Whisky, social media and digital engagement for ROI

@CraigMcGillWhiskySocialMedia.com

What every firm can learn for social media from whisky firms...


Social Media

1Be honest up front



Lesson 1No one’s great at everything so

play to strengths & do your homework




2Show Relevance









Lesson 2Google/Bing/searches are your

friend to find allies


3Start small


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


Results?


Lesson 3Even when starting small, find

out (or even better, define) what makes a win


4Get gallus - Find your story & USP


Meet @the_nose Richard Paterson



Lesson 4Something makes you unique,

use it (or create it), play to the strengths


5Work out where you want to be - and how you’ll fill it/monitor it


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




Prime source of stories


Your monitoring can give you stories



Lesson 5They’re not sexy but planning,

consistency and monitoring essential


6It’s not about you or your site








Lesson 6Spend at least half your time on

other sites (remember Lesson 2?)


Interlude

Did Social Media content earn a whisky firm £5million?



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)


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


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


7How to get the bosses on board


Make it about them


Lesson 7Flattery still wins


8Show you’re top dog by NOT

talking about yourself




Lesson 8Don’t just regurgitate the press

release or play it safe - involve competitors, take a stand


9How to prove it’s worthwhile


Proving it’s worthwhile...


A Plan B for Analytics...







Face to face meeting: £10Phone call: £2

Online interaction: 40p


Customer (support) trends


Lesson 9If you can’t justify why you’re

doing this, you’re on shaky ground


10Keep it fresh and fun


Macallan on Instagram


G+

http://bit.ly/gplusdram






Lesson 10Keep trying new stuff, accept it

won’t all be wonderful


11But don’t get seduced by technology





Ooops


Lesson 11Tech for tech’s sake is not cool


And...

Some mini-tips...


• 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


Slainte!

Marketing

Whisky, social media and digital engagement for ROI