3 Key Factors to (Wine) Storytelling Success
In earlier articles, I have talked about the importance of defining a niche and setting up a blog with its own domain name. In this article, I will focus on three key factors for storytelling or blogging success, namely Content, Consistency, and Community.
First, I want to enter the world of social media, as we haven’t touched much upon this very essential area yet.
To be or not to be on social media
Well, that is the question. Being on social media is not a requirement, however, I think it is very difficult to not be present on at least one or two social media channels if you want to blog successfully.
Being seen and read today is very much connected with being part of social media communities that help share your content. In the digital age of today, it is indeed imperative to embrace a sharing mentality online as well as offline. Borders and distances have diminished globally, and we can connect with people from all over the world in just seconds.
Bryan Kramer, a leading American author, keynote speaker, and social business strategist, coined the concept of #H2H (Human to Human) in 2014. He furthermore talks about how the old concept of shared experiences has become key in the new social media marketing world.
In fact, I have shared experiences with Bryan Kramer both online and offline. In early 2015, a wine and social media mentor of mine, Robert Moore, who also knows Bryan Kramer, told me to go to a conference in Rimini and meet Bryan.
Bryan was the keynote speaker at the Be-Wizard marketing conference in Rimini that year. I was a bit hesitant thinking it was out of my league, but in the end, decided to go. I remember I was too shy to approach him the first evening at dinner. Instead, back at the hotel I tweeted him saying I had had been too nervous to go up and say hi to him and his wife, Courtney. He replied saying I must come and say hello the next day.
I went to his talk the next day and even asked a question to which he replied and then explained to the audience that we knew each other via Twitter. We spoke after his talk, and he was so very nice.
Again, caused fundamental changes for me. Thanks to Courtney and Bryan, I have grown and developed my personal brand and wine writing business during the past few years.
1. Content
Content is important, but it is not only about writing top content, putting it out there and thinking that it will work its own miracles. If you have a blog, it is essential to write good content that is in line with your overall storytelling, i.e. that strengthens your brand story.
It is perhaps more important to first know your readers, your audience, in order to speak to them in the way they want to communicate.
Content can, furthermore, come in so many forms. You can, for example, create content in form of:
Text
Images
Infographics
Video
Podcasts
A friend of mine, Mike Madaio, stressed in a talk he did at the Wine2Wine conference last year in Verona, that he believes diversification of content to be the future of blogging. To be seen and read, he does not believe in old school blogging, where you would only publish an article and trust that the faithful readers would show up, any longer.
Diversification of content is essential as well as having a sharing mentality on social media.
2. Consistency
Consistency and continuity are perhaps two of the most important factors to success. If you do not consistently show up with your content, people are not going to notice you much or put their trust in you.
Trust is also key here, as you need to build trust with your audience so that they will come back and start looking forward to your content.
Set up a content schedule that fits you and try to follow it as far as you can. If you perhaps decide that one article a month is all you can manage, then that is fine.
The content schedule also involves your social media presence. If you decide to post 3 times a week on Facebook or Instagram, for example, that is more than all right. However, you need to follow your schedule and show up to gain any results.
3. Community
Building your own "Millesimato" Tribe, as I called it in an article I wrote two years ago, is another key factor. You can create your audience, i.e. your tribe, by step-by-step building trust with your followers and readers. Again, trust is essential.
Social media is not only a place to hang out and share photos, it can be an important tool to reach your goals whether in business or for your blog. One of the goals you set up could be, for example, to reach old and new fans or customers, to build trust with them and cherish them so they become your tribe who engages with and supports you.
It takes a lot of work, though, and is not always easy.
“How do I do this?” you might think…
I am not going to reveal all that today, I will only say that it involves being yourself, consistency, and tenacity.
Katarina Andersson is a wine writer, wine educator, social media strategist, and translator. Grapevine Adventures is where she writes about Italian wine and wine in general.