What about sipping that same glass of red on your comfortable couch while you wear your favourite stained Oodie, eating cheesy corn chips and watching The Simpsons?
Tough choice. And due to COVID, many wine drinkers choose the latter.
Content strategy has to come before posting. A plan beats posting willy-nilly.
Storytelling is what differentiates a wine brand in a crowded market. Not just product quality.
Professional photo and video content is worth outsourcing if you do not have the skill in-house.
Targeted ads work because they reach specific traits, not just anyone scrolling past.
Focus on content
Whoa! We know you’re keen to jump in and start posting willy-nilly, but let’s get a plan in place first.
Start with a solid content strategy. A content strategy helps you reach your marketing and business goals with content that attracts interest, ignites engagement and encourages conversion. To build your content strategy, think about these questions:
So why do you need to know all this? Because when it comes to the hospitality, wine and tourism industry, there’s nothing more important than content. Content tells your audience WHY they should try your range over others. Maybe your star wine has won a million awards. Or it’s made using traditional methods no one uses anymore.
Whatever it is, content gives you an opportunity to connect with potential buyers in a fun and engaging way through beautiful photos and stellar videos. Content helps you tell a story, share experiences and showcase your brand personality.
Need help with your content strategy? We know a gal. Contact Chanelle from NINKI Content Marketing for a complimentary 15-minute strategy call.
- Who do you want to attract as buyers?
- What makes your products unique? Is it your history? Your production methods? Your awards?
- What content formats are people consuming right now and on what platforms? Instagram Reels and TikTok, for example, are huge right now.
- What motivates and interests my ideal customers? And how can I tie that into my content to make it relevant to them and beneficial for me?
DMT’s Take
In hospitality and wine specifically, content is the differentiator, since most competitors are selling a similar product, so the story around it is what actually moves people to buy.
Your Action Plan
- Answer the core content-strategy questions before posting anything. Know your audience and message first.
- Plan content around what makes your winery specifically different, not generic wine content.
Tell a story
There’s a bazillion wine brands out there. And they’re all on social media. So your star wines need to stand out if you want to get those sales. How will you do that? Through the majestic art of Storytelling.
Without a good story, your winery’s social media page will get lost amongst all the others. So create a clear and captivating story about your wine brand. Share posts explaining how your star wine is different from other wines. Tell your followers the story behind your process. Describe why you’ve chosen the grapes or flavour combinations you did.
It’s your story that distinguishes you from all the others. No other wine has a story like yours – so share it as much as possible.
DMT’s Take
With thousands of wine brands competing for attention, product quality alone will not cut through. A clear, specific story is what makes a brand memorable in a crowded feed.
Your Action Plan
- Write down the one story that makes your winery different. It should be specific, not generic family-owned-since copy.
- Repeat that story consistently across posts. A story only sticks if it is told more than once.
Share high-quality videos and photos
The great thing about owning a wine business? You’ll never be short of awesome photo ops or video ideas. The bad thing? Not everyone is a professional photographer or filmmaker.
As a wine business, it’s essential to have high-quality, engaging photos and video content. If you don’t know how to work a camera, don’t despair. There are professionals out there to help you.
Daniel from Futuro Avenue specialises in creating high-end, slick video content and photography for the wine industry. Book a time to chat with Daniel
DMT’s Take
Amateur photography undercuts an otherwise strong brand story, and it is one of the easiest things to fix by bringing in a specialist for even a single shoot.
Your Action Plan
- Budget for a professional photo or video session at least once or twice a year. It is reusable content across months of posts.
- Prioritise video for process and experience content. It captures the winery atmosphere that text and photos cannot.
Targeted ads
Remember when you had to pay by the line if you wanted to advertise something in the newspaper? Ads have come a long way since then. Use targeted ads in your social media campaign to promote your star wines to your ideal buyer. Targeted ads are online ads that ‘target’ an audience based on specific traits someone lists on their social media page – like their age, location and gender. You’ll need a catchy ad concept if your ads are going to get any attention. Make a special offer – like a tempting tasting package – or describe the relaxing experience your buyer will have at your winery. Test out a few options. Whatever makes your target audience click on those ads. There are many different Facebook ad formats for you to try.
