(ABC) - New research into what wine drinkers want to see from their favourite brands on Facebook suggests it might be effective to talk less about the wine itself.

Rebecca Dolan, a PhD candidate from the University of Adelaide surveyed winemakers from around the country to find out whether their social media strategies matched what consumers want to see.

She says the results have been surprising.
Audio: Rebecca Dolan from the University of Adelaide (ABC Rural)

"Interestingly [winemakers] were actually not really sure what their strategy was, it was a bit of an ad-hoc plan to social media," she said.

"If they could think of something interesting they would post it, but in terms of developing a strategy they weren't sure what to do, what would be most effective and didn't really know how much time they should be investing into it."

Ms Dolan says consumers involved in the research were not only interested in the story behind the wine, but the winemakers themselves.

"They didn't want to see something they could already get from the website or a newspaper ad," she said.

"It could be something like a video of someone in the vineyard picking the grapes and explaining them on a one-on-one basis, or a picture of the winemakers' birthday and them all going out for dinner at their favourite restaurant.

"Something more personal and human, not a mass marketing message about buying the wine."

Ms Dolan says consumers aren't always interested in posts about their favourite drops.

"They're actually quite comfortable with seeing posts that might not necessarily be related to their wine or wine in general," she said.

"But they also said if all the posts had nothing to do with wine and were just pictures of cats and dogs that might get a bit boring."

Richard Woods who owns Shut the Gate Wine in South Australia's Clare Valley says they began using Facebook as soon as they opened their cellar door 12 months ago.

He says they try to match their Facebook activity with the vision they have for their brand.

"We've got a fun and slightly funky label so we were thinking maybe it would be a good idea to keep it a little light-hearted " he said.