Attending the Wine Bloggers Conference last month has given me a lot of food for thought about what I’d like to do with this blog and various social media channels. While I didn’t get everything that I’d hoped for from the Day 3 seminar “Advanced Strategies for Facebook and Instagram”, it did encourage me to think more critically about how I use those platforms and Twitter.
Ultimately I’ve decided that while all these channels work together, I want them to have different focuses apart from the blog. I’ll breakdown the differences below.
The Blog
At its core, this blog will is a study tool. As items in my personal life get settle, I will have more time to devote towards pursuing the WSET diploma. After finishing Unit 2, I hit a wall with the business unit but am ready now to start tackling the remaining units. I’m setting an ambitious (but hopefully realistic) goal of not only completing my diploma but getting accepted into the candidate program of the Institute of Masters of Wine by the time I turn 40. (I’m 36 now)
I mentioned in my last Geek Notes, that I use podcasts to reinforce the material I study in wine books. But the third leg of my learning stool is the application or regurgitation of that material in writing. As I work on different topics (like blind tasting, wine business and marketing, etc.), I will write posts applying the material I’ve learned.
Future Plans
I’ve got a bit of a backlog here.
A new tact that I will add to the blog in the next coming weeks with be more study tips and resources that I’ve found useful in my journey. These will be companions to my current Geek Notes series that highlights resources like wine books, podcasts and maps that are helpful to wine students. I also plan to increase the frequency of my book reviews as well.
I will still do wine reviews as part of my 60 Second and Getting Geeky series. While the WBC has encouraged me to develop a samples policy, the wines that I ultimately choose to review will be those that have a story or an educational bent to them (interesting winemaker, region, production method, grape variety, etc.).
Above all my goal with this blog is not to become an “influencer” that tells people what to buy but rather someone that simply encourages folks to get a little geeky about what they’re drinking and seek out the stories behind each bottle.
I really do like the idea of creating winemaker trees of estates that have had several notable winemakers in their history. I’ll probably treat it a little similar to how I do my “Keeping Up With the Joneses of Burgundy“ series.
Distinct from the main blog, the SpitBucket Facebook page is news focused. It combines the original idea of “Geek Notes” with a curated news feed.
Everyday I’m combing through blogs and news sites to find something interesting and new to learn. On the Facebook page, I post the items that I found were most worth my time reading.
In someways these are “mini-blog posts” as I will usually add other relevant details or thoughts I have on topic. A few FB posts may end up inspiring more fully fleshed out posts on the main blog. But, for the most part, the majority of the material on the Facebook page will be different from the content that appears on the blog or other social media channels.
I explored the value of Twitter from a winery’s perspective in my post The Winery Twitter Dance but I think a lot of those sentiments can apply to bloggers too.
Twitter is about immediacy and engagement. With the SpitBucket Twitter handle, you’re talking to me personally. While I’ll keep my political and sports related viewpoints contained to my private Twitter account, there is a whole world of wine and beverage topics worth chatting about.
I haven’t yet participated in the various online #hashtag tasting groups but now that I have a lot more free time, I can see that happening.
Note: The focus of the SpitBucket IG account has changed somewhat with the introduction of the Mystery Grape game.
One of my biggest chuckles from the Wine Bloggers Conference came when another blogger told me that she thought I posted too much on Instagram. I found that humorous because, admittedly, Instagram is probably the channel that I’ve always been least active on.
Personally, I find things like this new cork made from sugar cane (guaranteed TCA free) that L’Ecole is using for their Semillon to be much more interesting than pictures of me posing with random bottles.
I’ve tried a few different approaches with the SpitBucket Instagram account but going forward I plan to focus more on posting from tasting events and travels to different regions. This will mean posting less frequently though I hope it will mean providing content with more context.
Outside of a Caribbean cruise in January and attending the next Wine Bloggers Conference in the Hunter Valley of Australia, I haven’t finalized my travel plans for next year. While I think I will skip the next Wine Spectator Grand Tour, the wife and I are still intrigued about attending the 2019 Hospice du Rhone in the Rhone Valley.
We’re also likely to take smaller wine tasting trips to southern Oregon, Napa & Sonoma, Eastern Washington as well as back home to Missouri wine country as well. I will use Instagram to highlight interesting discoveries from those trips.
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