Beer Influencers

This is a real phenomenon and business are using social influencers in marketing campaigns. We have made a bunch of test products here and mailed them directly to influencers who are supposed to taste/drink/eat the product then write on whatever social media they use - blogs, FB, Instagram, etc. Not sure how it all works, but I'm told the influencers are supposed to generate some market pull for the products - they may seem exclusive or special because these folks have them - I dunno. Must work because we keep sending s*** out to specific people and one product for sure my team keeps making in small volumes.

No comment about the people. I don't understand 'em. But the OP makes a point about the age. Well, when we were young on BA, maybe we thought the same thing and thought our pond was bigger than it really was. But yeah, somebody of that age taking credit for something already well underway seems pretty self-aggrandizing.

 

What is they write that product x sucks. How does that 'work' for your company?

Cheers!

 

In that case it wouldn't but part of the "cleverness" is the product isn't carrying our logo, at least initially... So assuming things work like they are supposed to, it's created a revenue stream that hopefully gains "underground" momentum and demand for the company without endangering the base business or core brands. Won't work like that for everyone, obviously. We're doing this in a targeted way with people who use the product category. The first few runs of a product we make here by hand - we were very confused, then somebody up the food chain enlightened us about how they think it works. True or not - I have no idea. But we were supposed to stop making this product (and it is a royal pain in the a$$ for us to make) about six months ago and we've run it three out of four weeks since then.

 

Its a brave new world I suppose.

Best of luck here!

Cheers!

 

it sure is - traditional methods don't apply.

 

LOL! I don’t use Instagram but am familiar with this “influencer” culture. In Canada, a furniture company called Leon’s has run ads that basically “take the piss” out of this idea. They are quite funny. Probably YouTube available (isn’t everything) if interested.

 

It is funny, I started following a few "beer instagramers" maybe 2 years ago. At first they'd give a review with a full description and then gradually it got more about the picture, the witty comment and less about the actual beer. I do follow house of stouts who starts each post with a hip hop line which I appreciate and the beer reviews are decent. The female ones, well, I think we all know why most follow them.

Definitely know the model works though. It's a hugeeee part of company marketing these days whether I/you agree with it or not.

 

Post your bad reviews. Even pessimists & curmudgeons need influencers to follow.

 

I follow a few of the "pretty girl takes a selfie with haze cans" kind of beer accounts, and most of them that I know to genuinely know and enjoy what they're talking about.Good for them, I say.

 

I despise the current usage of the word "influencer".It's just plain awkward. But to call yourself one is an indication of stable geniusness. It must be contagious.

 

There you go. There's the reason that 'influencing' has turned into nagging commercials every twenty minutes.

 

Some friends of mine and myself have had some interesting discussions with a few of these "influencers."

One of them praised a beer up and down and tried to let people know what to expect. I had already had the beer, and disagreed completely. I mentioned this, and their first question was "what do you know about beer?" So, I mentioned my years of drinking craft. I countered with "can you tell me what is typical of this style? What should one expect?"

I received dead silence in return.

My best friend had a local influencer try to explain to him that his choices of Belgian beers were poor. My friend grew up in Belgium, and continues to spend a great deal of time there every year. He replied to the person in Flemish, and that put things to rest.

That's not to say there aren't the occasional "influencers" who get things right. I've seen more than one call out a brewery on poor practices, or for not correcting quality issues. Unfortunately, these are generally niche influencers.

 

...and I thought I was was getting “influenced” on this site by my bar buddies on WBAYDN ...

 

A serious question: is there any documented evidence whatsoever that an “influencer” caused a single beer to become popular or receive higher ratings?

 

A not so serious answer (but it answers your question): Billy Carter caused a lot of people to buy Billy Beer.

 

A friend of mind still has a full can. He can’t influence me to drink it though.

 

If you are seriously asking the question, you're probably not of the demographic with any awareness of the massive impact social media has (e.g. YouTube, Instagram, and Tik-Tok, and to a lesser degree Twitter and Facebook...and I'm probably missing some). It's like there are two different versions of the internet today, "traditional" and "social media," but the heavy/savvy users of each break hard along generational lines. I would bet most of us on this board are in the "traditional" internet bucket [including myself], so we're mostly unaware and underestimate the impact of social media (i.e. "influencers" and their followers) on markets and products. Need some evidence of that? Just look through the discussion above and note the only person who showed some understanding of the power of social media is @LeRose (Post #23), but even he says:

Two different worlds.

That said, I personally don't think influencers deserve seats at beer industry boards, unless it's a board specifically focused on marketing/sales, because that's what they do. I agree with @JamFuel...

Don't you know, "sales" is a job for Boomers?

 

The company I work for sends out batches of checks to Instagram "influencers" every month. I have to get a gig like that, get money for taking a selfie of me wearing a certain brand of shirt or pushing a shopping cart in a store
I can honestly say I do not go places or buy stuff because I saw someone else do it on a social media site, unless of course it was a brewery on BA.