(Manfred Klimek / Editorial team)
German winemakers have got to grips with the internet. And that is precisely their problem.
Because social media is simply not the internet of the early 2000s. It’s no longer just a website, a newsletter, a PDF price list and a neatly worded company philosophy. Social media is not a digital trade fair stand. It’s not an extension of a PR office. It’s not a wine guide in motion. Social media is something far more chaotic, contradictory and emotional. And this is precisely where a surprising number of German wineries still fall short today.
Yet twenty-five years have now passed since this form of communication burst onto the scene, much like private television did in its day. And yet a large proportion of the German wine industry still comes across there like a very good tax adviser at a student party.
It all starts with the fundamental question: what exactly is social media?
Many larger estates still believe it’s some sort of technically optimisable information system. So they hire agencies, brand consultants, reach experts, KPI managers and content strategists. This results in perfectly lit images with perfectly arranged glasses and perfectly worded texts about ‘vision’, ‘sustainability’, ‘values’ and ‘authenticity’. The only problem is: nobody is interested.
For some time now, I’ve been observing a rather renowned business on the Moselle, whose name I’d prefer not to mention. They’ve apparently invested a great deal of money in a modern social media strategy. Target audience: young people with an interest in lifestyle, gastronomy and urban culture – in other words, precisely the generation that is increasingly turning away from wine. At first glance, everything looks professional. The visual style is spot on. The colour scheme is spot on. The copy seems well thought out. They probably even have Excel spreadsheets detailing posting frequencies and reach ranges.
And then you look at the likes. And realise: the audience is barely reacting.
Why? Because social media isn’t a one-way street. And it’s certainly not a scientific discipline. Social media doesn’t work like brand management did in 1998. Social networks don’t follow the logic of traditional advertising, but rather the logic of social dynamics. That sounds obvious, but a surprising number of wine businesses still don’t understand it today.
The key concept is: participation. And this is precisely where the industry often fails spectacularly.
Many winemakers use Instagram or Facebook solely for one-way communication. Bottle. Cellar. Sunset. Tractor. Vineyard. Trade fair photo. Full stop. What’s almost entirely missing is interaction. And even more sorely lacking is something that has long been taken for granted in the English-speaking world: ‘Sharing is Caring’.
Put simply, this means: giving others a platform. Liking other winemakers’ posts. Sharing sommeliers’ content. Mentioning retailers. Reposting guests’ content. Celebrating others’ small successes. Showcasing good wines from other estates. Building a network. Creating an atmosphere. Fostering a sense of community – or actually living it.
This is precisely what happens surprisingly rarely in German viticulture.
Perhaps this is also down to a cultural peculiarity. For decades, German quality winegrowing was organised along strictly hierarchical lines: points, guides, rankings, authorities. People tended to look upwards rather than to the side. There was hardly any collegial public engagement. As a result, many estates still view social media today as a digital advertising pillar: you broadcast. The others are expected to consume. Yet social media rewards not control, but energy. Not order, but movement. Not perfection, but connectivity.
The world’s most successful wine accounts have long demonstrated this. There, people improvise, comment, laugh, argue, cook, open bottles, and share. You’ll find dogs, wobbly videos, spontaneous tastings, silly moments, tiredness after the harvest, little bursts of euphoria, and even the odd bad mood. In short: personality.
And that is precisely what many German businesses lack. Not because of a lack of intelligence. But because they confuse social media with corporate communications. Incidentally, this is not a problem unique to Germany. But in Germany it is particularly pronounced, because here so much is immediately professionalised, organised and measured. No sooner does a new form of communication emerge than someone turns up with statistics, a strategy paper and an efficiency model. That may work brilliantly in industry. On social media, it often doesn’t. Because, despite all the algorithms, social media remains, to this day, a surprisingly anarchic space. People there don’t react primarily to perfection, but to resonance. They don’t want to enter a sterile brand world. They want to feel that there are real people behind a business.
That is the industry’s misunderstanding: wine is one of the most emotional cultural products there is. Yet its digital communication is often among the least emotional, most controlled and most predictable content in the entire luxury goods industry. And yet wine, of all things, would be ideal for social media. Stories, journeys, people, food, mishaps, friendships, vintages, arguments, euphoria, exhaustion, the weather, music, architecture, nights – all of this is already inherent in the product.
They just need to finally stop treating social media like a PowerPoint presentation.