Why should wine estates include Pinterest in their Social Media Stategy ?

We certainly see a lot of interest from wine estates whenever we cover newer approaches to online marketing like QR codes, Google+ or Pinterest. These tactics are “hot” and the hottest topic this year is definitely Pinterest. At VitaBella Luxury Wine, we’re big advocates for using Pinterest marketing daily for Wine estates. In fact, in sectors like Wine, Fashion and Travel, Pinterest makes a significant difference.

With Pinterest, it’s the same as with blogging, you need to get involved with a community of interest and partners to get more visibility. And you have to have a sustained stream of quality content which is shareable, but also presents your brand well. Initially we were a bit skeptical about the impact that Pinterest would have in the marketing world for wine estates, but soon found the site was becoming an effective tool. Once clients started inquiring about it we added it our mix. Some clients remain reluctant or skeptical, but we have seen a huge rise in clients needing help in getting started on the site. At VitaBella Luxury Wine, we help marketers by covering “best practices” in digital marketing and we like Pinterest for using it as a tool to market products and brands.

Pinterest is a site that has long visit spans from visitors. The average visit last about 5 – 10 minutes. Once you have a persons eye, it’s a good chance you can keep them engaged for a long time. That can lead to a new customer for your brand.We can see the site continuously gaining popularity once people start using it more. It’s honestly one of the more unique and addictive of the social sites because unlike most sites which are based on words, it’s based on pics and that’s a huge advantage. Also Pinterest is interactive with your web experience with the “Pin It” tab you add to your browser. You’ll certainly find yourself using it more and more often and creating more boards due to that alone.

Pinterest Drives More Referral Traffic Than Google Plus, YouTube and LinkedIn Combined. Techcrunch said in July 2012 that Pinterest Traffic Passed Google Referrals, Bing, Twitter & StumbleUpon. Impressive stuff even if you should consider that Asia and Europe – major markets for VitaBella Luxury Wine’s clients – are much different from America in terms of reach. Are you ready to start? Here are a few advices :

– Pinterest is a visual site because it is based on pictures, so your campaigns should be eye catching. Be creative with your graphics, spend time editing pictures, use contrast highlighting your items…Make sure that you do more than just have a basic picture.

– Consider your product and target market before devoting a lot of time to a site like Pinterest, but that can be said about all social networks, every site isn’t a great place to devote your efforts to, you have to find the one that meets your needs best.

– Keep active with your boards, and continue seeking new followers and follow people with similar interest back.

– Integration is what I look for to give the campaign the biggest impact, that means integration with the website, email marketing and other social channels.

Still some wine estates are so focused on Twitter and Facebook marketing that they are reluctant to try it, mostly because of time restraints or lack of knowledge of how to use it. Wine Marketers struggle to make the time for Pinterest because it needs richer, quality content for sharing than some other social networks. It is our daily job to help them not to lag behind competitors.

(Write to info@vitabella.fr)