Using Pinterest to Advertise

I read a fantastic article called Inside Pinterest: The Coming Ad Colossus That Could Dwarf Twitter And Facebook. This article had a quote that made me think how could a brewery and winery use Pinterest to advertise.

“If Facebook is selling the past and Twitter the present, Pinterest is offering the future…”

Pinterest is used to gather ideas and inspiration. You are able to find boards on art, architecture, marketing, fashion and beauty, gardening, renovation ideas, furniture and so fourth. I was not surprised to read that majority of its’ users are women (80%!!). Then this had my brain ticking.

Pinterest is an awesome tool to plan celebratory events like a birthday or wedding, right? So for a winery (in particular) why not use Pinterest to sell your venue as a possibility! Because it is a visual media, you will be able to see who is interested in using your venue.

Here are my tips to use Pinterest to sell your venue:

1. Create multiple boards for your venue to show the many possibilities people can do at your venue.

Example of boards……

Have a board that show cases your views, buildings, furniture and areas available to be used.

Show previous weddings and what people have done so people could be inspired and have a visual of how your venue can be used.

Showcase your venue during different seasons (I personally think wineries look stunning in autumn with those lovely orange and brown tones).

2. Call-to-action

A call-to-action is super important. Having a link to your website will benefit potential clients.

3. Food, glorious food!

Wineries tend to have amazing chefs, some world re-known chefs! Show your food beautifully presented like you would on your website.

4. Use a photographer

Yes, this is obvious, but a good photographer will know how to take the best shot to bring out beauty in a photo. This is also super important because Pinterest is highly visual.

5. Uniqueness

Why are you unique, or why would someone possibly use your venue? I spent a summer working in a winery during summer. And it was wedding season. People not only loved the venue (tip 1), but they also loved the product- the wine. In your boards, show your wine (or beer) and people drinking them. There is a reason why people love having their wedding in a winery, and that is because of the fabulous nectar you create.

I believe this will be super exciting for a winery to use and a brewery (if they have venue options) because you are already doing this on other social media sites such as your Facebook, but Pinterest is an exciting new option for marketing staff to contemplate.

Thanks for reading! If you want to read for similar articles, check these out.

New Pinterest, Instagram Advertising Options: 4 Tips For Brands

Should I Advertise My Business On Pinterest

Pinterest’s First Ads Go Live

 

Fixing your marketing blind spot for the brewery and winery

This blog post is inspired by How To Fix Your Marketing Blind Spot.

Marketing is exciting as practices and information is constantly evolving and changing. Because of this, it can be hard to keep up with marketing trends. Marketers need to be flexible and open minded to keep up in the changing environment of their chosen industries.

Here are my tips and ideas to make it easier for today’s marketers! (Click on image to enlarge)

If you would like to further your knowledge, here are some links!

How Influencers Can Help Crown Your Content King

The Power of Visual Storytelling: Graphic Recordings of Content Marketing World 2014

How to Craft Perfect Posts for Facebook, LinkedIn & Twitter

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can social media be used to influence purchasing decisions?

I believe that breweries and wineries create content on social media platforms that do stimulate the consumer, to influence their decision to buy certain products. The article 5 Ways You Can Influence Consumer Purchasing Decisions: New Research discusses interesting ideas of doing this.

Tip #1: Change social conversation

The infograph shown on the original article (shown below), says that social media has no influence at all on purchasing decision. This infograph then suggests to start using social media in other ways- make emotional connections.

The highest percentile of people using social media, is to connect with family and friends (according to the article). Then underneath that, is keeping up with trends and product information. As a business, you want your social media feeds to inspire the people you are attracting to your social media feeds in order to sway them to consider your product or service. In the article it states this is done by connecting with the people, as said before, emotionally, by engaging conversation, a positive experience and exceptional service. I believe when and how much you post online is important too. Yes, engaging people into an emotionally driven conversation is important but you need to regularly keep a conversation going online and to discuss other topics that are of interest to your target market.

Tip #2: Appealing to the millennials

 

So simple and brilliant. Millennials is the generation that is not easily convinced by social media, so you need to work a little harder in your content and how easily available your content is. Another fact is they use multiple platforms and devices for social media. So, what does your business need to do to win the hearts of the millennials? Make sure your content is mobile friendly and meets the needs and preferences, and lastly make sure you use a personalised message! Not generic messages. Twitter’s bio is a perfect example of this, you follow me, I follow you back.

Tip #3: Engagement with customers on and off line

To truly engage your customers, you must use offline material as well as online material. Use your customers has brand ambassadors by having a social media marketing strategies that involve the public. For example, by asking your customers to vote on a change or new product, or a photo competition and they have to use the product, and could even use something like Snap Chat as a platform for the competition.

Fun, have fun with your social media strategies.

Tip #4: Authentic conversations on facebook

Hard selling is not recommended to be used on facebook. Like how in tip 1, the discussion of how emotionally engaging your customers is important, you want to place posts or ads on facebook that are personal. It could be a little harder for the beer and wine industry to do this, but you could post messages that talk about food matching! (I found this on Pinterest. Here is the link if you are interested http://karmajello.com/lifestyle/lifehacks/pair-beer-food-guide.html).

Even though I have found this on Pinterest, it is still an example that can be used. A brewery and winery can promote a particular wine and beer that they want to sell and post a picture of a meal with a link to a recipe.

Tip #5: Always be available

Is your business available to respond to customers anytime, anywhere?

