Wine on social media: retailers and companies are the most followed profiles, critics and consortia are far behind

The relationship between wine and social media is structured in a complex way while by nature it is also complicated. The reason is actually rather simple as it is probably the most fragmented productive sector in the world, counting tens of thousands of players, hundreds of thousands of products, hundreds of global brands, dozens of territories and, obviously, an unknown number of newspapers, wine writers, critics and influencers. From the commercial and marketing point of view — from fashion to beer — there is nothing like wine. The effects of the relationship between the wine world and the galaxy of social networks, are clearly evident and are at the center of a survey conducted by Wine Opinions. The survey asked a sample of US wine lovers — summarily divided by age groups, over and under 40 years old — what kind of profiles, pages and users linked to wine they followed.
Retailers took first place, as they are followed by 72% of under 40s and 66% of over 40s. Next, 69% of the followers among the under 40s and 65% among the over 40s follow profiles of the companies. At a distance (58% of the under 40s and 42% of the over 40s), pages and profiles of restaurants and clubs, while publications dedicated to wine were even further down the social channels, followed by just 33% of the under 40s and 38% of the over 40s. The category of consortiums and local wine organizations got an even lower result as they are followed by just 33% of under 40s and 32% of over 40s. Finally, the category of critics and columnists are followed by only one out of 4 wine lovers (25%, for both age groups).
These results are not too surprising, but they need to be explained. First of all, the relatively low appeal of territory or consortium pages (keeping in mind that the sample is American wine lovers, ed.), confirms an aspect that never should be underestimated. That is, investments in communication and marketing, and also their quality, are the prerogative of large companies, much more so than the world of wine organizations. There is another fact to reflect on, concerning critics and columnists, which must not be taken lightly, for at least two reasons. More often than not, these are personal pages and are managed independently. Above all, however, these are tasting professionals who rarely speak to large audiences of consumers, but rather to niches of enthusiasts and professionals. This is demonstrated, for instance, by the figure — by far the best of all categories — related to followers on Twitter, the social network for both news and opinions.
There is one last aspect that resulted from the Wine Opinions survey, which concerns the penetration of various social networks. Facebook clearly predominates among the over 40s, while instead there is a clear preference for Instagram among the under 40s. Twitter is in the background, however, followed more by the over 40s. Specifically, retailers are followed on Facebook by 63% of under 40s and 80% of over 40s, on Instagram by 75% of under 40s and 44% of over 40s and on Twitter by 4% of under 40s and 12% of over 40s. Restaurant profiles are followed on Facebook by 65% of under 40s and 82% of over 40s, on Instagram by 82% of under 40s and 48% of over 40s and on Twitter by 6% of under 40s and 9% of over 40s. Critics are followed by 38% of under 40s and 63% of over 40s on Facebook, 79% of under 40s and 56% of over 40s on Instagram and on 19% of under 40s and 26% of over 40s on Twitter.
Wine magazines are followed on Facebook by 49% of under 40s and 76% of over 40s, on Instagram by 77% of under 40s and 45% of over 40s and on Twitter by 16% of under 40s and 15% of over 40s. Company profiles are followed on Facebook by 59% of under 40s and 83% of over 40s, on Instagram by 74% of under 40s and 50% of over 40s and on Twitter by 8% of under 40s and by 13% of over 40s. Finally, local wine organizations and consortiums are followed on Facebook by 49% of under 40s and 79% of over 40s, on Instagram by 76% of under 40s and 49% of over 40s and on Twitter by 6% of under 40s and 11% of over 40s.