Vinous, Virtual and Viral

Written by Nancy Johnson | 09 September 2011
Posted in Eats

Virtual and viral are two of the newest words in the wine industry. Like a rogue wave, the power of social media is washing over the wine and food world with incredible force.

Social media is a collection of websites, Twitter, Facebook, blogs and texts. Used individually, each has an impact and influence equal to that of a wine club, but used in concert, they create enormous virtual communities that can equal the size of a small country. And they are changing the way business is done in wine and food.

Suresh Doss is the founder of one of the most popular food and wine websites in Canada, Spotlight Toronto. He started the site eight years ago, focusing on sharing his food experiences in Toronto. The website works like a blog with comments, opinions and thoughts of a retrospective foodie.

Eight years ago, few people used social media to share personal thoughts and opinions on their life experiences. Traditionally it was companies using the web to get their marketing messages out there. Then there was a shift in consumer consciousness, and the search for a more trusted voice was on.

Food and wine lovers gravitated to Spotlight Toronto by the hundreds to hear Doss’s restaurant experiences, food trends and opinions on wines.

Today, Spotlight Toronto has grown to include much more than Toronto: it covers everywhere Doss and his team of eight bloggers and tweeters might be, from across Canada to throughout North America. To date, Spotlight registers just over 4,800 followers, so Doss and his virtual messages wield a bit of power with restaurants —and particularly with Ontario wineries. Now, if you’re thinking 4,800 is a small number, you’re right. But it’s the viral effect of 4,800 followers that makes Doss a powerful man.

It works like this. Doss will tweet information to his followers. They in turn share the tweet with their group of friends, who share among their group of friends, and it goes on until it becomes viral. No one really knows the exact number of people who are influenced, but Doss is a man who can easily fill a room with a few tweets.

At the Niagara Icewine Festival this year, Doss invited his followers to meet him for a drink at 5 pm at the Angel Inn in Niagara-on-the-Lake. He got about 20 positive replies, but when 5 o’clock came around, the people poured into the small bar – over 100 of them. They were people from all walks of life, from those just interested in learning about wine all the way up to John Peller himself (President and CEO, Peller Estate Winery).

The precise extent of Doss’s influence is unknown, but we do know his messages hit only those interested in wine and food. If that weren’t enough, the information is immediate. The cumulative effect made marketing companies stand up and take notice. Invitations to food and wine events around the country began to pour into the Spotlight website, and Doss became a powerful man.