Instagram has grown by more than 30% in the last year, with more than five million active accounts in Australia alone. With this rapid growth comes the invention of new ways to embrace these users. Say hello to the InstaMeet. The first early adaptor of this marketing trend is Hamilton Island, pioneering the first InstaMeet in November 2012. Qantas announced its first InstaMeet  recently and we’re seeing more and more brands get on board as they cotton on to the power of strong user-generated visual content being created for their brands.

So what is an InstaMeet?

An InstaMeet simply sees a group of Instagrammers join forces at a pre-organised location to take photos and videos to post on their social media accounts.

A perfect platform to create visual content
To Mastermind’s knowledge, an InstaMeet had not been held at an Australian winery, despite the opportunity for amazing visual content to be created. So we were incredibly proud to work with the team at Scarborough Wine Co. in NSW’s Hunter Valley to bring the first Winery Instameet to life.

On Sunday 18 October, 60 zealous influencers descended on Scarborough Wine Co in the Hunter Valley. These Instagrammers were divided into two groups to experience the vineyard and the winery locations of Scarborough Wine Co. The first group was shepherded by Scarborough viticulturist Liz Riley on a walking tour through the Gillards Road Chardonnay Vineyard. The second group was guided by winemaker Jerome Scarborough at Scarborough on Hermitage (their second cellar door and winery), where they tasted three iterations of the 2015 Chardonnay, each one maturing in a different-aged French oak barrel. Back at the Gillards Road location, all the Instagrammers enjoyed lunch prepared by Andy and Janet Wright of The Cellar Restaurant while taking in one of the most scenic vineyard vistas of the Valley.

The hashtag from the weekend, #myhuntersecret, has reached 637,140 people*, with 210 photos shared, 1593 comments on photos, 52,708 likes and almost two million impressions generated. Momentum continues to gather as more consumers follow and interact with the shared content – https://instagram.com/explore/tags/myhuntersecret. It was planned to also be the weekend of the Balloon Fiesta so there was additional regional content being created and shared to help drive broader regional tourism appeal.

#myhuntersecret • Instagram photos and videos

A selection of the #myhuntersecret images from Instagram

Sally Scarborough from Scarborough Wine Co. noted, “It was fabulous to see so many people engaged in the stories about the winery and the vineyards and learn more about the Hunter Valley. We saw this as a great opportunity to reach a different group of wine, food and photography enthusiasts and with the input from our group of influencers, we have seen not only amazing images, the reach of these images has extended far beyond our expectations. We are thrilled with the outcome of our very first InstaMeet and loved the opportunity to explain more about Scarborough, why now is a special time in the vineyards and showcasing the sights of the Hunter Valley.”

A number of Australia’s top instagrammers were in attendance over the weekend and actively engaged in the event, including Matthew Vandeputte (@matjoez), Emilie Ristevski (@helloemilie), Jason Charles Hill @jasoncharleshill, Rob Mulally (@RobMulally), Grace Picot (@shotbygrace) and Laura McWhinnie (@thisislandlife).

Instagrammers were given the opportunity to win a return weekend to the Hunter Valley by entering an InstaChallenge, encouraging content to be captured and shared.

After the success of this initial winery InstaMeet, we certainly hope to see more of these events incorporated into wine, travel and tourism marketing campaigns in the future.

* Source: Hashtracking.com.au – 14/10- 21/10/2015