Beer, Wine & Spirits: Engaging Millennials (and Drinkers of All Ages) via Social Channels
Article Review:
Synopsis
Social networking sites have become increasingly popular resulting in people turning to online sites to socialize and stay informed on topics of interest. The consumption of alcohol has been a lasting part of human socialization and societal cultures, making social networking sites seemingly a natural fit for marketers of beer, wine and spirits that seek to build a relationship with their customers or to promote their brands to potential customers. However, the experience of these marketers show that not all users of social networking sites engage with brands uniformly.
I will be reviewing an emarketer.com article that compiles numerous surveys and reports to examine the demographic makeup of alcohol consumers and their usage patterns on social media. It explores how beer, wine and spirits marketers are using social platforms to engage consumers and drive sales and evaluates which strategies have had the most success. The article places an emphasis on millennials, as they tend to be both the most enthusiastic users of social media, and those who tend to drink more alcohol than other age groups.
The research and key takeaways of the article have significant implications on the social media strategies of beer, wine, and spirits marketers. In particular, marketers will have a better understand of why consumers “Like” alcohol brands on social media, relative to other consumer products; what kinds of Facebook posts have driven the greatest response from consumers; and explore the varying level of trust different demographic segments hold in social recommendations.
Primary Findings
The article is rich with quantitative research, case studies, and expert opinions. Based on this information, the authors conclude that the research points marketers towards the following insights:
- Millennials are drink more in both quantity and frequency than other generations, and are more enthusiastic about social media
- Millennials’ brand selection is much more likely to be influenced by information found on blogs and social sites – indicating a higher level of trust and comfort
- People aged between 18-34 were much more likely to cite user-generated content as a purchase influence
- People aged • Alcohol brands experienced the highest levels of engagement consisted primarily of photos with simple captions – while youtube links and plain text posts garnered little engagement
- Compared with many other consumer product categories, alcohol brand customers “like” brands less frequently for the sole purpose of getting discounts and do so often because they identify with the brand
- Research identified that 15% of social network users purchased alcohol brands as a result of content encountered on a social site
Review
This article takes many assumptions in the industry that were previously very speculative and attempts to answer them with qualitative research and several case studies from industry. In my opinion, it has done a great job of tying together several areas of research to garner insights that marketers can implement in their own strategies. The industry has had a lot of mixed success in the social media space and the authors provide tangible evidence of common fail points that brands have experienced. The article provides several case studies from brands such as Bacardi and Jack Daniels’s marketing campaigns, and reports on the quantitative results of such campaigns.
The evidence the authors compile is very compelling and difficult to rebut; However, such is the case with many online endeavors is merely a picture in time. It is also important to recognize the uniqueness in the relationship that many brands hold with their customers. The article has taken an industry perspective, but the industry is mature and comprises of many segments and niches. For instance, it may be common to pose for pictures drinking high-end alcohol brands but producers of cheap products may find this strategy much less successful.
Key Takeaways
The most compelling insights from the article include the following implications for marketers:
- Alcohol brands that appeal to millennials should embrace social media marketing, but should play a role in a larger 360 degree approach
- The social avenues brands pursue should reflect the usage behaviours of its target audience
- Prior brand successes suggest that simplicity, directness, honesty and humor are important virtues for beer, wine, and spirits marketers when communicating on social media
- Social media discounts and couponing may provide much less of a return on investment, compared with other consumer goods
In Conclusion
The article is direct and very effective in supporting its viewpoints. It is worth a read by any individuals involved in social media marketing, and could provide alcohol brand marketers with opportunities to improve upon their current practices or avoid common industry pitfalls.
However, marketers should be cognizant of several unanswered questions when designing their marketing campaigns, such as how much improvement is there in the return on investment from integrative social marketing campaigns? What is the impact of social media presence on the perception of brand values? Or whether there are distinct trends for the varying industry segments or product categories, relative to one another.
In such an exciting and ever evolving field of marketing, this article provides a few new pieces to the greater understanding of emarketing.
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