Listen in
One of the
amazing benefits on the long list of things to love about living on
California’s Central Coast is the world renown wine grown and produced in our
own backyard.
This week I
found a wonderful and on-the-go new social media tactic executed right here in
San Luis Obispo county. Pasowine.com, a website ran by the Paso Robles Wine
Country Alliance hosts a podcast ran by Adam Montiel.
Adam is “a
well-known wine lover in Paso Wine Country,” who is the host of the website’s
featured podcast called “Where Wine Takes You”
Podcasting is a great new media tool because it allows folks to take the engagement with them wherever they go, whether it be on a road trip traveling to San Luis Obispo county or at the gym working off all those charcuterie board calories. It is also super convenient to find the archived episodes, so unlike live broadcasted radio, you can listen to the episodes whenever you want!
This podcast
is focused on the beautiful Paso Robles area that highlights different wineries
each episode such as J. Lohr and Daou. The episodes also focus on the different
aspects about the winery. For example Ep 7: Two Sides of Paso (Bordeaux & Rhône)
- Alta Colina Vineyard & Winery | Daou Vineyards & Winery, is about the different main varietals
grown in Paso Robles with its unique microclimates.
I think this
is a wonderful idea to change up the dialog and have new centralized focus on
each episode. There are so many topics that can be discussed about the
foundational stories of wineries as well as the wine growing and making
process, it is best to narrow it down.
Adam gets
interviews from wine owners, makers, vineyard managers and fellow wine
enthusiasts to showcase the broad range of stories on what ends up in your
glass.
Let’s get
suspenseful
Where Wine
Takes You is produced monthly, which I think should be amped up to a bi-monthly
output. Like a TV series, the audience of a podcast will want to know what is
happening next if the podcaster is a good storyteller.
More
frequent content also keeps fans coming back more often looking for something
new. I think having a gap as long as a month could easily allow people to
forget about a podcast in a market so flooded with other media.
I also think
it is important to post often in an industry such as wine because, in normal
times, events are happening every weekend, especially during the peak seasons
of spring and fall. A good podcaster will attend these events such as wine
member allocation parties, pairing dinners, wine contests, live music events
and even paint nights. These are all wonderful places to conduct interviews
about the real-life user experience. It would be information overload to try
and cram a recap of everything happening only once a month.
People
love an underdog
From my personal
experience working at a winery I can attest that wine connoisseurs love to look
for new wineries to explore, its apart of what makes the experience of wine
tasting so exciting.
Hearing
about these new wineries will entice people to come out to try the wines in the
tasting room and get the full experience as described in the podcast. Because
of this consumer phenomenon I think the blog should introduce smaller wineries
to their podcast as well, not just the big names everyone knows. These large
label wines can often be bought in a chain grocery store, which is great for
the individual wineries, but does not benefit the Paso community as a whole,
which is what the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance’s main goal is, to get
folks to come out and visit Paso, as defined in their mission statement:
“Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance is dedicated to the
promotion and protection of Paso Robles Wine Country, and the continuous
improvement of the quality of its wines, vineyards, and experiences.”
There’s
nothing better than discovering the new hip spot everyone is buzzing about,
literally. The wine giants will remain, but widening a consumer’s options is
vital for the growth of the community and keeping listener’s attention, no one
wants to keep hearing about the wines they already know.
Eat AND
drink
I found that
the latest episode of “Where Wine Takes You” is focused on not wine, but on
local Paso restaurants specifically The Hatch Rotisserie and Thomas Hill
Organics.
Switching up
the content like this yet still focusing on the wines offered and paired is a
phenomenal tactic. It influences listeners to enjoy new dining experiences as
well as the wonderful wines.
Appreciating
appreciation
Everyone
loves to know that their efforts don’t go unnoticed.
In the
introduction of every episode Adam Montiel addresses the listeners of the
podcast. In episode 6 Adam mentions Ivy, an employee at Alta Colina, who shared
with him that her parents listen to the podcast even though they live out of
the state of California, far from the local area. Being featured in the podcast
is wonderful personal touch Adam adds.
In the most
recent episode Adam talks about how popular the podcast has become and how there
are international listeners and fans as far away as Australia. He then provides
an email for suggestions to update the podcast. This is a fantastic way to get
listener engagement, if you want to be successful in communication, you need
only ask.
Discovering
this podcast and analyzing the way it is run really helped me think critically
about what I would do to promote a wine podcast, something valuable to me in my
chosen career in the hospitality side of the wine industry. I think Adam
Montiel does a great job and is benefitting the Paso Robles wine country
immensely by getting listeners engaged and informed about what is happening
here with Paso wines.
Mandy
Morison
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