Used correctly, social media can be a powerful marketing tool, says Annette Ringwood Boyd with the Virginia Wine Board Marketing Office.
Social media give businesses and organizations the opportunity to talk directly with influencers and consumers.
"It can be a very efficient way to get a message out," said Boyd, the marketing office's director. "It eliminates the filter that is provided by most media."
At the Richmond chapter of the Public Relations Society of America's meeting Wednesday, she will present a case study of her marketing office's efforts to encourage the state's wine businesses to become more active on social media networks.
In July, the Virginia wine industry hosted the 2011 Wine Bloggers Conference in Charlottesville, which produced 43 million potential marketing impressions through Twitter.
"Those are Super Bowl numbers," Boyd said. "It opened up a whole new world for us as a way to reach wine consumers."
Social media — and especially Twitter — have become a means to bring together people talking about Virginia wines who would otherwise never meet or know one another, she said. She noted that these Virginia-brand ambassadors have quickly become one of the most widely followed wine communities on Twitter.
On the other hand, she said, "you can't drop something in Facebook or Twitter that you might put on a website and think it's going to be instantly transferable. It's not."
The PRSA Richmond meeting will feature tasting of sample wines. The event also is the annual past presidents' luncheon, honoring previous leaders of the public relations group for their service.
Networking begins at 11:45 a.m., and lunch starts at 12:15 p.m.
The event is free for PRSA Richmond members, and attendance costs $35 for nonmembers and $15 for students. Registration is online at www.prsarichmond.org.
The luncheon will be at the Hilton Richmond Hotel & Spa at Short Pump, 12042 W. Broad St., in Henrico County.
Peter Bacqué
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