Drink. Blog. Drink. Blog.

Blogs are popular, savvy, fun and interesting. Not to mention, blogs are written about...everything (as mentioned in my last post)

Researchers are now analyzing blogs, using content analysis, to look at the expressions, views and opinions of bloggers about whatever topics pique their interests. These blogs can help track trends in society, the economy, advertising, etc. Implications indicate that wine businesses should pay attention to blogs (just like other social media sites!)

I recently read a research article written by Liz Thach for the 5th International Academy of Wine Business Research Conference. Her article is the first of its kind that conducts a content analysis of 222 English language wine blogs. (Sadly, mine is not included...)

This being said, 9 major categories of wine blogs were discovered by the analysis of the blogs:
1)Wine reviews (the most popular)
2)Wine & Food
3)Wine Education

4)Specific Region

5)Wine & Culture

6)Winery Blog
7)Wine Business
8)Wine-making, viticulture

9)Other

Interestingly enough, 813 different wine brands were mentioned within the 222 blogs. The most cited brands were:

Kendall Jackson

Ridge

Penfolds

Ironhorse

Liberty School

Rancho Zabaco

Ravenswood

Sterling
Twisted Oak

Fat Bastard

In terms of advertising, only 47% of wine blogs analyzed included advertising. Personally, I thought that the blogs would include more advertising (to generate $, among many reasons) Though I can understand the annoyance of reading a blog plastered in crazy dancing monkeys advertising a new cell phone.

All of these random sample of wine blogs were taken from Vinography: A Wine Blog.

The more popular the blog however, the more public relations professionals for these top mentioned brands should take notice. If the blogs are well-written and thoughtful mullings- then the wineries should even consider sponsoring the bloggers. Depending on the number and range of readers, blogs could be golden untapped resources available for the wine indsutry to track and utilize.

According to the article, "The results of this study illustrate the varying types of wine blogs available to consumers on the Internet, with the most predominant type of blog providing author‐generated wine reviews and rating. In addition, this study shows that there are various types of wine blogs that provide useful information ranging from educational to entertainment."

So as public relations professionals, keep on viewing and monitoring blogs. What people have to say always DOES matter!!

On a side note, HAPPY HALLOWEEN to my fellow bloggers & readers.

Go grab a bottle of Vampire Wine at your local package store, I can guarantee that the wine is quite delicious!

Social Media Wine-ing

Who doesn't have a facebook, twitter, linkedin, or tumblr account these days? If you don't have any of these, then you should probably get one. ASAP.

If you are a successful business or organization (or want to be) then you should definitely use social media tools daily. While facebook may seem like a website used to play farm games and chat with long-last friends, it is far beyond any of that.

Social media is a highly successful, accessible publishing technique. As public relations professionals, it is highly important to identify the target audiences so that we can be effective and successful practitioners.

Social media for Public Relations:

• Get the message out faster- and to more people. Why wait for a press release when you can see a Facebook post in 30 seconds?


• Social media can be a highly effective tool for enhancing awareness. "Spread the word" about a company, product, services or WINE!


• Boost the impact of direct marketing.
  

Okay, so I know you are wondering...where's the wine in this?

Once again, wine is an INDUSTRY and that means it wants to make money. Nothing in business is made for "fun", though we all have fun drinking it.

As wine lovers, we all love to talk about wine. Social media has given us an outlet to meet other wine aficionados, discuss our favorite wines, chat about wineries we have visited, and more. It's the perfect community as consumers and contributors of the wine industry.

More importantly, the wine industry should be paying close attention to what we say. By 'environmentally scanning' they can monitor the entire network of wine fans on facebook, twitter, and more.
Just by looking on social media, they can see that one person likes Cabernet Sauvignons from the Rutherford Hills California, while another person only drinks 'super' Tuscan reds from Italy. Oh but don't forget, they all want wine that is between $8 and $10 a bottle, with a nice label and a good name.
Corporate Eye says that social media is one giant 'always on' focus group, a perfect tool for qualitative research!

Want to join a focus group to aid in wine research? There is a facebook link for that.
Want to be interviewed by your local wine magazine to discuss the opening of your new winery? There is a facebook link for that.
Want to discuss only Merlot wines, with only Merlot drinkers? There is a site for that too.

