Tweet me a drink: the use of social media in Victoria's (Australia) wine tourism industry

Abstract

Recently, traditional promotional methods used by wineries have expanded to encompass online marketing activities. Among the various options, social media, offer a free, cheap and instant way of communication to a target audience, on both a local and international scale. Specifically, Facebook and Twitter are now globally recognised as the pre-eminent tools that dominate the social media network. However, using these web tools does not necessarily guarantee a return on investment. The objective of this study is to investigate the extent, purpose and use of Facebook and Twitter in the Victorian wine tourism industry. In doing so, a content analysis was applied to analyse Victorian winery websites, assess their commonalties and ascertain their level of involvement in embracing social network tools. The nature of such an activity and their effectiveness from a marketing perspective was investigated by joining their social network and monitoring their 'tweets' and 'posting'. Content analysis confirmed the emerging trend of using social media in the wine tourism industry in Victoria. Moreover, the perceived benefits that social media provide to boost visitation in the Victorian wine region are also discussed and recommendations in their future use of social media as an e-marketing strategy are suggested.