Jancis Robinson is a busy women. Her #2 position in our Top 20 Worlwide wine influencers on social media hasn’t come by chance.
Between many major wine publications, Jancis is the editor of The Oxford Companion to Wine (3d ed. 2006), co-author with Hugh Johnson of The World Atlas of Wine (7th ed. 2013) and co-author of Wine Grapes.
As one of her latest publishing work, the 4th edition of The Oxford Companion to Wine will be released in September 2015. Not a small event in the wine world as this reference book used by so many wine lovers and professionals all around the world needed an update. So JR has planned to be posting regular news about it this year.
Jancis is also a TV presenter, wine judge, contributor to several magazines and newspapers, and a wine reviewer. She travels the world to serve the wine community using most available media, including her website jancisrobinson.com. Further information about what Jancis Robinson is involved into is on Wikipedia.
She even advises Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth for what to put in Buckingham Palace’s wine cellar, and was awarded an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in 2003.
Like it wasn’t enough, Jancis is also highly active and involved on social media, with more than 230K followers on Twitter, and 9K on Facebook. One can tell she posts, shares and answers feedback on a daily basis despite her busy schedule.
For the wine community to learn more about how she sees and deals with social media, Jancis kindly accepted to take a moment in a busy day to answer a few questions:
Q: You have been involved in so many aspects of the wine industry for a long time, are you still able to define simply your role in the wine industry now?
A: Wine writer?
Q: You have helped the wine community learn and evolve enormously in your career via all sorts of media, way before social media even existed. Do you now find social media is a good way for you to continue serving the wine community the way you have meant to?
A: An excellent way to share opinions and information that are too slight for a full length article.
Q: Has social media influenced your editorial? Has it encouraged you to cover certain topic because you knew your audience on these specific channels would like it and share it more?
A: I’m afraid I am never motivated by how many people will share. Perhaps I should be!
Q: Social media is very time-consuming when you have a large audience like you have. How do you deal with it on a daily basis?
A: I try to answer most questions if I can easily and try to engage with people who seem sympathetic.
Q: Do you learn from the feedback given on social media? If yes, what? How is it different from what you would learn meeting people in person?
A: Yes I frequently learn really useful things – whether it’s a new (to me) producer of an obscure kind of wine or a useful recommendation of a local restaurant/radio station – all sorts of things. Such recommendations are much less time-consuming than they would be in person.
Q: And lastly, do you think we will continue seeing you influencing the wine community on social media in the same way you have so far within the next 10 years?
A: I don’t see why not, although presumably the media and channels will continue to evolve. If the new ones are too complicated I probably won’t get involved. What I love about Twitter and Instagram is how easy they are.
Find all Jancis Robinson’s books for sale on Amazon, at the one’s I’ve got in my library below:
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