7 Tips for Wineries on Twitter

2009 was the year companies, including wineries dipped their toe in the social media pool.  2010 is the year to get online and start a social media presence.
These tips are relevant for companies of various sizes besides wineries, but the wine industry has the benefit of talking about something that’s been part of society since the beginning of time.  Food and wine are the most inherently social interactions between people.  And for that reason, wineries should be able to build a tribe online.

1. Twitter gives you 140 characters. Try to keep your tweets to 110.  Leave room to people to ReTweet your post.
2. Talk with people, not at them.
3. Use the 1 in 9 rule – one out of 9 posts can be promotional, the other eight are conversational with actual people.
4. Use Tweetdeck – one of the best free tools out there.  Allows you to set up search columns to monitor any term, including your brand.
5. Use link shortners – bit.ly is probably the most popular.  Tweetdeck will auto shorten links for you.  Bit.ly links can be monitored and measured.
6. Follow and be followed.  Grow your tribe online by following folks you find interesting.  Often times, they’ll follow back.  That’s the beginning of building trust.
7. Build trust by being consistent with quality content.  Spam and promotional marketing violates trust online.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,
Rick