Social media strategies and corporate brand visibility in the wine industry. Lessons from an Italian case study.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss the web-marketing behavioral models adopted in the wine industry using as case studies several leading Italian wineries. It aims to propose a new methodology to evaluate the impact of web marketing strategies on online brand visibility and image. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on literature review and case study approach. The study uses six leading Italian wineries as case studies, selected by taking into account six strategic profiles: business size, businessmanagement, corporate brand reputation, competitive strategy, marketing orientation and marketing budget. Findings – The proposed structured methodology highlights new key elements that could be implemented in a marketing plan. The research results propose a conceptual three-dimension approach that integrates a business’s strategic orientation with its digital-marketing strategy and its social media tactics. It also includes specific evaluation criteria to measure the impact on the business’s strategic objectives. Research limitations/implications – The applied research approach should be extended to other business typologies and wine-producing countries to allow the generalisation of results. In addition, the monitoring period should be extended to confirm the reliability of results. Originality/value – The applied methodology can be adopted more broadly, and it underlines managerial implications that can be extended to the rest of the Italian wine industry, as well as to the parts of the wine sector that are dominated by the presence of SMEs.