WineTok w/ Amanda McCrossin aka SommVivant

With the rapidly changing social media landscape, TikTok has started (as of late 2021, early 2022) to arrive as a place for wine lovers. Wine influencer Amanda McCrossin (somm_vivant) has gained momentum in this “wild west” and now has over 100k followers. She shares her journey, best practices, and what makes TikTok special.  Detailed Show Notes: Former sommelier and wine director at Press Napa Valley, full background on Episode 12Featured in SF Chronicle article about TikTok and wine (March 2022)2 of Amanda’s videos converted well for wineries, 1st proof of ROIDuhig got 1,100 signups for their mailing list from a videoMassican got $3,000 in sales and 70 list signups from 1 videoRecent shifts that allowed Amanda to excel on TikTokUnderstanding TikTok is short form content vs dance videos (not social media)Time limit increases (15 sec -> 1min (summer 2021); 1 min -> 3 min (Fall 2021)) -> enabled ability to dig in deeper (can technically do 10 min videos)TikTok vs other platformsCan’t DM w/ people, need to be following themConversations happen in commentsAbility to go liveAbility to reply w/ video in comments (“Duets” - do side by side w/ another’s content, Amanda did one w/ port tongs that has 2M views)IG reels (only 30 sec - 1 min) don’t have as much educational content, trends usually 3 weeks later than TiktokIG feels older, more copycat, behind on trendsDemographics - female leadingAmanda’s - 75% female, 25% maleUS, Canada, Australia top regionsOver 21 years old, deep into 30s and beyond, Over 50% of platform is over 30 years oldAmanda’s TikTok journeyStarted July 2021 as an experimentDecanting video got 30k views, but stalled outDec 2021 - started posting 2-3x/day, 1 video hit and others started snowballingStill “wild west” on TikTok for wineIn 1 month went from 250 -> 30k followers (Jan 2022), now 110k followers (Mar 2022)TikTok best practicesThe “hook” is key - 1.5 seconds to catch people’s attention (e.g. - what you do, say, or put on the screen; Amanda puts topic of video on top)Spend 2 weeks - 1 month to watch and listenPost multiple times per day (Amanda now does 1/day)Need quickness in videoStay within a niche -> helps algorithm find the target audienceOptimal video length - 2 mins for Amanda (was 7-9 sec on TikTok for a while)Need to react quickly to trendsRestrictions on alcohol (a grey area)Similar to IG and FB, but enforced differentlyNo alcohol w/ minorsNo excessive consumptionNo solicitation of alcoholDoesn’t drink on videos b/c got a disclaimer flag on oneWineTok creators: winewithdavid, themillennialsomm, jaimeegriffwine, legallywined, lexiswinelistTikTok for wine brandsJoe Wagner - 30k followers - mostly production videosBrands should respond in commentsNeed a presence so people can find themEstablish relationships with creators firstSocial media tips for brandsDon’t recycle content across platformsTiktok - looks less polished vs YouTube Get access to library episodes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.