50 Top Wineries on Twitter

UPDATE: The initial results were posted on 7 August 2009. Shortly thereafter, additional wineries completed the survey taking it from 62% to 68% response rate. All of the numbers in the survey have been updated as well as those in the slides. Please feel free to download the new set of slides.

For the most part, the additional surveys simply reenforced the initial results.

As with the earlier Facebook Survey, let me first take a moment to thank all of the wineries that took the time to respond to the 50 top Wineries on Twitter Survey. 

I am happy to report that 68% of the wineries participated… a very high percentage for any survey! (Note: If more surveys are completed I will update this post)

Its one thing to gather data, but it is another to gain insight. As I continue to experience it, people in the wine industry are passionate about what they produce and the customers they produce it for,   and equally generous with their peers in sharing information and experience.

So … a very gracious Thank You! to those that took time out of their very busy schedules to complete the survey (glad I didn’t try this during harvest!).

Please note the following:

• The survey contained 10 questions aimed at gaining a better understanding of Twitter as a social media tool for wineries, the result of each is provided below.
• Many questions allowed multiple answers. In these cases, the numbers will not add up to 100.
• Several questions included the ability to “write in” an answer. These are identified below.
• There is a link at the end of this article that can be used to download a presentation with the results.

Question #1: How long has the winery had a presence on Twitter?

The majority have had a presence more than six months but less than a year (38.2%). Only one winery has had a presence more than 2 years.  14.7% had a presence more than one year and less than two.  Another 26.5% have been on Twitter more than three months but less than six months, and finally 17.6% have only been on Twitter for less than three months!

Question #2: Who is responsible for tweets and/or responding to messages?

Over 78% of the respondents answered that there was a single person responsible and a single person normally tweets and responds. Another 9% said a single person is responsible but multiple people tweet and respond, with an additional 12% having multiple people responsible who also tweet and respond. None of the wineries had a presence without establishing ownership. In one case a winery had multiple accounts (again single person responsible), and in another although there is a primary person responsible, tweeting is shared with this person, the winemaker, and innkeeper.

Question #3: Is your Twitter account part of your overall marketing plan?

The question is really whether or not the wineries view Twitter as an independent activity where “tweets” are done on an ad hoc basis based on what the winery might feel would be of interest to its followers, or is it more planned out in conjunction with their overall marketing objectives or plan. Here the response was primarily split between work ad hoc (50%) and work to a plan but also tweet ad hoc (38.2%).  The remaining 11.8% work to a marketing plan.

Question #4: How often do you tweet?

As you may recall, the initial data collected on Twitter suggested that in terms of activity where more than 25 tweets in 24 hours = high, more than 15 but less than 25 = med, less than 10 = low , and 0 = none, there were 5 high, 4 med, 22 low, 19 none. We took this one step further in the survey and here are the results:

• More than 25 times a day = 6.3%
• More than 10 but less than 25 times a day = 15.6%
• More than 1 but less than 10 times a day= 56.3%
• Less than 1 time per day =9.4%
• Less than 5 times a week = 12.5%

One winery said they “tweet in spurts based on the activity at the winery”.

Question #5: What do you normally tweet about?

This is one of those questions that included multiple answers so … here goes:

• Winery News = Top choice at 97.1%
• New Product releases = 67.6%
• Awards = 50%
• Questions of the Day = 11.8%
• New varietals = 26.5%
• Harvest news = 61.8%
• Tasting Notes = 47.1%
• Wine Industry News = 58.8%
• Blog = 47.1%
• Other = 44.1%

In terms of other, here are the “write ins”:

• Weather, personnel quirks likes/dislikes
• Tweets that engage, RT’s, reply to mentions, questions
• Life as a winemaker
• Misc. of Interest, Personal, Food & Wine, Food Photos
• pictures from around the winery
• everyday hapenings
• general musings, obervations, rants
• Personal stuff
• WBC (Wine Blogger’s Conference)
• Real estate opportunities and wedding events
• Music, politics, general news, Facebook events, TV, other items of interest

Question #6: What tools do you use to help you tweet and manage your presence on Twitter?

Again, a multiple choice question with the ability to add other non-specified tools. The choices and distribution were as follows:

• TweetLater = 14.8%
• TweetDeck = 92.6% (Top Choice)
• Twhirl = 0%
• Twitterfox = 0%
• Twitterfeed = 18.5%
• WeFollow = 48.1%
• Tweetscan = 0%
• Tweetstats = 3.7%
• Tweetbeep = 0%
• Twellow = 3.7%
• Twitterback = 3.7%
• Hashtag = 11.1%

Although not listed, these Twitter tools were identified as also being used by the top 50 wineries:

• Tweetie
• iPhone
• Seesmic
• UberTwitter
• Twitter search
• Tweepularity
• Twitter Karma

Question #7:  In your opinion, has your presence on Twitter been beneficial to the winery?

Obviously a very important question. The results are very telling:

• 82.4% said “Yes”
• 0% said “No”
• 17.6% said “Not Sure”

Questions #8: If you answered “Yes” to the previous question, how has your presence on Twitter helped your business?

The answer to Question #7 was important, but only when combined with Question #8 that attempts to identify what the benefit is. Again, I asked the wineries to check all that apply (in question #9 I asked them to indentify the top benefit only).