A chatbot is a computer program that simulates and processes human conversation, mostly via text, allowing people like us to interact with the software as though it was a real person. Are we living in the future, or what?
But chatbots can be so much more than just a fancy answering machine. They can increase your star wine sales. Take Ghost Wines for example. Despite a strong Instagram following, their sales were inconsistent. So they asked for our help.
Our solution? To map out a comprehensive chatbot marketing strategy to engage, educate and convert people who interacted with Ghost Wines’ Facebook and Instagram profiles. The customised chatbot responded to enquiries, engaged in conversation and sent special offers and promotions to social media users expressing interest in the business.
Fully integrated with Shopify, the chatbot also reminded visitors with abandoned carts to return to complete their purchase through the Facebook Messenger App. This prompt increased return visitors and the check out rate.
Not bad for a little chatbot, huh?
- Image ads only contain a single image and can be used in multiple ad types, placements and aspect ratios.
- Video ads use a single video to market your wines.
- Slideshow ads are three to 10 images or a video that plays in a slideshow.
- Stories ads are full-screen immersive experiences that pop up in between Stories
- Instant Experience ads are mobile-only interactive ads that let users engage with your content.
- Carousel ads allow users to flip through multiple images or videos – each with their own headline, link or description.
- Collection ads are like a more advanced carousel ad. Users can scroll through your wines with one tap.
DMT’s Take
Targeted social ads work because they narrow to specific traits like age, location and interest, so the same ad spend reaches far more relevant people than a generic newspaper ad ever could.
Your Action Plan
- Test a few ad concepts before committing budget. A tasting-package offer and an experience-focused ad will perform differently.
- Use the specific targeting traits available on the platform. Age, location and interest data are what make this more efficient than traditional ads.
Social media content ideas for your wine business
Now to the nuts and bolts of your content ideas for social media. These should showcase the best parts of your wineries from the wines themselves, the cellar door, the winery and more. Here some ideas you can try
It’s easy to fall into the habit of posting photos of your star wine and bottles. Try and go deeper and share photos that showcase the experience your winery creates. The sights, the sounds, the food, the feeling. Give people a reason to come to the YOUR winery.
Social media is all about making connections with your followers. And there’s no better way to do that than by sharing profiles of your staff. Tell everyone about their roles at the winery, why they like working there and how they got into wine.
Stories are an engaging way of sharing behind the scenes footage from your business. Story stickers make your stories interactive, allowing you to further engage your audience and even learn something from them. The poll sticker, for example, allows you to take votes that can help you make business decisions – like, what blend people prefer, or what kind of wine to make next.
Have a new wine coming out soon? Share it in your Stories! Trust us – nothing is too trivial.
Reels can be funny, entertaining, educational or everything in between. Why not make a Reel suggesting food pairings for your star wine? Use real food and ingredients to show how your viewers can enjoy it at home.
Make a Reel taking your viewers behind the scenes. Your followers are also pretty keen to catch a glimpse of how your star wine is made – especially if you have a cool production process.
The world of digital marketing and online advertising can be a scary, daunting place – if you don’t have someone to guide you through it, that is. Need some help promoting your star wines online? You’ve come to the right people! Digital marketing is our thing. Schedule a complimentary one-hour meeting here with our team to learn more.
Want help with this? Get a free, no-obligation strategy session and we will show you where the biggest opportunities are.
DMT’s Take
Posting only bottle shots undersells a winery. The experience, staff and setting are what actually make people want to visit, not just the product on the shelf.
Your Action Plan
- Mix product shots with experience and staff content. Variety keeps a feed from feeling like a catalogue.
- Use interactive story features to boost engagement. They give followers a reason to respond, not just scroll past.
Bilal Alwan
Bilal Alwan is the founder and director of Digital Marketing Tribe, an Adelaide and Sydney based digital marketing agency. He leads DMT’s SEO and AI search work, helping Australian businesses stay visible as search shifts from ten blue links to AI-generated answers.
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