Winey Kids in McLaren Vale – Putting Locals at the Centre of Destination Marketing

What I hope you’ll get out of the next 45 minutes I hope you’ll be inspired in one of the following ways –  Some ideas for how you manage your social media activity  Ideas for taking a ‘bottom up’ approach to destination marketing  That you need to spend more time relaxing at wineries with your family

The story so far…

A kid was born!

The World of Primary Colours

The World of Elegance 10 major motivations of people visiting wine regions – 1) To taste wine 2) To gain wine knowledge 3) To experience the wine setting (meet winemaker, tour cellars & vineyards) 4) To be in a rural setting (beauty of vineyards, learn about farming) 5) To match food and wine 6) To have fun (wine festivals and events) 7) To enjoy wine culture (romance and elegance) 8) To appreciate the architecture 9) To learn about the ‘green’ aspects and ecotourism 10) To enjoy the health aspects of wine

It feels soooo good

Can you recommend…?

Celebrating, not judging

Drink Driving?

The Stats! A very very local fan base!

The Stats! Significant fan base of women aged between 25-44

The Stats! Two distinct peak times of engagement – Between am Between pm

Tool selection Blogger Facebook Also dabble with… Pinterest Instagram Twitter

What do we talk about? Places to go Places we like Places we visit

What local wine I’m drinking 7-10pm timeslot What do we talk about?

Funny stuff What do we talk about?

What’s on What do we talk about?

Competitions

The occasional hot winemaker! What do we talk about?

Questions from “Winey Mums” What do we talk about?

“Rules of engagement” At least 2 posts per day – ideally one around 9.30/10am and one between 7-10pm The give-give-take rule Keeping Elsie anonymous most of the time Celebrating, not judging Slow and steady growth for genuine engagement

What’s so special about this? Winey Kids is run by a real family, not a Government or advertising agency We’re committed Even though we live and breathe it, we don’t preach about our favourite places all the time – we get people talking - facilitate conversations We’ve created a ‘tribe’ who are actively engaged followers, promoting places they love

We’re making a difference

Keys to our success The ability to ‘dabble’ and take risks The ability to be a little bit naughty – combining both parent humour and wine ‘stuff’ We’re a real family – people like to aspire to something – I’m the same with other pages Not being afraid to put the questions ‘out there’ – people LOVE recommending places, helping each other out Forming a genuine community of interest – steady growth Local people who love where they live

What hasn’t worked Some jokes – some hit, some miss! Anything not related to wine or kids – tried sharing a solar panel competition for another clients business – not a peep; mention of state elections was a flop Facebook algorithms changing can be annoying – realisation of need for paid posts Getting ‘brand identity’ wrong – the competition about a stomach wrap just didn’t look right

Top down vs bottom up

Wine for Thought Could there be an alternative, supplementary approach to traditional destination marketing? Niche special interest markets Using local passion, knowledge and insight Facilitating real conversations Using local people to lead or engage with the process to create ownership and pride

Could destination marketing become something you do with people, not to people? For example, how about a competition between advertising professionals and locals to create a promotional video for a destination? Wine for Thought

Could you recruit local people to be ambassadors for destinations? Giving them the freedom to run their own campaigns? How can tourism campaigns link with other sectors? Are there potential partners we are missing by using traditional marketing approaches? Are there key messages we are missing? Wine for Thought

What next for Winey Kids? Developing an online resource – free listings Introducing advertising opportunities Next 12 months: Winey Kids McLaren Vale Next 3 years: Expand to 5 Australian wine regions – Hunter Valley next, then Margaret River Next 10 years: Have a distant dream of a total of 10 wine regions featured across the world! Yeah baby!

Or give me a call to chat more… Becky Hirst 0449 Thank you!