As promised, today's post is Olga Mosina's writings on preparation for the winery visit.
Assumptions
a. A
winery hosting a group of winelovers is looking to increase media coverage and social media buzz as well as to acquire new ‘brand ambassadors,’ all of which will
ultimately help to increase its brand recognition and sales.
b. There
are different reasons why a winelover chooses to go on a trip:
- to
get educated about the specific region and
its wines;
- (and,
but not necessarily) to use this newly acquired knowledge to produce content;
- (and)
to increase his/her audience;
- to
meet like-minded people;
- to
network;
- to
have fun.
c. The
Winelover community has done a good job facilitating the above and now wants to
increase the quantity and quality of the content its members produce and the
audience for this content.
Suggested Pre-Trip Steps
By signing up for a trip, every
winelover already has an answer to the basic question: “Why am I taking time from my busy schedule and investing money to visit this particular
region (instead of buying the wine in a store)?”
1. The Winelover community can formalize this step by actively encouraging/asking people to publicly reflect on why they are choosing to go on a trip. These answers/reflections can take one of many forms:
1. The Winelover community can formalize this step by actively encouraging/asking people to publicly reflect on why they are choosing to go on a trip. These answers/reflections can take one of many forms:
- a pre-trip blog post/article
- topics may include: wine grapes, styles of wines, famous wineries or personalities, history, etc., of the trip region;
- a Facebook post (if the winelover does not have enough content for a full-fledged post/article);
- a collection of photos;
- a short video or audio;
- other creative content.
2. The Winelover community should
create a mechanism to gather and
disseminate this content prior to the trip; for example, by featuring the
best posts on its web-site and sharing the best content on social media. By doing so, the Winelover
community will:
- encourage participants to think about the trip ahead of time and do some research;
- motivate people to create content by providing an opportunity for them to increase their audience prior to the trip;
- encourage content creation by sharing high-quality examples;
- make everyone better prepared for the trip by reading/viewing/commenting on other people’s content;
- connect the participants of the upcoming trip;
- create enthusiasm and a sense of anticipation prior to the trip;
- improve winery preparation for the trip
- they will know who will be coming on the trip and what interests/questions they may have;
- create buzz about the winery ahead of the visit;
- make it easier to track content.
3. Research completed prior to the
trip will help participants to stay more focused, ask specific questions, and collect better data during the trip. At the same time, no
topics, creative styles, or research methods are being forced upon
participants.
4. Creation of pre-trip content will make
participants more likely to create
post-trip content (either a follow-up on their earlier
thoughts or something completely different).
Additional thoughts
If it becomes clear from pre-trip
content that there are some specific interests in the groups, the trip can
perhaps be tweaked to adapt to these interests. For example, if several people
are interested in local food that goes with wine, or local wine tourism, or a
specific style of wineries, some parallel visits can be arranged to accommodate
these interests.
Organizers of Winelover trips may
choose to consider pre- and post-trip content as an essential part of the application process for future trips. This creates
a simple rule for applicants: in order to be considered as a participant on the
trip, one needs to submit content from (a) previous trip(s).
Next Steps
The next step in the process is the actual winery visit. Winelover activities during this phase will be covered in Keith Edwards' upcoming post titled Winelover Site Visit.
Next Steps
The next step in the process is the actual winery visit. Winelover activities during this phase will be covered in Keith Edwards' upcoming post titled Winelover Site Visit.
©Wine -- Mise en abyme
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