Social media marketing is about being SOCIAL. Digital marketing is not the Wild Wild West of marketing anymore. It is a dynamic tool for brands to share their story and to connect with their target audience - all with better access to insights than ever before.

My picks for top CA Wineries on Instagram are not based on who has the most followers, the prettiest pictures, or which wineries get the most Instagram location check-ins. While those are important, I chose these wineries based on their community engagement and unique brands… I chose wineries on Instagram that were true to their brand passions and connected with their target audience.

What I don’t like about social media is the mental health issues it causes – the compulsion to be perfect and compare yourself to others. Especially when looking at influencers on Instagram.

My toddler is back in school and instead of a stay at home mom, I can be myself again - a freelancer writer, East Bay Marketer, and... well, I am not sure what else I am right now. Honestly, I’m learning how to be myself again.

Wine Influencers are always a hot topic that people (mainly older people) in the wine industry like to get upset about. But it works. Right now, in addition to the ROI question, people are looking at the term “influencer” as a group of girls posing for the camera, not knowing anything about the subject matter, and expecting things for free. Once again, I'm here to say that that is not the case for everyone, and certainly not the case for wine influencers worth their weight in cans of rosé.

I've written about Linktree before and voiced my opinion about not using the Instagram bio app (my point of view is that you should capture the web traffic on your own website – not someone else’s). In case you haven’t heard of it, Linktree is a popular third-party app that allows you to add a link to your bio containing additional links to other websites, or perhaps to sections on your own website. Many bloggers and marketers use it to skirt around the “one link” rule on Instagram. The app creates a landing page on which you can add links to promotions, events, contact pages, sales pages, or your own blog.

With less hours to work, I don’t stress the little details as much. I have learned to be more productive as a mom, by planning ahead & taking time off.

Yes, having gorgeous photos is important to Instagram - but trust me, it isn’t the ONLY thing that connects you with potential customers through social media. I will provide you with simple tricks that will grow your community on Instagram, get people engaged with YOUR BRAND and get them to purchase.

Within this blog post, I feel the need to defend wine influencer marketing within the wine world. Many of the conversations I see taking place within Facebook groups definitely reminds me of when I started wine blogging – arguments about how it was hard to tell who was a real, dedicated wine blogger, and who was merely in it for the free stuff…. Who actually had a community they were talking to, and who else was just talking to other wine bloggers because they were friends with each other.

Now, it’s also about trying to figure out if someone who is emailing your winery asking for a free tasting in return for an “Instagram feature” is legit, and whether you should pay attention to, or ignore that person.

Linktree is a great tool for Instagram Marketing, but I have an EVEN better one... Your own website. Create your own Link In Bio Landing Page instead of Linktree so you can capture traffic from Instagram and retarget to your customers.

2018 has truly been a pivotal year in my decade-long entrepreneurial career. I went from managing social media accounts for several brands to focusing on my own brand, writing for several publications, and working with a few marketing and PR agencies on projects. Now I look to Goals for 2019…

A roundup of my personal favorite articles I have written this past year about wine, food, social media, music and mom life in Sonoma County.

At the end of the day, batching your social media tasks helps save you time, and makes sure you are more intentional with what type of content you are sharing on social media. Win. Win.

I am speaking at two different events in the next month, both all about how to avoid social media overwhelm during the holidays…

The old ways of looking at customer service in marketing have little to do with each other. Once marketing brings in a new customer, they hand them off to support and begin focusing on the next lead. Social media marketing has changed the game and brough customer service and marketing together to create a holistic customer experience.

Since most of my work in social media is all about PHOTOGRAPHY, here are some of my favorite tools for creating content for social media marketing.

These are just some of my tips for what you can do when you’re not feeling inspired to share on social media. Obviously some of them help with other areas of your business as well, like planning in general, being more aware of your energy, and having a backup plan. Sometimes things don’t always work how you want them to, but acknowledging that it’s just part of life makes it a little easier to deal with.

Facebook rolled out the Info and Ads section on Facebook pages back in June, and it has been talked about over the past few months, but people are JUST NOW starting to really catch on. This new update allows anyone to see all the ads the Facebook page is currently running. The dark posts, ads that are meant for just one target audience, or different ads all with different promotions… Yup. ALL.

The Wine Industry’s busiest time is during the weekends. This when the most customers come in and out of your tasting room/hotel/restaurant/retail shop. This also means that this is when the most people post pictures on Instagram, tag your brand in their main images on the feed, or share pictures and videos on their Instagram Stories. This is also when a lot of people ask questions about hours, location, etc. on Facebook or other social media platforms while trying to figure out their itinerary for the weekend. You want to make sure to engage with them.