On 7th July on a beautiful, crisp and sunny morning in Stanthorpe, Southern Queensland, 30 wine tourism operators from the Granite Belt wine region participated in a digital tourism workshop sponsored by the Queensland Wine Industry Association. They told their workshop facilitators, Liz Ward and Juleen Bronson from Digital Coaching International, they were keen to understand how they can use Facebook and other social media platforms to stimulate sales at their cellar doors and they wanted to know about tools that would make their efforts in online marketing more efficient, like Google Analytics, You Tube and Hootsuite. They were also looking for advice on sharing of videos and images and what the current trends and popularity of the various platforms were. Liz and Juleen, with their extensive experience in tourism marketing, technology and social media advised on the consumer landscape and how to prioritise their social media activities. The group workshopped the fundamentals of engaging and sharing content and social media scheduling as well as the important role of their websites and TripAdvisor. The group finished the session with personal action items and clarity on where they should focus their energies to grow and engage their online customers.

1. Social Media – An Extension of
the Cellar Door Experience
Liz Ward and Juleen Bronson
Digital Coaching International

2. Introductions
Why we’re here
What do we want?
2© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd

3. Topics
3
 Customer landscape
 Prioritising your social media strategy
 Content fundamentals
 Getting results with the most relevant
social sites
 The important role of your website
 Must do actions
 Where you can go for help
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd

4. How do your customers find
you?
Customer
 80% of travellers use
internet to plan their
holiday
 85% use smartphone and
tablets while on holidays
 40% of leisure travellers
share their travel videos
with online communities
 51% of leisure travellers
watch online videos
Industry
 40% of operators have
optimised their website
for search
 50% of operators’ website
are mobile friendly
 23% of tourism
businesses create online
videos
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd 4

5. So how did you decide to visit
the wineries on your Tassie
holiday?
Experience Seeker Market
“Affluent Families” + wine
enthusiasts + low level
wine investors
 Normally would use Google to
research winery websites
beforehand, but didn’t have time
 Used Wine Tasmania wine route
maps to find wineries
 Used our cell phones the entire
trip to check out wineries before we
visited
 Shared photos on fb and Instagram
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd 5

9. © Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd 9

10. Travel Conversion Cycle
Plan Experience Share
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd 10

11. 11
Planning – Before and Enroute
 Where would Google take your customer?
 Qld Wine Website
 Southern Qld Country Website
 Queensland Holidays
 Wine Web
 Wine Base
 Queensland Vineyards
 Do they have maps – are they downloadable?
 Are the sites mobile friendly?
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd

12. 12
 Useful downloadable
map
 Removes barriers for
visitors to find wineries
 Collaborative

13. 13
Top Priority!
 Your websites
 Mobile friendly – test it
here
https://www.google.com.a
u/webmasters/tools/mobil
e-friendly/
 Valuable information
 Maps
 Wine info
 Opening times
 Functionality
 Make it easy to buy from
you
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd

14. 14
Enable Shareable Moments
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd

15. 15
Why do your customers
share?
 They want their followers and you to see
their posts!
 You get:
 Free feedback
 Free content
 Free opportunity for engagement
 Free recommendations and promotion
 Opportunity to grow your audience
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd

18. 18
Role of TripAdvisor
 Check quality of experience and service
before visit
 Search by name; or what to do in region
 Share my opinion – create a review –
community minded; ego of the traveller
 Open community
 Integrated with Facebook
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd

21. Top Priority!
 Search yourself
on TripAdvisor
 Claim your
TripAdvisor
Listing
 Respond to
every review

22. 22
HOMEWORK: How to set up and claim your listing
 It will only take you five minutes and is free.
 First you’ll need to go to the business pages of TripAdvisor (www.tripadvisor.com.au/Owners)
 Click through on one of the four categories: Hotel/Accommodation; Vacation Rental; Restaurant
or Attraction (for wineries)
 Search for your business on the site and follow the prompts to add your business as a free
listing.
 If you are not able to find your business after searching on TripAdvisor’s Owners Page, this
likely means that you are not yet listed on TripAdvisor. In order to read the site’s listing policies
and submit your information, visit TripAdvisor’s Get Listed page
(www.tripadvisor.com.au/GetListedNew). Once you have submitted your listing request,
TripAdvisor will review your business’ information and respond with an outcome in a couple of
days.
 Visit your TripAdvisor management centre by hovering on the “Your Business & Account”•link on
the top right when logged in and clicking on “Your business”•.
 Even if you have not registered your business on TripAdvisor, anyone can request that a listing
be created for your business so that they can review it. You can’t choose ‘not to participate’ as
reviews will be posted whether you like it or not. It makes sense to at least register as a
business owner so you can monitor reviews of your business and respond where appropriate.
 For more detailed step by steps about your free TripAdvisor listing, refer
to: www.tripadvisor.com/TripAdvisorInsights/get-your-business-tripadvisor
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd

