For craft brewers, social media is turning out to be the perfect tool — and for some beloved beer brands, it’s the only tool they’re using to build their businesses. While this may come as a surprise to traditional marketers, when it comes to companies started in the 21st century (and those aggressively making the digital transformation), I’m seeing this more and more.
Often, I work with consumer-facing e-commerce and entertainment companies that do omni-channel marketing and social media is only one part of a large media/marketing mix, so when I was introduced to the local craft brewing scene in Bend, Oregon (the place with the highest job growth in the country) and discovered these small businesses going all in on social, I started digging in. I noticed something striking: they are almost effortlessly, intuitively tapping into something every brand needs: Evangelism.
Just like you, my immediate questions are how are they accomplishing this? And then, can we bottle it, too?
Because I am willing to unabashedly wield my publishing status for an in-road to talk to people at companies producing my favorite products, I reached out to Crux Fermentation Project, the producer of the ridiculously delicious Crux Pilz. To my delight, I received an almost instant reply from co-founder Paul Evers.
In what turned out to be an educational and energetic Zoom conversation, Paul schooled me on the craft brewing industry. Did you know there are 26 craft breweries in Bend? Crux was number 10. And did you know Travelocity named Bend the best beercation destination in the country for small metro areas? I didn’t know there was even such a thing. And then I’m going to go out on a ledge and guess you also don’t know that the reason the beer is so good in Bend is, get this — it’s the water! Apparently, the water is better than the great majority of bottled water. I did not know any of these things and I found them interesting but not as interesting as when Paul finally giving me the a-ha moment for which I was looking. He said, “when people buy a good beer, they do it for 40% functional benefit and 60% emotional benefit”. Ding, ding, ding.
Beer is a social experience. It’s a pleasure. It’s an intoxicant. Of course, there’s an emotional benefit. And then the dots started connecting: I know from my studies of emotional intelligence that emotion creates connection. And from over a decade of social media work, I also know, connection is created based on shared values. And it’s those shared values that drive relationships — both personal relationships and brand relationships.
