A super simple social media plan for wine retailers

There are very few wine retailers that use social media well.

Ask them why they don’t post on Facebook or Instagram regularly and the answer is often “we just don’t have time.”

Of course you have time. It takes but a minute, and if there are no customers in the store why not make use of that minute?

Time is not the issue. Lack of a plan is the issue.

So here’s my super simple guaranteed-to-bring-results social media plan for wine retailers.

  1. Assign two employees to produce content. They are in charge of each-other, and accountable to the owner. This makes it easy to rotate people in and out of the role, or if one of the employees leaves the job you have a trainer in place for the new hire.

  2. Figure out a “look” for your photos. The goal: take pictures of bottles with the same background every time (maybe with your store’s name on a sign? Hint: get a table number stand or wire photo holder and simply add your store’s name to it, and have it in every bottle shot.) Shoot from the same angles every time. You want your bottle shots to be consistent.

  3. Sit down and make a list of all the stuff you can post about. Here’s a small list to get started: new arrivals, almost sold out, sale items, new employees, old employees, birthdays, anniversaries, dogs that visit the shop, delicious wines, in-store tastings, bargain wines, special occasion wines, the outside of the store, the weather, hints and tips to enjoy wine more, wine magazine covers, pouring a glass, meeting with sales reps … the list goes on. The point here is to have a master list of ideas so “I don’t know what to post” is never said. Maybe laminate that list to make sure it doesn’t get tossed out accidentally.

  4. Here comes the work: both assigned employees need to post once a day (and there are lots of programs out there to enable them to lay out posts ahead of time if they want), and both need to make sure the other does their job. If one doesn’t do their job, both get in a bit of trouble with the boss.

  5. Stand back and let them create. Recognize good work when it happens. Let them know your favorite posts, and encourage them to have a voice in the creative process. Reward them for consistent work well done.

That’s all there is to it.

Ignore the metrics. Don’t get hooked on the number of likes. The goal is to grow organically, and make content that your audience finds useful.

Yes, we could deep dive on the power of creating a Facebook Group, or Instagram Stories, or TikTok, or more. But don’t get overwhelmed trying to do everything at once.

Start with something simple: tell your customers about what you are up to via Facebook and Instagram. That’s telling a story, and stories are the cornerstone of marketing.