23. 23
Role of Twitter
 It’s where journalists hang out – an
essential part of connecting with media
 Great for relaying information before and
during trade events
 140 characters; newsy; punchy
 Made much more compelling with image
or video attached
 Customer service
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd

24. 24
Top Priority!
 Create an account if you
don’t already have one
 Search Twitter to see
what posts reference
your winery and others
in the destination
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd

25. DEVELOPING YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA
STRATEGY
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd 25

26. 26
The Big 4
1.2 Billion active users; 728 Million daily
users
302 Million active users
1 Billion active users
300 Million active users and growing fast
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd

27. EXERCISE 1: MY SOCIAL MEDIA
WORLD
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd 27

28. IT’S NOT ABOUT THE SIZE OF AUDIENCE
IT’S A BIT ABOUT THE NUMBER OF LIKES,
FRIENDS, FOLLOWERS, CONNECTIONS
IT’S MOSTLY ABOUT THE ENGAGEMENT
ENGAGEMENT = SOCIAL MEDIA CONVERSION
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd 28

29. 29
Conversion
 Comments
 Retweets
 Shares
 +1s
 #’s
 @ mentions
 Leads to your website!
 Visits to your cellar door!!
 Purchase of your wine!!!
 Positive TripAdvisor review
 Recommendations to friends
 Repeat visitation
 Repeat purchases
Attract
Convert
Engage

30. Forms of Content to Attract,
Convert and Engage
Images
Video
Information eg maps,
details of wine
Stories
Blogs
____________________________________
Influencers’
Your customers’
Colleagues’
Self promotion 30%
Promote others 30%
Valuable content 30%
Inspiration/Quotes
10%
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd 30

31. Prioritise your activity and effort
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd 31
All sorts of information; always incl image or video;
share other peoples’; Q&A with customers; targeted
marketing
Follow media and trade; listen; find opportunities for
product updates; event promotion ; always incl
image or video
Use as your video content platform; educational
content; integrate in your website; share other
peoples’ videos
Fabulous images that inspire

32. EXERCISE 2: MY PRIORITY SOCIAL
MEDIA ACTIONS
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd 32

33. 33
Planning will optimise your effort
 A social media strategy has two main
components:
 Social media guidelines
 Conversation calendar
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd

34. 34
Social Media Guidelines
 Include at a minimum:
 Your goals
 The type of people you want to connect to
 Any standards that you would like to adhere to
 What you will do if your social media accounts are
sabotaged or used incorrectly
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd

35. 35
Conversation Calendar
 Use it to schedule in different posts and initiatives you plan on publishing
on each site.
 A good conversation calendar will take into consideration:
 multiple social media networks, products/services, traditional marketing and the
high and low seasons of the year
 who will write and post the content
 You can start building a conversation calendar in your diary or as part of
an Excel spreadsheet. Simply note down any upcoming events in your
area, specials you have planned, holiday periods etc.
 Once you have your events scheduled use these to create corresponding
posts or content that you can post before, during and after the event.
 E.g. you could create different mini conversation calendars for each social
media you will use:
 Facebook conversation calendar
 YouTube calendar
 Twitter conversation calendar
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd

36. EXERCISE 3: MY CONVERSATION
CALENDAR
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd 36

37. The Important Role of Your
Website
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd 37
Your
website

38. HOMEWORK: DIGITAL CHECKUP
© Digital Coaching International Pty Ltd 38

39. For Advice and Ongoing Support

40. An online community designed
just for you

41. 65 tutorials written by
experts

42. Tourism Tribe for continual
support and learning

43. liz@digitalcoachinginternational.com