Think I'm kidding? Check out some fun social media wine sites here:
-A site decided to unearthing great old red wines: DeadRed WineGroup
-Barefoot Wine & Bubbly has a fun facebook site!
-Jancis Robinson is a wine expert tweeter, and if you follow her then you'll be connected to a
network of 44,000 people. HELLO. wine industry...follow her!!

So go out there & tweet, with a glass of wine in your hand :)

Wine Opinions Matter

How does the wine industry know what people like and want? How do they figure out what wine best appeals to consumers, and what public relations and marketing they need to make it stand out? Through ongoing consumer and wine trade surveys, everything can be tracked right down the average age, ethnicity and personality of the average Merlot drinker. Just like thriving any other industry, the consumer matters more so than you would believe.

Wine Opinions is one tool that the wine industry uses to help gauge their wine research efforts to ensure that drinkers are getting what they want! Backed behind this online database is a professional wine research and analysis team. If you're looking into research jobs, why not settle into the wine industry? It's an ever growing industry with barely any potential to slow down or stop. Even in times of recession, people will continue to drink. (They'll just start drinking 2 buck Chuck instead).

Some of the surveys that Wine Opinions conducts are based on purchase motivation factor, dealing with type/varietal, price, brand, vintage dates, appellation, label/package. So what is your motivation for buying wines? Do you check out the pretty label or the vintage date first? Whatever it is you do, there is a reason why and research behind it.

Want to join an online wine opinion survey? If you are a member of the wine trade (wine salesman, winery employee, sommelier, etc.) then you can become a panelist. Every time you complete a survey you can be entered to win money. So let me get this straight...drink wine, write about it, and then potentially win money? If you are part of the wine trade, this is a no brainer.

Are you a social media fan? Follow Wine Opinion on Twitter, and check out information about upcoming wine events, wine recommendations, food and wine pairings and more.

Sideways Sensation

Inevitably, you should have all known that one of my blog posts would be about the movie "Sideways". The indie movie is based on a wine loving, slightly pyschotic yet endearing man played by Paul Giamatti. More interestingly, Miles (Giamatti's character) is completely anti-Merlot and an adament Pinot Noir fan. While many have speculated about the positive effects on the Pinot Noir industry, and the negative impact on merlot, it had never been researched.


For those of you living under a rock around October of 2004, "Sideways" was nominated for five Academy Awards, with $100 million made in worldwide sales. It's a strangely funny yet eerily sad and memorable film.


After much speculation on the effects of the movie on the sales of red wines, someone finally decided to put the theory to the test. Dr. Steven Cuellar examined the trends in prices and cases sold of Merlot and Pinot Noir from 1998 to 2008, both before and after "Sideways" release in 2004 in Wines & Vines.


The movie was a spectacular promotion of the red wine grape- Pinot Noir. A blockbuster movie based on two men taking a trip through California wine country, extolling the Pinot Noir, couldn't be better public relations for the grape. Soon enough, even non wine drinkers were beginning to wonder just how amazing Pinot Noir must be. The experiment used by Cuellar, and following research, proves that people DID buy more Pinot Noir.


Annual case volume of Merlot, Pinot Noir and a control group of non-Sideways promoted red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, were thoroughly analyzed. Using the experimental and control groups, research does indicate that "Sideways" resulted in a definite impact on Merlot & Pinot Noir grapes in the wine industry. Case volume of Pinot Noir grew, while Merlot volume seemed to decrease after the release of the movie. The control group indicates a stable consumption of various other red wines, while Pinot Noir were still increasing.


Following the Pinot Noir PR promotion in "Sideways" the prices also increased. Merlot did indeed suffer a minor decrease in price & sales while Pinot Noir reaped all the public relations glory. While there could be various other validity issues affecting the sales and prices of Pinot Noir following "Sideways" this further proves the influence of media on the "real world"!

It's a good movie, especially if you enjoy watching Paul Giamatti's pyschosis issues unfold. Go grab some wine (give poor Merlot a break) and watch the full movie.

In the mean time...

Movie Trailer

*Cheers!*