Jo Diaz’s blog “Some truths behind the wine Industry and Social Media” is generating some interesting discussion.
I was most interested in the gap she describes between the winery decision makers (owners and principles) and the social media technologists (us). Jo does a great job explaining her view of the current mindset of some in the wine industry in regards to social media and discusses the huge distance she sees between the two.
Based on the discussions I have had recently with some small wineries I would have to agree. If they are not comfortable with technology they seem to be extremely reluctant to take this on. They feel that they don’t have the time or the experience necessary to do it correctly and that they do not have the money to staff for it during this economic down turn. The truth is that they can’t afford not to. I firmly believe that those wineries that make an effort now to utilize some aspect of social media will be way ahead of those that don’t when the economic turn around comes along. They will also, most likely, experience less of a downturn.
Jo says, “I’ve got grape growers who own their own businesses, and are still trying to figure out how to reply to an E-Mail (I’m not exaggerating) to the telecommunications industry, who – because they’re so intelligent it makes perfect sense that the wine industry is so appealing (because of its complexity) that they’d like to hitch their wagons to this star.”
Ok, we get it… the chasm may be wider in some cases than we thought and we, as social media technologists, will have to do tons more evangelism and training of the wine industry to cross it. We also understand that there will be those that will lag behind. However, it is my belief, one that I think is shared by many others, is that one day all these so called “new fangled” social media techniques will become common everyday practice even for wineries and it will take its place as just one of the many tools in our Sales and Marketing arsenal.
The reason that we are so excited about the wine industry is that it is such a perfect fit for social media. As I have said in an earlier post, drinking and enjoying wine is inherently “social” and “viral”. Wineries already get lots of their business from “word of mouth” referrals. We drink it with friends, we drink it with family and we are quick to tell others about the great wine, winery or deal that we just found. We also love telling stories of our wine lifestyle experiences and blogging is a natural extension of this story telling. Other than understanding and feeling comfortable with the technology, it seems the gap between us is not that big.
Wineries can and should take advantage of the “free” and “viral “nature of social media to begin a lasting and meaningful conversation with their customers and the lifetime relationships that go along with those conversations. Just think how far that viral message will go with the implementation of social media technology. Now it is our job to educate and train the wine industry to take advantage of these tools.
So… to all you early adopters, we know you are out there and we know that you are ready to experiment with social media. My advice is to find someone you trust, someone versed in social media techniques and adept at technology and work with them to develop a customized action plan to gradually implement social media for your winery. You don’t have to do it all at once but you should begin to learn some of the best practices today so that you can weather the current downturn and so that you will be ready to take full advantage of the turnaround when it comes.
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