whisky & social media
DESCRIPTION
Slides from a talk in 2012 by Craig McGill who has advised a number of whisky and drinks companies on using social media and online engagement to find new customers, keep current customers happy and boost ROI. He was worked with Whyte and Mackay, The Shackleton Whisky, Dalmore, Fettercairn, Jura Whisky, Burns Stewart, BrewDog and many others, including rum and vodka companies. He has also appeared at a number of marketing and alcohol events talking about digital marketing.TRANSCRIPT
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Welcome to the New Media Breakfast
#NMBrek
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
What every firm can learn for social media from whisky firms...
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Social Media
1Be honest up front
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Lesson 1No one’s great at everything so
play to strengths & do your homework
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
2Show Relevance
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Lesson 2Google/Bing/searches are your
friend to find allies
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
3Start small
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Whyte & Mackay Safari Hunt
• Total rip-off of the Real Radio Renegade concept - but over social media• One member of staff walked about Glasgow/London with £300 of alcohol
in backpack• Tweeted/used Google Latitude to give hints to location• First to find him won a £60 bottle of whisky, then prizes reduced
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Results?
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Lesson 3Even when starting small, find
out (or even better, define) what makes a win
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
4Get gallus - Find your story & USP
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Meet @the_nose Richard Paterson
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Lesson 4Something makes you unique,
use it (or create it), play to the strengths
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
5Work out where you want to be - and how you’ll fill it/monitor it
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
God loves an Editorial Calendar
• MONDAY– Brand news/Master Blender activities
• TUESDAY– Spotlight on a pub selling W&M
• WEDNESDAY– Questions for the Master Blender
• THURSDAY– Cocktail time
• FRIDAY– Round-up of whisky blogs
• SATURDAY– New whisky video
• SUNDAY– Whisky & women
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Prime source of stories
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Your monitoring can give you stories
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Lesson 5They’re not sexy but planning,
consistency and monitoring essential
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
6It’s not about you or your site
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Lesson 6Spend at least half your time on
other sites (remember Lesson 2?)
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Interlude
Did Social Media content earn a whisky firm £5million?
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Whisky at the south pole
•Tale known internally for years, mentioned in press once
•Became a podcast and blog post
•Bloggers ran with it
•Press spotted it (again)
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Whisky at the south pole
•Just shy of 10,000 tweets
•CNN ran podcast video
•More than 1000 newspaper articles
•More than 800 news website stories
•Approx 1200 blog posts
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Did social media make £5million?
• YES– Started with a tweet, a podcast and a blog– The social media response showed there was demand for product– The ongoing relationship and sharing of information was carried out via
social media– For two years, online/social media were prime sources of information– Social Media kept track of those interested and stayed in touch
• NO– People didn’t click on a link and suddenly have the whisky– Process took two years (and may have been done anyway)– Story only really took off after Scotland on Sunday, then The Daily
Telegraph, then BBC Online news then the world– Actual selling of product was done by the global marketing and sales
teams, backed by strong PR (and social media) push
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
7How to get the bosses on board
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Make it about them
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Lesson 7Flattery still wins
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
8Show you’re top dog by NOT
talking about yourself
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Lesson 8Don’t just regurgitate the press
release or play it safe - involve competitors, take a stand
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
9How to prove it’s worthwhile
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Proving it’s worthwhile...
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
A Plan B for Analytics...
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Proving it’s worthwhile...
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Proving it’s worthwhile...
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Proving it’s worthwhile...
Face to face meeting: £10Phone call: £2
Online interaction: 40p
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Customer (support) trends
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Lesson 9If you can’t justify why you’re
doing this, you’re on shaky ground
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
10Keep it fresh and fun
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Macallan on Instagram
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
G+
http://bit.ly/gplusdram
http://bit.ly/gplusdram
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Lesson 10Keep trying new stuff, accept it
won’t all be wonderful
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
11But don’t get seduced by technology
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Ooops
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Lesson 11Tech for tech’s sake is not cool
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
And...
Some mini-tips...
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
• VIDEO– Keep it simple and short - and have good mics
• WEBSITES– Pick good domain names - not just brand names
• EXPERIMENT– Some stuff you do will fail or not be popular. Learn from it
• LINKS– Always try to find new places to leave links
• WEBSITES– Don’t have Flash– Make sure your site works on mobiles/tablets
• THINK LIKE A PUNTER– Only marketing types use the word ‘inexpensive’
• CONTENT– Have a mix of evergreen material and topical material– The internet loves lists
@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com
Slainte!