Leanne Beattie is a content creator and social media freelancer who advises on everything from strategy to writing and even photography for digital platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (X), YouTube and WordPress. She has extensive experience in web design, journalism and freelance writing, photography, social media management and design.
Leanne’s started Manage My Blog (now Instaseed) in 2011, consulting with brands for social media management and public relations. In 2016 she also began blogging at The Wine Girl Cape Town, which was named one of the top 20 wine blogs in South Africa within its first year.
Contents
- 1 1. Given your involvement in many social media campaigns for the wine industry, is social media still a viable form of advertising or has it become stale? Is it worthwhile for wine brands to use influencers?
- 2 2. How has the social media landscape changed since you started? What have become less effective, and what is now considered to be the minimum requirement?
- 3 3. Which new trends have you been tracking?
- 4 4. Social media analytics can be a headache for people not familiar with the different tools and metrics. How important is analysing social media data to understand trends, sentiment, and customer preferences? Do you recommend using certain tools or platforms?
- 5 5. Regulations are quite hostile to the advertising and promotion of alcohol. What are the pitfalls wineries should watch out for, and how do you make sure your messages don’t fall afoul of advertising regulations?
Not stale if it is done right! Social Media remains a great way for wine brands to partner with content creators when they have limited budgets. At the end of the day, the winery is getting content that they can use on their platforms.
Having said that, I do believe there is room for improvement when it comes to partnerships. Wine brands should pick their “influencers” wisely and negotiate up front what their expectations are. If it is a paid campaign, contracts should be drawn up. If it is a trade exchange, the value of the trade should correspond with the creator’s time and hourly rates and you should agree on a date for posting up front.
Authenticity, consistency and latching onto trends is key! Gone are the days where you can post an image/video and expect your viewers to see it. Though I do think there is a space for posting content (regardless of the engagement) there is also a job at hand to get your brand out there. Whether it is sponsoring posts, partnering with “influencers” or creating highly engaging and trendy posts, it is the brand’s responsibility to put out content that is authentic to them.
What has become less effective? Ads. People hate ads. What has become more effective? Content that entertains and is relevant to the audience. Bottom line – know your audience and connect with them authentically and consistently. Even if you post just once a week, consistently post once a week.
3. Which new trends have you been tracking?
Trends change weekly or even daily, so it is important to not only post on social media, but BE on social media. Algorithms are becoming increasingly more intelligent. Ever noticed that you watched one Taylor Swift video and then all of a sudden, your entire feed is filled with Taylor Swift videos?
As a wine brand, it’s important to live and breathe your content and your audience, engage with other similar accounts or topics, and all of a sudden, these trends become glaringly obvious to you. You have to be agile though, and be able to create content and post it quickly while the iron is hot so to speak.
Certain categories of longer standing trends that come to the fore when creating content:
- Visual trends
These videos are shot to perfection and edited perfectly with audio that is designed to take the viewer into a beautiful space. These trends have “save for later” appeal which boosts engagement and reaches more viewers.
- Humorous trends
These videos are not shot to perfection, they are somewhat amateurish and clumsy but reflect a common truth. They have a sharing appeal which boosts engagement and reaches more viewers.
- Owned Audio & longer form content
Creating one’s own audio shows the social media algorithm that you are creating authentic content and if you can get that audio to trend by getting others to use it, you’re doing it right! If your audio is longer than a minute, that’s another bonus!
- The rise of AI
I have used AI, and it’s a great tool for editing photos when you do not have a big production budget. Be careful though, audiences are becoming clever at picking up what is real and what is fake. Being transparent about it will make you more authentic. An example of this is the use of filters on TikTok, the users openly share that they are using a filter and it is not real.
It’s important to know your objectives and targets, but let’s be honest, everyone wants high reach and engagement when it comes to social media. Both of which are extremely hard to achieve without a viral post or some budget behind it.
Although it’s important to keep on top of analytics, the most important thing is knowing your audience and growth. Ask yourself, am I reaching more people year on year? Who is my audience? These answers can be found in Meta Business suite or TikTok analytics. If your followers are growing with your engagement, then you are doing a good job.
A simple calculation: take your total number of likes across all your content for a specific platform and divide that by your number of followers for that platform. If it’s between 5 and 10, then your content is doing a good job at gaining followers. If it’s above 20, then your content and platform is highly engaging.
If your number is below 5, you need to reassess your audience and find a content strategy that can connect more with the audience you want to attract. You always want your content to reach new people that can follow and connect with you.
5. Regulations are quite hostile to the advertising and promotion of alcohol. What are the pitfalls wineries should watch out for, and how do you make sure your messages don’t fall afoul of advertising regulations?
Social media platforms have all the necessary rules and regulations set up for brands to follow. If you overlay this with South Africa’s alcohol regulations when it comes to advertising, you should be safe.
It’s always best to read through all the regulations and know your restrictions before posting. Always set your ads to “no under 18s” in South Africa and never forget to specify “no under 23s” for all other countries, then you know you are safe.
Never encourage drinking in excess, and it is always good to include the words “Not for persons under 18” in your copy. Ensure your wine brand’s social pages indicate an age restriction.