The VinTank report is certainly a chunk to sink your teeth into. Still, my current mission is how to apply all these skills and passions for social media (we know it works) to the bottom line in sales…now that I’ve joined the sales team. We’ve talked about them thus far ad nauseum here, on twitter and in person as we’ve laid the ground work for what this new thing, online connecting via web 2.0, is and how it applies to business.
So with a nod of appreciation for Dude’s work and a rush out the door on my California BevMo and Whole Foods Wine department tour, we’ll all be enjoying a round of conversation and response to the latest report on social media in wine throughout real and virtual portals. My favorite point currently lost in the comments debate on Dude’s blog is about millenials: “…they don’t respond to the mindless, unidirectional marketing tactics that have been the staple of the “traditional” marketing machine.” Furthermore, despite the incredible headway made by the VinTank study, most stat lovers will never be satisfied because the meduim of measuring stats for something like social media won’t even be completely embodied by a dollar sign, a case sold or a wine club member convert…alone. Perhaps in old school speak, how would you measure and quantify the value of the Rotary Club? For an individual or a community? Sure, there would be numbers you could point to…but I guarantee that would not be the whole story.
This is more like a movement where participation is decentralized, diffused and more democratic. The power and influence is spread out. Anyone who doesn’t like that will certainly knock it down (and we’ve seen that a lot throughout the past years). Meanwhile, let’s raise a glass, remember the wine and talk as much about the magic in the glass and sharing that bottle together.
Cheers!
Thanks for the shout-out!
Good for you for working toward merging social media communities with your work in the field. The more members of the traditional wine sales network embrace the value of online communities, the more that value will grow. Whole Foods and BevMo are a couple that ‘get it’ at least at the corporate level – go forth and conquer the rest!
My sister is a Napa wineblogger I’ll have to get her to visit this rather interesting site….her blog is vinsanity.