How Napa Valley Is Using Social Media

Everybody says, “Write what you know.” So here it is…my blog about wine, Facebook, and Twitter.

Are wineries using social media? You bet they are—and it makes perfect sense for them to do so. Here’s why:

What’s more social than a glass of wine? People not only enjoy a glass of wine with friends in their hometown, but wineries have events going on nearly every day of the year. They have new releases, tastings, dinners, special guests, tours, and info on where to find their wines—all though their Facebook page.

Wine enthusiasts love to swap stories about their finds. Oenophiles seek out great wines like fishermen seek fishing holes. They talk endlessly with each other. They give great testimonials about bottles they’ve had in the past, or currently have in the cellar. They let each other know when a great sale is going on, and which bottles they can’t wait to buy. Facebook is the perfect place for this kind of discussion.

People who love a certain wine almost never live near the winery itself. Reaching them in the past was likely done via the mail, or email. But now they can let their social media strategy lead people to their website.

Wineries can be a resource for wine lovers. Who knows better about how to conduct a tasting than a winery that does it every day? Wine lovers are well-read, and (like the rest of the world) their reading is migrating toward their laptops and their iPads. Sending them regular updates via Twitter about daily events and notifying them via Facebook about great reviews are a natural progression to reading the hard copy of Wine Enthusiast or The Wine Spectator. (And both of these magazines now have great websites.)

A winery being successful using social media needs to follow the same basic tenets that all businesses do: deliver good content; don’t talk too much; remember that your followers have already shown loyalty to you; and always remember it’s a community, not a microphone.

(Wondering if your favorite winery has a Facebook or Twitter page? Check out this terrific list from WineryTweets.com.)