write down some random thoughts and responses to what participants were saying. I reread them now, and realized that some of these notes might be worth sharing. At the time, the ideas sparked something in me. I also recognize that though written within the context of encounters with wineries and wine producers and sales people, these suggestions can also be applied to any business context. I write them here as they might be useful for anyone interested in understanding the use of social media.
Evening the playing field
One of the speakers to address the issue was Wink Lorch, author of the website www.winetravelguides.com, which is dedicated to providing online travel guides to the wine lover. From her breadth of experience, Wink was able to speak clearly about why the wine business taken online is so appealing to her: it evens the playing field. There are no large and small businesses, no major advertising budgets. To work online, your wits and creative talent can work better for you than any large expenditure. As can your speed and attention. This is why the use of Twitter appeals to her even above regular blogging–because of its immediacy and, more especially, the way in which through this medium you can encounter hundreds of new contacts worldwide, just by using the right words in the right context.
Creating partnerships
The online world can also lead to the creation of new partnerships in a fluid and direct way. This has been my experience over the past five years that I have dedicated to working in this medium. New contacts are just a few clicks away–you follow your ideas, a trail of interesting words and windows like bread crumbs, and you find just the people or the sources of information you might need, or someone or something completely different and equally valuable to taking the next step in your business venture. Many of the latest and most worthwhile contacts I have made in the last few years have been online, and then they have materialized into real people as we finally meet, brought together by our own volition or an almost magical serendipity.
Avoiding bad press
In the same way that you can make valuable and lasting contacts rapidly online, you can also lose your shirt. In the presentations at the EWBC what came to the fore is how much wineries value the use of social media to bring attention to their location and product to a wider world. However, if they’re not doing their work correctly, they should dread this medium. A winery that is not generous with its visitors or that, plain and simple, is not attentive to their product, can be demonized online in the time it takes for their guests or a blogger to whip out their handheld device–one little tweet about lousy attention or lousy wine, and the word spreads like wildfire through the wire. Businesses have to pay much closer attention to their customer service and their product. This is good for everyone. Businesses should appreciate having to be on their toes, it keeps you agile and attentive and makes you better; and consumers can be sure of having immediate and, generally, reliable sources of information about where to purchase, just by following their peers.
Making it work
The final conclusion that I came to in this session is that wineries should pay attention to social media, but not necessarily do it themselves. What they need to continue to pay attention to, and more than ever, is their vineyard, and their product. They need to work hard in an increasingly competitive, knowledgeable and demanding field, to making the best possible wines, with love, patience and attention. Social media tools will help them bring their product to their consumer base, but it should not be the wine producers who write the microblogs or the blog posts or edit the videos. That’s why the professionals are out there, or that’s why, if they have the budget, they can hire their own marketing team. If an individual winery can’t do it, due to budget or other constraints, then a cooperative of wineries can team together and hire their social media expert, someone who can effectively get the word out through writing and video and through the online “grapevine”.
These are my thoughts for the day. I hope they’re helpful.
