For those in the wine industry now is the time you should be strategizing on how you will drive quality traffic to your website and stay top of mind during the peak holiday season.  This is also an opportunity to increase engagement from your existing followers, grow your audience and continue to drive sales.  By planning ahead, you have more time to devise posts that are creative, as well as being highly engaging, thoughtful and valued by your audience.  These can involve artists, photographers and videographers, so that’s why you’ll want to spend the time gathering the right assets.

The best way to do this is by creating a six-month calendar to plan what you will post about and when you will post in advance.  A great way to plan your social media strategy is to consider:

  1. What are your communication goals? What are the posts designed to do? (i.e: drive appointment bookings for a physical place, support retail placements)
  2. Create a monthly calendar that you will use to plan out your posts. This can be in Excel, iCal or a Google calendar, or you can download something like this from Hootsuite.
  3. Note the key dates (wine days and holidays) you want to post on and the hashtags that make sense.
  4. What are the specific events or experiences you want to highlight? This could be for a physical or virtual event that you will want to promote.
  5. Decide how many posts you want to do each week. Look over the next 6 months to see where you need to add posting dates to ensure you are meeting your weekly post goals
  6. What are the holidays that make sense for your brand?,e: National Pizza Day, specific national holidays.
  7. Which themes support your brand? These can also be Instagram Story themes so that you can pre-plan story content.  Choose 4-6 themes that can be the pillars to your social strategy.  Incorporate these into the calendar both on Facebook and Instagram.
  8. What is your creative strategy? Video content will get the most engagement.  Can you factor that into your plan?  Do you need to plan a photo or video shoot in order to get the right assets?  You can also plan posts that are illustrations created by a designer.
  9. Be fun and entertaining. The best posts will engage your audience with humor and heartwarming content that is unique to the brand and also relevant.  Have fun with it and know your brand’s voice.

Some key dates that might make sense if you are a wine brand:

Wine Days 2020 | Wine Days 2021

September 18, 2020, International Grenache Day
November 7, 2020, International Merlot Day
November 12, 2020, National Tempranillo Day
November 18, 2020, National Zinfandel Day
November 19, 2020, Beaujolais Nouveau Day
December 4, 2020, Cabernet Franc Day
December 20, 2020, Sangria Day
December 31, 2020, Champagne Day

February 18, 2021, National Drink Wine Day
February 22, 2021, Open That Bottle Night
March 3, 2021, National Mulled Wine Day
March 13, 2021, Riesling’s Birthday
April 17, 2021, World Malbec Day
May 7, 2021, International Sauvignon Blanc Day
May 9, 2021, National Moscato Day
May 27, 2021, National Chardonnay Day
May 25, 2021, National Wine Day
June 25, 2021, International Rosé Day
August 4, 2021, National White Wine Day
August 18, 2021, International Pinot Noir Day
September 2, 2021, International Cabernet Day
September 17, 2021, International Grenache Day
October 15, 2021, Champagne Day
November 7, 2021, International Merlot Day
November 11, 2021, International Tempranillo Day
November 17, 2021, National Zinfandel Day
November 18, 2021, Beaujolais Nouveau Day
December 4, 2021, Cabernet Franc Day
December 20, 2021, Sangria Day
December 31, 2021, Champagne Day