When you receive a complaint, the response and time of response is super important. It is best to have multiple platforms where you can respond to customers. This can be done by:

1. Setting up an online community

2. Having multiple people to be able to respond to multiple customers

3. Monitor

There is nothing worse than when you place a complaint and don’t get a response. If nothing happens, that is a customer gone.

If you are wanting to read more, here is further reading:

Social Media Influences Customer- Buying Habits

Are Brands Wielding More Influence In Social Media Than We Thought?

 

 

 

Creating the best Google Plus page

Google Plus is a fantastic platform for any cause, business and organisation to use. I have noticed businesses in the craft beer and wine industry don’t use this platform as often. It is more for people who are interested in the industry and want to learn more about a topic and also to engage people in a conversation.

I did search on my favourite breweries and wineries on G+ and their pages seem incomplete and not as many posts as I would expect.

The other thing is Google LOVES Google Plus. Funny that!

So how do you create the best Google Plus page for your community or business?

Tip One: Know your persona

It is important that your business, organisation, knows who their ideal customer is. What is their target market. This is important because this will set up your page- the image you’re representing.

You do this by:

• Photos
• Layout
• The ease of getting the information you want
• Having the right links that are suitable for your persona

You want people to see and understand in 5 secs who you are because people make snap decisions.

Tip Two: Big photos

It is recommended to upload photos at a 640 pixels wide for your posts.

The reason being is people will see your photo in a smaller format, so when they click your photo it will be big and clear.

Tip Three: Stick to one image

This is specific to companies. With the different social media platforms, it is recommended to use one photo as your profile picture eg. your logo, and use this across the different platforms that you use.

Tip Four: Unify your screen name

Use the same name across the platforms. This can be done for businesses more easily that a personal profile.

Just make sure you have similarities, for example +CatherinedeVos01 and @cedevos.

Like have the same logo across different platforms, this will unify your platforms you use.

Tip Five: Creating your tagline

On G+ in the about page, there is a section called tagline. This is where you would write your companies mantra. The mantra (tagline) should show your purpose.

An example of this is Emerson’s Brewery

Tip Six: Show your story

Your cover photo is extremely powerful. This showcases your story, your interests and what you are most passionate about.

Breweries show their beers, wineries show their wines and amazing views they have.

Tip Seven: Complete your profile

Simply, completing your profile is beneficial because if people want to learn more about you, the information needed is available.

Make sure you have the links to other platforms, your website, twitter, facebook, pinterest, instagram and so fourth. Make sure it is all there.

Tip Eight: Reviewing your page

Review as an anonymous, how a follower would view your page because then you are able to see what everyone else sees. You can see what is and not working, and make the necessary changes you need to make your page more interesting.

 

Thanks for reading my blog! This post was based from Top Tips For A Terrific Google Profile. If you’d like to read more, check out these links.

Why You Should Be On Google Plus (Even Though No One Else Is)

Beginner’s Guide to Understanding Google Plus

 

 

 

 

 

Have a great product, then the marketing should be easy! Right?

Over the past few weeks I have been observing and researching what is the strategy for craft beer and wines. As someone who is trying to get into the industry to be a marketer, I am finding this more and more interesting.

To begin… If the product is amazing, then the product should do the marketing itself. Perhaps, but how do you make the first step? What are their strategies?

In the buyers journey awareness is numero uno. Of course it has to be. Brewers and vintners have one key mission and that is to produce the best beer, or wine into the market. Each year they are trying to out compete one another to receive the highest status on the highest pedestal they can possibly reach. If the customers you are aiming to grab their attentions are interested in the industry, they’d keep up to date with the tweets and status’, so of course they will be aware of new products and up dates of the company. But how would you approach new targets?

One of the ways I’ve observed is when wineries and brewers market hold events for their delicious nectar. Just this weekend gone Wine Auckland and also Beervana. At these events people in the industry can met one another, dive into deep conversations and celebrate with a taste. These events are a main source of marketing to build awareness for the companies that are micro breweries or wineries. These events also grab attention of younger generations who are discovering what is out and to become passionate, like myself.

Of course the other way to get noticed, is to start a conversation. I do hate it when a brewer has been recently produced and to all of a sudden have a huge history behind it. If this brewer has so much history, why have we not heard about it in the past? It seems this was the main way of marketing beer as many breweries that mass produce, like Monteiths was doing (2013)- it was a trend. My personal opinion is that the more successful breweries don’t go on about the history in the 1800’s but they keep it up to date and relevant within their market. Yes some breweries in the mass produce area have been around for a long time, but for craft breweries this can’t be always done. The stories they produce are true to who they are- some keep it light and humorous. As for wine, you don’t see so much of these actions, however some wineries have great stories like Mudbrick and Foxes Island, where you’d only hear if you are at the cellar door.

The craft beer and wine industry definitely use inbound strategies to get customers and the attention of the target market because outbound marketing strategies are can expensive and would only work if it was advertised to masses to get a profitable return. Another inbound strategies is advertising the awards. For example, when a wine receives an Air NZ award, that wine is listed in a booklet which is then distributed- fantastically effective.

To sum this up, inbound marketing is the base strategy for beer and wine as it is the best way to bring in the customers. By using events, awards to help showcase the amazing qualities the product posses. It is important to have a great product as you won’t get sales if you have a stink product. The marketing behind craft beer and wine is different to other products, like capital goods, because vintners and brewers are passionate people, who entice other people who are passionate about their products.

 

Wine and Food event will be happening in September in the lovely Auckland. Check out this link below if interested. I am! Your Vinotype with Tim Hanni looks really good.

http://www.nzwine.com/events/wine-and-food-event/