What every firm can learn from whisky firms' social media strategies

@CraigMcGill
WhiskySocialMedia.com
What every firm can learn for social
media from whisky firms...

@CraigMcGill
Social Media
1Be honest up front

@CraigMcGill

@CraigMcGill
Lesson 1
No one’s great at everything so play to
strengths & do your homework

@CraigMcGill
2Show Relevance

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Lesson 2
Google/Bing/searches are your friend to
find allies

@CraigMcGill
3Start small

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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

@CraigMcGill
Results?

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Lesson 3
Even when starting small, find out (or
even better, define) what makes a win

@CraigMcGill
4Get gallus - Find your story & USP

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Meet @the_nose Richard Paterson

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Lesson 4
Something makes you unique, use it (or
create it), play to the strengths

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

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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

@CraigMcGill
Prime source of stories

@CraigMcGill
Your monitoring can give you stories

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Lesson 5
They’re not sexy but planning,
consistency and monitoring essential

@CraigMcGill
6It’s not about you or your site

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Lesson 6
Spend at least half your time on other
sites (remember Lesson 2?)

@CraigMcGill
InterludeDid Social Media content earn
a whisky firm £5million?

@CraigMcGill
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)

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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

@CraigMcGill
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

@CraigMcGill
7How to get the bosses on board

@CraigMcGill
Make it about them

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Lesson 7
Flattery still wins

@CraigMcGill
8Show you’re top dog by NOT talking
about yourself

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Lesson 8
Don’t just regurgitate the press release
or play it safe - involve competitors,
take a stand

@CraigMcGill
9How to prove it’s worthwhile

@CraigMcGill
Proving it’s worthwhile...

@CraigMcGill
A Plan B for Analytics...

@CraigMcGill
Proving it’s worthwhile...
Face to face meeting: £10
Phone call: £2
Online interaction: 40p

@CraigMcGill
Customer (support) trends

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Lesson 9
If you can’t justify why you’re doing this,
you’re on shaky ground

@CraigMcGill
10Keep it fresh and fun

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Macallan on Instagram

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G+
http://bit.ly/gplusdram
http://bit.ly/gplusdram

@CraigMcGill
Lesson
10Keep trying new stuff, accept it won’t
all be wonderful

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11But don’t get seduced by technology

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Ooops

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Lesson
11Tech for tech’s sake is not cool

@CraigMcGill
And..
.
Some mini-tips...

@CraigMcGill
• 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

@CraigMcGill
Slainte!

What every firm can learn from whisky firms' social media strategies

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What every firm can learn from whisky firms' social media strategies