One thing wine lovers really enjoy doing is sharing a new wine they have discovered with friends and family or with anyone who will listen. One thing wine lovers really hate doing is trying new wines only to be disappointed and wasting money on a product that is a poor match for their tastes. After graduating college and obtaining his MBA Jeff Gillis had seen this problem many times during his years in the hospitality industry. Jeff honed his skills running some of the most prestigious hotels and restaurants in the country, including the Peninsula Beverly Hills, Koi Restaurant Group, and the Orange County fine dining restaurant Pinot Provence, continuing until he left his post as Food and Beverage Director at the Bardessono Hotel in Napa Valley and moved Los Angeles to pursue a career in biotech.
Jeff’s love of wine only got stronger as he traveled a career path that closely paralleled and augmented his wine journey as he earned a WSET2 and Certified Sherry Wine Specialist certification. After leaving the industry Jeff relied on wine shops, supermarkets, and a few wine apps to purchase wine but soon realized there had to be a better way. With that goal in mind, Jeff enlisted the help of his sommelier friends and built a social media app suited for both wine enthusiasts and wine novices.
The Winelikes app has a lot to offer its users, so I asked Jeff to tell us more about Winelikes.
Winelikes is a social media app for wine lovers and is available worldwide for mobile users. Download the free app and begin using it to connect with other wine enthusiasts. Winelikes uses a simple, modern, expansive interface that serves all; our target market is 25-45 years old, with features that ensure daily engagement. We want to make wine an everyday experience. Our tagline is Sip, socialize, share!
Individuals can create a taste profile and be guided toward wines they are likely to love. Browse to interact with the community, find others to follow and connect with, see where to enjoy wine, post photos, write reviews, add wines to their “wine cellars/favorites,” learn more about wines with trivia, and find pairings for their meals.
Winelikes is a game-changer! With the food pairing feature community members can add their meals to the app in addition to the food choices that the Winelikes team is currently inputting daily. Other wine apps offer the user traditional pairings but the Winelikes app thinks outside the box when it comes to pairing wine with foods prepared in different ways and with unique flavor profiles. A restaurant can input all of their dishes and then pair them with their wine list and coming soon, the user can place an order using the app. Wineries can also submit their wines and be featured in the Winelikes app. Winelikes can then pair their wines specifically with the dishes that will allow them to shine.
Sommeliers and influencers can use the platform to establish themselves, build a following, and promote classes/programs they’re involved in.
To attract users who want to learn more about wine, Winelikes has a trivia feature where the Winelikes team posts a new quiz weekly. The quizzes cover a wide range of topics and skill levels ranging from beginner to advanced to challenge users while keeping them interested and engaged. To make the experience more entertaining and to reach out to a younger demographic, your quiz score is present on your feed allowing you to compete with friends and peers to post the highest score or post it for the community to see if you choose to. Businesses can also take advantage of this feature to do market research.
Businesses have an optimal pathway to customers. When users create a profile, their dataset will include pertinent information. Companies can post in the app and create differently-styled ads to reach a target demographic (local, nationwide, worldwide). Winelikes offers convenience, accuracy, and personalization that help wineries build stronger customer relationships and increase their brand footprint.
TikTok, one of the biggest social media apps, does not allow advertisements for wine or wine-related businesses. TikTok is also an all-age app and its algorithm will hide or delete posts associated with wine. Selling wine on Instagram or Facebook is technically illegal but there are workarounds. Winelikes has created an app rated 17 or older due to the different drinking rules around the world so wine-related businesses don’t need to waste their money trying to beat algorithms. Instead, they can now focus on marketing and selling products to prospective customers.
For a more in-depth description of the features and thought process behind the Winelikes app you can listen to an interview with the Winelikes app creator, Jeff Gillis on The Wonder World of Wine podcast. Link below.
iPhone:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/winelikes/id1604508326
Android:
The Wonderful World of Wine podcast
https://soundcloud.com/user-492543397/episode-243-jeff-gillis-interview-wine-likes-app
The Winelikes app looks like a promising tool for anyone looking to expand their knowledge of wine, market wine, interact with other like-minded wine lovers, build a social media following, or just immerse themselves in the wine community. Any app that helps me put better wine in my glass is worth exploring.
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