SOCIAL MEDIA
Getting social this Christmas The festive season is fast approaching, and locally produced sparklers are a fantastic way to celebrate with friends and family. So, it’s a great time to boost your brand with your social media activity – creating enticing imagery and glittery messages to get your followers into the Christmas ‘spirit’! Vineyard finds out some of the top tips for getting social this Christmas. Get creative
“Social media is fundamental to marketing our brand,” explains Elisha Rai, co-founder of the new rosé still wine brand ‘Folc’, based in Kent. “Customers will often check social media profiles of a product or brand before visiting the website or store, so it's incredibly important that we represent our brand in a way which is informative, engaging, and attractive to our audience. “Most of our wines are sold into trade, explained Galia Pike from Westwell Wines in Kent, “so for us, social media is more of a platform to talk about winemaking and viticulture rather than a sales platform. We do however intersperse these posts with a smattering of sales chat – especially at Christmas – which like most sparkling wine producers is our busiest time for direct-tocustomer sales. “Our Instagram account is an important way to connect with customers and trade – and communicate what our brand is all about. We post regularly with tales from the vineyard and try to keep our feed as an authentic look into our processes.” Galia added. “Over the festive season it is essential to focus on what your audience wants to see – be that inspirational gifting ideas, Christmas food & wine pairings,
festive giveaways with other like-minded brands or a '12 days of Christmas' advent calendar – where each day you gift an item or provide a festive fact about your product. This year especially people will be excited to come together with their friends and family to celebrate Christmas so the more you can show your product being enjoyed the better,” added Elisha. “Try to come up with some creative videos that suit your brand,” suggests Joana Albogas, WineGB Marketing Assistant. “Maybe share a Christmas family recipe that pairs perfectly with your wine or take your viewers on a behindthe-scenes tour of your cellar door. How about swapping wines with a fellow producer and having a live tasting! “The festive season is a prime time for lots of video content – use reels, stories and IG Live, for Instagram, which you can save on your IGTV. Not only are your customers ten times more likely to interact with a video, but social video generates considerably more shares than images and text combined,” commented Joana. “Earlier this year we ran an IG live which was brilliant fun albeit slightly chaotic,” exclaimed Galia. “We’ve experimented with ‘reels’, although only a little. I think this is something we should all be doing more of – according to Instagram, it's now no longer a photo sharing app!” Galia added.
> Festive meal – a brand partnership between Folc and Unique Home Stays
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