It's no surprise that the pandemic has forced wineries to rethink their online presence and communication with their customers in a way that they never have before. There are many positives to this; it gives the opportunity to implement quick change and flexibility within the company. For example, you can inform your customers about any changes simply with a quick update to your website content and social media platforms. It also opens your brand up to the world and allows you to sell to much larger markets. While the benefits of having a strong online presence far outweigh the difficulties, it’s still important to be aware of them.
Moving online can make it easy to forget the need to create meaningful connections and establish strong relationships with your customers the same way you would if you were making a sale face to face. With many of your potential customers now spending a lot more time at home, your content marketing is your most important asset when trying to stay connected and may be the reason they choose to buy your wine or visit your tasting room over others.
With the following tips, you'll understand how to share your brand's unique personality online with fresh and fun techniques, and make your content marketing work alongside your other marketing efforts to create loyal repeat customers who enjoy engaging with your brand both on and offline.
Social media marketing gives winery owners and brand managers a free platform to develop brand awareness and build customer relationships. Leveraging selfies, videos and images of yourself with context sets you apart from the rest. While showing yourself and your team on social media may be daunting, it is the perfect way to develop trust and transparency with your customers.
High-resolution images on social media will always be important, but evidence now shows that videos interact better with the various algorithms. If you’re not quite ready to put your face on camera, use your two strengths instead, your wine and your winery. We’ll come back to some tips on how to do this later.
“Researchers from Georgia Tech looked at 1.1 million photos on Instagram and found that pictures of faces were 38% more likely to get a like than photos without faces. Face photos also were 32% more likely to snag a comment, too.”
If it’s too soon for videos, we strongly encourage you to show your team’s faces and personalities through photos. After all, you are marketing to human beings who will always thrive on human connection.
Throughout 2021, we saw a focus on storytelling and adding more human emotion to marketing, this will only grow in 2022. Your winery's history is what makes your brand unique. Sharing your personality through your company could be the difference that a customer needs when choosing to buy from your winery website, or a competitor. In other words, it is likely to turn one-off buyers into long-term customers. There is no time like the present to try something new, let 2022 be the year you get creative in your marketing!
Consider making some changes to your website and social media such as:
Add this section to your website to highlight the formidable team behind your operations. Your customers will like that they can put a face to a name (or vice-versa!) and to learn more about everyone involved and how they got there. Willamette Valley Vineyards have chosen to celebrate their team perfectly!
These are vastly undervalued and can most likely be improved with a few steps. Cookies are soon to disappear (stay tuned for more information on this!), but newsletters will never be affected by this as they use your own data.
Instagram Reels is the perfect tool to share a quick tour of your winery or tasting room. Instagram marketing platform Later shares “Since introducing Reels to our Instagram channel last year, we’ve seen our engagement grow by 280%,”. We love WineDirect client Sunny with a Chance of Flowers’ recent reel showcasing three of their wines!
Use your expertise to develop a narrative which will, over time, attract more followers and readers. Why not tell the story of your wine, from vine to bottle? This could be achieved by several blog posts on your website or a series of posts on social media. WineDirect ecommerce client Dono dal Cielo are a perfect example of using photos and copy to tell their story.
This is an ideal tool to add a human touch to your content, while also connecting with your audience. It takes very little effort to re-share your tagged images and videos, but it could lead to big rewards.
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The pandemic may become a thing of the past, but a boost in online content marketing is here to stay. How will you be making your online presence more personable in 2022?
