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4 Wine-Focused Social Media Tips: Q&A with Heather Daenitz

August 17, 2026

Social media is evolving. Between platform development and content trends, it can be difficult to keep up with what works while running your business.

But when it comes to winery marketing, who better to turn to than Heather Daenitz of Craft & Cluster?

In this Marketing Tip, Heather answers 4 questions about how wineries should approach social media.

4 Wine-Focused Social Media Tips

Q1: Should I Focus on Reels, Stories, or Carousels?

A: The annoying answer is it depends on the winery, who they are trying to reach, and the purpose of the content.

If you’re trying to…

  • Reach a wider audience → Reels/TikTok
  • Make deeper connections with people who already follow you → Stories and DMs
  • Get more engagement and keep people updated → Carousels

All of that said, I think that Instagram Stories are highly underutilized and more wineries should be using them more regularly.

Try this: First, understand who you are trying to reach and what you want them to do. Then test content to see:

  1. What works best for you
  2. What your audience responds best to

Q2: How Can Wineries Build Stronger Relationships on Social Media?

A: Spend about 10 minutes a day engaging on social media.

Not just responding to comments and DMs on your own page, but doing what I call "outreach engagement":

  • Engage on posts of people who have tagged you or engaged with you in the past
  • Find creators who you'd like to try your wine and engage with them
  • Generally, be social on social media

Also, Instagram Stories build strong connections with followers.

If you can post 1–5 original stories (not just reposts) per day and use one of the engagement stickers (like the question box, poll, or quiz stickers) a couple of times per week, you will see engagement go up.

Try this: Set a 10-minute timer. Reply to comments. Answer DMs. Engage with people who mention your winery. Do it again tomorrow!

Q3: If I Have Limited Time for Social Media, How Should I Spend It?

A: I maintain that Instagram is the best platform for wineries right now because it's so diverse both in the people who are spending time there and what you can do.

My recommendations:

  1. Identify your target audience
  2. Choose 1 day a week to spend 1 hour creating photos, videos, and writing captions
  3. Post to your Instagram at minimum 1–2 times per week

Try this: Take 1 day to capture content while you're out in the vineyard or winery. During harvest especially, you can batch enough photos and videos to use for months.

Q4: What Should Wineries be Preparing for Over the Next Year?

A: There are a few things I'm paying attention to:

  1. Social platforms are becoming more like search engines, especially for younger consumers.


    I have used Instagram to plan what I want to do, where I want to stay, and where I want to eat on upcoming trips.

    Captions, on-screen text, alt-text on photos and carousels, and even the words you say in videos are searchable. Insert keywords that your target customer would be searching for when planning their trips or when they want to buy wine. Things like "sustainable wineries in [location]" or "best wine to pair with [meal]" are great jumping-off points for content.

  2. I also think we're heading into an odd stretch where AI-generated content is going to get more common and more obvious, and it's going to make real, unpolished, human content stand out even more than it does now.

    If you've been putting off doing more videos of people on your team, this is the time to do it. The more you practice doing it the easier it will be and the more likely you'll stand out in the future.

  3.  Finally, I'd recommend starting to think in series instead of one-off posts.   

    Platforms are rewarding longer overall watch time and content that builds on itself over random single posts.

 
Harvest is perfect for this. Thinking ahead to next year, you could follow the life of a vine from dormancy to harvest (or follow the life of a wine from harvest to bottle/the table). Instagram and TikTok make it super easy to connect these videos in a series for people to binge if they find you in the middle of the series.

Try this: Use keywords. Introduce your team. Build a follow-along series. These strategies help people find your brand on social media while welcoming them to connect with your team and giving them a story to dig into.

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