Consumer Behaviors Towards Wine Purchases: Marketing and Social Media

(bump and click)

- [Presenter] This video will showcase survey participant responses in regards to winery marketing a social medical usage.

Marketing is an integral part of doing business for all business types including wineries.

Using social medial to inform consumers about the winery, wines, and events is an excellent way to build relationships.

John Gillespie founder and CEO of Wine Opinions, a wine research company, stated that 66% of core wine drinkers meaning those who drink wine at least once a week, and 40% of marginal wine drinkers, meaning those who drink wine less frequently, use the internet to get information about wine.

More than 50% of all wine drinkers use Facebook and 25% use YouTube and Twitter.

Many wineries are unsure if social media will benefit their businesses and maybe even more confused as to what platforms to choose and what to include on such sites.

Consumers who participated in our internet survey were asked to select from a provided list of social media platforms they felt were mandatory for a winery to offer.

Facebook is clearly the front runner for all consumers residing in each of the three states as 41.8 to 48.2% of participants believed that this social media tool is mandatory for a winery to implement.

Other social medial platforms like Twitter, blogs, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube were significantly less important to respondents.

However, this is not to say that wineries should ignore the other tools available for connecting with customers.

Social media research indicates that certain demographic groups tend to visit specific social media sites more often than others so it would be in a winery's best interest to consider their customer base, survey them on their use of different social media sites, and develop a social media strategy based on those findings.

This figure indicates participants responses pertaining to the importance of email newsletters and winery websites.

Over half indicated that a website for promoting a winery and wines produced was mandatory and slightly fewer selected that a website for promoting the winery and from which wines can be purchases as being mandatory.

This data coincides with many articles that emphasize the importance of businesses implementing their own website.

Entrepreneurs who have created websites for their companies have stated that their sales have increased, time-consuming phone calls have decreased, and more people have come into their stores.

Survey results indicated that both a website for promoting a winery and wines produced and a website for promoting the winery from which wines can be purchased were the top components participants felt were mandatory.

Thus, wineries that do not have websites should strongly consider developing one to promote the winery, provide information about wines produced, and if possible offer online shopping.

Overall, it is clear that survey participants within the Mid-Atlantic region use social media and visit these outlets frequently to gain information about wineries.

If you have not been using social media as a marketing tool now is the time to try.