A cross-cultural comparison of social media usage in the wine business

Purpose: A vast number of studies are being published about social media in the wine business, but less is known about their usage comparing different wine producing countries. Therefore, a cross-cultural study was conducted, in which we investigated the use of social media tools by wineries in European and in overseas countries like Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Hungary, UK, as well as USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa.

Design/methodology/approach: The questionnaire was developed and tested first in Germany. In order to use the question catalogue for this cross-cultural study, it was translated into the official language of the certain country. Using different online survey software, the link of the questionnaire was sent via email and was distributed on social media pages. The response rate varies between 25 up to 427 wineries that participated in the study.

Findings: This study demonstrates that social media has been accepted and is already widely used as a communication tool in the wine business. A high level of acceptance of social media tools could be observed in each participating country. Facebook is seen as the most important among the available social media tools; however video- and photo-sharing systems are developing rapidly. There is a significant difference between European and overseas countries. Wineries of the latter utilize more frequently social media than those from Europe.

Practical implications: Social media has been developing very rapidly. Facebook is still the number one tool used, even in the wine industry, but new and innovative platforms occur day by day. Winery owners should be aware of the effectiveness of this modern communication tool, however at the same time they have to define a communication strategy, in which social media is integrated too.