Here are the responses with percentages:

• It has helped to manage the winery’s online reputation = 67.9%
• It has driven more business to our website = 64.3%
• It has driven new fans to our Facebook fan page = 50%
• It has driven new followers / fans / interest to other social media sites that we have built or participate in = 60.7%
• It has helped us engage more with our customers = 96.4%
• It has helped us to hone our business to the needs of our customers = 10.7%
• It has helped to drive incremental sales of our products in our tasting room = 35.7%
• It has helped to drive incremental sales of our products in retail outlets and/or restaurants = 46.4%
• It has increased participation in our wine club = 10.7%

As in previous questions, I provided a space for wineries to write in a benefit if not listed. Here is their input:

• Wine Blogger reviews, recomendations
• Created brand awareness for our new start-up, boutique winery
• It has helped me meet key industry contacts and media
• Helped us connect with other wine industry people outside our area in California. Also, connected helped us develop a relationship with wine blogger and writers
• We have people ‘pop’ in the winery all the time now saying ‘I found you on Twitter’!
• Has helped us gain media coverage (print mostly)
• Mailing list sign-ups

Question #9: Looking at the answers selected in the previous question, what one benefit do you feel has been most important to the winery regarding your presence on Twitter?

• It has helped to manage the winery’s online reputation = 14.3%
• It has driven more business to our website = 7.1%
• It has driven new followers / fans / interest to other social media sites that we have built or participate in = 3.6%
• It has helped us engage more with our customers = 57.1%
• It has helped to drive incremental sales of our products in our tasting room = 14.3%
• It has helped to drive incremental sales of our products in retail outlets and/or restaurants = 3.6%

In addition to the answers above, two wineries added that “Networking with others in the wine industry” and “Has brought more people to us” as being among the top benefits.

Question #10: Which other social media/networking  sites do you participate in?

This again was a multiple answer question where the percentages will not add up to 100 as follows:

• Facebook = 93.5%
• Linkedin =45.2%
• Wine2.0 = 41.9%
• Open Wine Consortium = 38.7%
• Snooth = 32.3%
• Your own Social Media/Networking site = 16.1%
• Winery Blog = 61.3

Lastly, there were some comments indicating Ning and MySpace as other sites where the wineries participated.

Summary & Comments:

General comment:

As noted in my earlier post Wineries on Twitter? How Tweet it is!, none of the 50 top wineries on Facebook were in the top 50 wineries on Twitter even though over 80% did have a presence on Twitter, and vice versa even though there was a 93% overlap. In a recent Mashable post there was a large number of comments  regarding when to use Twitter versus Facebook. Based on those comments, for many individuals the common denominator seems to be Private(family/friends): Facebook – Public:Twitter.

However, for a business (in this case a winery), this doesn’t necessarily work since in order to be successful, the family and friends of a business need to expand over time to find new friends (called sales!). From what I can see, either platform seems to be beneficial to wineries in that although there was no direct correlation between the top 5o on either platform, in the subsequent survey with both groups the top benefit was essentially the same – “It has helped us engage / connect more with our customers”. With that said, I did see slightly more saying that increased business was a benefit on the Twitter side, but that could be somewhat skewed since a higher percentage of the top wineries on Twitter  participated in the survey than the top 50 wineries on Facebook (68% versus 26%).

Summary:

1. Things happen quickly in social media / networking. So it was not surprising to see that 82% of the top 50 wineries on Twitter have not had a presence for more than a year, with only 1 winery having a presence over two years.
2. As with the survey of the top 50 wineries on Facebook, all of the top wineries on Twitter have a person(s) assigned to tweet and respond. None of the wineries leave this to chance.
3. Again not surprising that 88% responded that ad hoc tweets are used since Twitter is a microblog that thrives on relatively short (max 140 characters) messages. However, the more interesting news is that almost half consider the activity part of the overall marketing plan and strategy.
4. Does a higher number of tweets ensure success? From the survey, it certainly doesn’t hurt, but its not imperative since 56% tweet less than 10 times a day.
5. So if you are going to tweet, what should you tweet about? It seems  the top billing ( 97% of the top 50 wineries on Twitter) tweet about winery news. Not surprising. What might be more interesting is that 44% of the wineries also tweeted about non winery news… information, insights, personal musings, conferences, etc. that they thought would be of interest to their followers.
6. Those that are new to Twitter may find it odd that there are so many tools / applications that have built up around the social networking site. TweetDeck (downloaded on the desktop) took the top billing followed by WeFollow.
7. I see this question asked over and over again – Is investment in Social Media / Networking beneficial? Although the jury is still out across the board, for the top 50 wineries on Twitter the overwhelming answer was YES (82%). Further, based on the type of benefits listed it would seem that there was ROII - a combination of Return on investment  as well as Return on Influence.
8. See comments above
9. See comments above
10. As with the Facebook study, a very high percentage of the top 50 wineries on Twitter (96%) had a presence on Facebook and vice versa (+80%). Why the individual wineries chose Twitter versus Facebook is unknown (see comments above). Over time it will be interesting to see whether one or the other platform becomes the primary focus of wineries and/or whether one or the other results in more benefits. In either case, leveraging of these and other social media/networking platforms is making a positive difference for wineries that are willing and able to make the investment.

If you wish you may download a copy of the presentation 50 Top Wineries on Twitter Download the updated presentation here.

Finally, a big THANK YOU again to those wineries that took the time to participate in the survey!