Social Networking Meets the Vineyard

1. Social Networking for the
Wine Industry
Cheryl Wolhar
MyVineSpace.com
Eagles Nest Winery Donati Family Vineyard
“To some, wine and the Web are an uneasy pairing. Thousands of years old, wine
is a visceral, not virtual pleasure, made to be enjoyed in company.”
Michelle Locke – Mercury News

2. Agenda
• Cheryl Wolhar – MyVineSpace
– Introductions and Overview
• Brandy Bell – Donati Family Vineyards
– Social Efforts and Results
• Dennis Grimes – Eagles Nest Winery
– Social Efforts and Results
• Q & A

3. • Why Social Media
– There are 250 million people in North America and 1.5 billion
people worldwide surfing the web
• 44% of luxury consumers turn to the Internet above all other
media sources
• 31% of luxury shoppers are influenced by newspaper ads
• 24% are influenced by magazine ads
– Advertise online… It’s economical, influential, very responsive,
and allows you to connect with those “hard to reach” luxury
consumers. Gain effective traffic and build your luxury brand.
Luxury‐Insiders.com

4. • Social Media receives
the most additional
funding in 2009
• Social Media has
benefited from the
perception that it
requires minimal capital
investment
• Social Media is a time
intensive tactic and
requires significant
investment in human
capital

5. • The most significant
barrier to social media
adoption is lack of
knowledgeable staff
• Social Media has
benefited from the
perception that it
requires minimal
capital investment
• Social Media is a time
intensive tactic and
requires significant
investment in human
capital

6. • Social media is difficult to
measure
• The ability to accurately
measure ROI has nothing to
do with the effectiveness of
the tactic
• Measure the value of the
resulting conversations and
relationships qualitatively,
and not focus on moment-in-
time transactions like traffic,
hits, etc.

7. IOR = Impact of Relationships
– Allows us to detail how a relationship develops
with our winery
– How that relationship has impacted the totality
of our business
– Measure the amount of interaction they have
with our community
– How many comments they leave on our blog
– This IOR data becomes just as valuable as
ROI
– The number of times they reference us on their
Twitter feed and other social media sites Jennifer Laycock – Making Link Bait and Viral Marketing Work
– IOR is a great additional barometer to show the
gains made through social media activities
– This IOR data becomes just as valuable as
ROI

8. • Don’t start a blog… start a community!
– Create a customized and unique, online community that reflects the
unique voice of your winery
– An online community will permit you to reach consumers across the
globe and, most importantly, allow them to communicate with you
– Social Networking allows you to interact with your customers in a way
that was not possible before

9. • Community Benefits for the Winery:
– Build an active, vibrant online community
– Cultivate and strengthen lifetime customer relationships
– Create a channel of trust through word of mouth interactions
– Expand your online brand
– Build brand loyalty by communicating with customers instead of at
them
– Publish and manage effective winery blogs and forum discussions
– Augment your marketing efforts with targeted campaigns to your
community
– Leverage viral marketing best practices

10. • Community Benefits for the Consumer:
− Learn and enjoy wine within a friendly, like-minded community
− Interact directly with winery staff and winemakers
− Receive insider info on special offers, upcoming events, breaking
news
− Participate in fun contests for prizes
− Publish your own blog and forum discussions
− Upload your own content such as photos, and videos
− Make new friends and socialize about wine

11. Donati Family Vineyard
Brandy Bell
Marketing and Wine Club Manager

12. • Donati Family Vineyard
– Planted in Paicines AVA in 1998
– Produced 11,000 cases in 2008
– Opened Tasting room in early 2007
Varietals :
• Chardonnay • Cab Franc
• Pinot Blanc • Syrah
• Pinot Grigio • Malbec
• Merlot • Petit Verdot
• Cab Sauv

13. • WineSpace - Social Network (Ning)
– http://winespace.donatifamilyvineyard.com
• Launched in March, 2008
• 426 members
• 18 are employees
– the rest are customers
or industry folks
• Contributed <$1000 in revenue
Donati’s WineSpace

14. • Twitter Account @donatifamily
• @donatifamily has been a
member of Twitter since January
25, 2009 and has Tweeted 3012
times since then. @donatifamily
follows 1987 people, tweets from
Just Outside of Paso Robles(Time
Zone: Pacific Time (US & Canada))
• @donatifamily gained 833
followers in 96 days and 22 since
yesterday:
• @donatifamily will have 2,218
followers in 30 days according to
TwitterCounter:

15. • Twitter Account @donatifamily
• @donatifamily has been a
member of Twitter since January
7% of Twitter followers have purchased and has Tweeted 3012
25, 2009 wine
times since then. @donatifamily
.006% joined the wine club follows 1987 people, tweets from
Just Outside of Paso Robles(Time
.003% ordered again Zone: Pacific Time (US & Canada))
• @donatifamily gained 833
followers in 96 days and 22 since
yesterday:
• @donatifamily will have 2,218
followers in 30 days according to
TwitterCounter:

16. Eagles Nest Winery
Dennis Grimes
Owner and Winemaker

17. • Eagles Nest Winery
– Located in Ramona AVA near San Diego
– Boutique Winery with a vacation destination twist
– Case Production: 1000 cases
Varietals :
• Picpoul Blanc • Syrah
• Viognier • Zinfandel
• Merlot • Tempranillo
• Cabernet Sauvignon

18. • Winery Website (Web 1.0)
– http://eaglesnestwinery.com
• Winery Network (Ning) Eagles Nest Winery
– http://eaglesnestwinery.ning.com
• Private blog and site for friends and club members
• Public blog (WordPress)
– http://winetastingsandiego
• Public blog

19. • Twitter Account @eaglesnestwine
• @eaglesnestwine has been a
member of Twitter since December
19, 2008 and has Tweeted 979
times since then
• @eaglesnestwine follows 7429
people, tweets from San Diego,
California, USA(Time Zone:
Pacific Time (US & Canada))
• @eaglesnestwine will have 9,117
followers in 30 days according to
TwitterCounter:
http://twittercounter.com/
eaglesnestwine?p=30

20. • Live wine tastings/events streamed live over the web

21. Summary
Cheryl Wolhar
Social Media Consultant
MyVineSpace.com

22. • Best Practices:
– Listen to your customers
» Act human, be present, be authentic
» Listen and actively respond
– Be available and engaging with your online audience
– All your online communications define the level of success
you'll have in your targeted community, including the
personal touch you put in your:
 Blog posts
 Blog comments
 Twitter tweets
 Facebook
 MySpace
 LinkedIn

23. • Create BUZZ
– Build presence and post links on top social networks to drive traffic to
your website, network and blog posts
 Tweets on Twitter
 Videos on YouTube
 FaceBook pages (fan page and staff member pages)
 MySpace pages (company page and staff member pages)
 LinkedIn
 Photos on Flickr
 Comments/blogs on Wine networks and wine blogs
 Wine conferences

24. • Measure, Measure, Measure…
– Social Media directly effects email collection, wine club membership
and event participation which all contribute to overall revenue
 Wine Club growth/revenue
 Email collection growth/response rates
 Event Participation/Revenue
 Social Marketing/Branding Efforts
 Community member growth
 Member participation
 Website metrics
 Social metrics such as Twitter followers and FaceBook fans

25. Questions?