Chateau Ste. Michelle
Washington State’s Founding Winery
When shaping social media strategy, I focus on three core areas that drive brand growth: organic social media, paid social campaigns, and influencer partnerships. These elements work together to create a powerful presence, engage audiences, and amplify the brand’s story.
At Chateau Ste. Michelle, I had the opportunity to project-manage a comprehensive marketing campaign with a budget exceeding $1M, as well as oversee numerous ongoing and smaller initiatives. Below, you’ll see how each of these strategies—organic social, paid media, and influencer marketing—came to life for the brand, building a cohesive and impactful experience.
Organic Social Media
The organic social media strategy revolves around crafting a steady stream of engaging content within the brand’s key “content buckets.” These are thoughtfully curated to add value for our audience, attract new followers, and boost engagement. My experience spans managing a variety of organic channels, including Instagram, Facebook, X, YouTube, and Pinterest.
Each piece of content—whether photo or video—is designed to align with the brand’s overarching story, falling into distinct content categories that resonate with our audience’s interests and keep them connected with the brand. This approach not only enhances brand loyalty but also nurtures community growth and engagement.
KPIS: Engagement Rate, Follower Growth and attributable revenue
Paid Social Media
The Paid Social Media Strategy focuses on amplifying brand awareness, driving consideration, and sparking conversions. Through paid campaigns, we build visibility, invite engagement, and convert interest into action.
This approach includes a mix of hands-on work and strategic collaboration. I both design, create, and launch campaigns independently, and work closely with external partners and vendors, acting as the strategic guide to ensure each campaign meets our brand goals. With each paid initiative, we not only reach broader audiences but make a memorable impact that moves the needle.
KPIS: impressions, link clicks/CTR, and conversions.
LIGHT launch
Chateau Ste. Michelle launched a new line of low-cal wines in early 2024, LIGHT in two flavors, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. I creative directed the shoot for the launch images and created two paid social campaigns on Meta to target new consumers with interests in health and wellness and wine. The campaign objectives were awareness and consideration. The budget for this campaign was 40K and had 16.5M impressions and over 65K link clicks.
Influencer Management
Our Influencer Strategy is designed to elevate brand awareness, spotlight new products, and draw consumers to the tasting room. By collaborating with influencers who genuinely connect with our brand, we not only amplify our reach but also gather authentic, engaging content that enriches both our organic and paid social channels.
These influencer campaigns are crafted in-house as well as in collaboration with trusted external partners, ensuring a blend of strategic insight and fresh perspectives. Each partnership is a chance to tell our story through new voices, driving excitement and inviting consumers to experience the brand firsthand.
KPIS: engagement rate and link clicks
Photography
“I had the privilege of working with Ava in her role as a social media marketing manager and can attest to her creativity, strategic thinking, project management and keen data analytics skills. Ava has developed and executed numerous successful social campaigns that have resulted in increased awareness and SOV for our flagship brand Chateau Ste. Michelle. She also works well with cross-functional teams to support seamless execution of all marketing initiatives. Ava was instrumental in the launch of the Chateau Ste. Michelle Valentine's Day Exchange campaign, a standout accomplishment that demonstrated her ability to drive results in the social media marketing field.”
Patrick Doughtery - Digital Marketing Manager, Paid Media
“Ava consistently exceeds expectations with her work ethic and attention to detail. In her role as Social Media Manager at Ste Michelle Wine Estates, she owned social strategy for multiple brands while managing agency partners, content calendars, content creators, sweepstakes and influencer relationships. She consistently brought innovative ideas to maintain Chateau Ste Michelle as the leading wine brand on social media. Her experience throughout all details of social media and project management is complimented by strategic thinking which makes her an amazing asset.”
Brooke Andersen - Sr. Digital Strategist