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MARKET WATCH TIM TEICHGRAEBER Social Studies If you���re a Facebook holdout, you���re really missing out here are innumerable things that Facebook does well. It allows people you barely knew in high school to follow your every move. It lets you know how your friends are voting, and what their pets ate for breakfast. Forget somebody���s kid���s name? A few clicks and you���ll have access to thousands of pictures of the little stinker. Charlie at the zoo. Charlie at the beach. Charlie in a box. Oh yeah, that���s it: Charlie. But there are some things that even Facebook can���t do, at least so far. One of them is turn a profit, and another is sell lots of wine ��� at least not directly. Only a few years ago, even the most savvy wine industry minds were still trying to figure out how to use social media, and how to make money using it, either by selling wine or through consulting fees. A few years later, Foursquare, Pinterest, Snooth, Forkly and others have entered the fray, all demanding more of our time and attention. But does all that time and effort that you���re putting into managing your winery page and posting business-related stuff on Facebook pay off in increased sales? From the folks I���ve talked to, partly yes and partly no. In many ways, the culture of Facebook isn���t very conducive to selling. At the end of the day, it���s just part of a larger newmedia puzzle with which all businesses must come to terms. For most wine brands, Facebook presents good opportunities for small-scale publicity and some degree of customer relations maintenance. But any winery���s Facebook strategy should be tailored to fit that company���s specific needs. w w w. v w m media.com BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS Tony Lombardi is the director of brand management and public relations for Kosta Browne Winery in Sonoma County, which means, among other things, that he spends a fair amount of time on Facebook, managing both the winery���s company page as well as maintaining a personal presence in the space. ���The whole idea (of using Facebook) is building brand awareness. We have enormous demand for our wines and not the supply to meet it,��� said + Facebook is geared toward buildLombardi, pointing out ing community rather than sales, yet that Kosta Browne sells social media have become essential 90% of its wine direct marketing tools. to consumers and the other 10% to select res+ Social media can be used to increase taurants. brand impressions and build personal For Kosta Browne, relationships. ���It���s not about the + Social media are ideal for creating sale so much as personal relationships with customincreasing the acquiers, particularly when posts are sition of wait list personal, authentic and not obviously members,��� Lomcommercial in motive. bardi said. ���We add 350 people a month that + Measuring returns and converting go to our website and attention to sales are the new chalsign up for our waiting lenges. list. Some are people + Streamlining mobile purchases should who have seen a good be a top priority for all businesses. review, who know us from our participation in charitable events and wine auctions, and you can use social media throughout all of that.��� Lombardi has noticed that sometimes customers sign up for allocations around the same time that they ���like��� the winery on Facebook. ���I also use Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram and try to bundle between them,��� he said. SHORT COURSE J a n - F e b 2 0 13 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 27