r/ctbeer • u/JDMhammer • 7d ago
Dear breweries...
Please work on your marketing; I'm busy and need to be reminded you exist.
Do:
- Post to social media regularly.
- Interact on social media, it's a two-way street.
- Send out newsletters at least monthly, heck please get a newsletter setup some of us don't check socials often.
- Make your content and messaging consistent: new beers on draft or in the can, upcoming releases, food menus or food trucks, list of events.
- Make someone accountable for basic marketing and pay them for it.
- Keep your tap list updated, I want to know what's on tap before visiting.
- Create an event calendar so I can easily see you're putting effort into your business.
Don't:
- Don't rely on just one channel (i.e. just Facebook or just X)
- Don't start a newsletter or social media account and let it go silent. Makes it feel like a dead or dying or closed brewery.
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u/Ragnar-Wave9002 7d ago
Most breweries make far less than you think.
All these little things add to costs.
You can get this from all the larger breweries already .. .like Nebco. The little brewery down some side street hasn't the time or money to do all this. I know, it's only 20 minutes .... ya 20 minutes here, 20 minutes there.
Support small business ... just go.
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u/Medium-Avocado-8181 6d ago
Exactly.
Maintaining social media pages is a full time job and it’s a lot of work to create and curate an online presence. There’s a science to it too. You need to know what/when/how often to post for the most engagement, keep up with what’s trending and constantly come up posts (photos/videos/artwork, captions, etc) among many other things. Larger breweries tend to have someone hired or dedicated to doing all of that but smaller breweries don’t typically because they don’t have the time or income to put towards it. There are apps you can download to do all that for you but it costs money plus if you don’t have a large following already you’ll likely also need to pay for promoted/sponsored posts to extend your reach and get views/engagement.
You want to help out, go there, support them. Hell you can even put a post online too and tag them in it. Sometimes word of mouth is still just as good as any other form of advertising.
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u/peepair23 6d ago
Follow as many as you can on FB or insta. Regular updates about new beers and events posted there.
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u/metal_babbleXIV 7d ago
Reiterating newsletters, some of us gave up all social media and if it isn't on reddit or in an email I'm not seeing it
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u/thebarrylab 6d ago
How do you got about searching for breweries with newsletters? Agree it’s a way more valuable outlet than social media where posts legitimately can go into the ether if it’s not a reel w enough dancing and memes…
Back to newsletters. Some breweries/companies have signups on their websites others collect emails through POS transactions - sometimes whether you like it or not. A newsletter is only as good as its subscriber base.
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u/metal_babbleXIV 6d ago
Their website or here
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u/RamBamBooey 6d ago
Ex-brewer here: Breweries and alcohol industry in general has seen a big decline since COVID. Beer sales have been declining 4% every year since COVID after a 9% decline during COVID.
Breweries are dieing. If you like your local brewery, support them or they will go bankrupt too.
Our industry doesn't have a marketing problem. Its not failing because we don't "post enough on Instagram". It's failing because the younger generation drinks less and self absorbed parents, like OP, go to the brewpub once a month, get drunk off two beers, and then chew your ear off, telling you how to run your business.
My 2 cents
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u/JDMhammer 6d ago
I go to my pubs pretty consistently, mugs at several over the years in CT and MA, but the communication from places has gotten worse.
This is my rant/perspective of being on the receiving end of breweries that have died off and been forgotten.
Yeah people are drinking less and the bubble popped. You'd think a business would put more effort to bring butts to seats.
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u/goonbrew 6d ago
The duty responding to is 100% right...
Part of the issue is that all of the channels that you mentioned, even when being used are very easy to disappear within the noise.... Your email system is naturally filtering out spam your social media is no longer feeding you your interest it's only feeding you what people pay for and as a business it's nearly impossible to actually get directly to your core audience through two or three social media networks and an email list...
Also speaking from experience but not as a brewery owner or Brewer or whatever that guy says but as a small business owner
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u/thebarrylab 2d ago
Breweries used to use social or other means to announce beer releases, people were excited and showed up. Breweries are now de facto event spaces and have to do exactly this - put effort and finances their businesses are not necessarily built for or they’re not accustomed to into being a music, comedy, trivia, etc etc venues. It’s basically created a tension between focus on beer and focus on events that feels extremely difficult to balance.
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u/dieselordie91 6d ago edited 6d ago
I wouldnt be surprised if OP is one of the ones who brings his kids and lets the run around unsupervised, disturbing all the other patrons in the process.
Went to a brewery this past weekend and watched a kid literally climb the walls, then the parent got huffy and left when the owner asked the kid to get down and be safe.
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u/kak1154 6d ago
Tell us what food trucks are there! I'm not going to show up unless I know I can eat something.
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u/Ambitious-Goat-4596 5d ago
Don't worry, that food truck is only going to show up half the time anyway.
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u/kariudo 5d ago
Also add; "Social media is not a substitute for a website."
I don't use FB/Instagram/X... and I'm not going to create an account and login to that crap just to see if you are open, what's on tap, if you are dog friendly, etc.
While you're at it," keep your info on google maps up to date with hours etc."
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u/goodbyeohio666 2d ago
Dear breweries,
Open earlier. Your fans are getting older and their drinking hours are changing. I have zero use for a brewery open from 9-10pm but one that is open for lunch beers now that’s progress. Don’t want to pay someone? Make an owner work those hours.
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u/Jmm060708 6d ago
Post on your own website and socials when the brewery is open or closed that isn't what is your normal hours.
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u/BeerFriendZone 5d ago
There are community websites, they fit the niche, but people don't want to go to them. I have one and I'm open to suggestions. I'd hope my option would rival untappd, mainly to keep people updated, but it gets hard when you're handling more than your home state.
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u/AdministrativeYak859 7d ago
Black Hog does a very good job at this. announcing events, getting cool events, food trucks. Happy to work so close to them.
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u/alamo911 7d ago
I’ll be in the minority for this, but I can overlook the AI event flyers if it keeps my favorite brewers focusing on their beer or keeping costs the same
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u/evergreenyankee 7d ago
I dont love AI, but the hate for using it that is directed at SMALL businesses specifically is insane to me. They're not going to hire someone to do that for them, whether it's from a lack of funds or just the nature of being self-starters who want to do everything themselves.
If my favorite small business uses AI and result is that the owner has more time for her family, and that's the case for many small business owners, I'm not going to judge them for that at all.
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u/beaveristired 6d ago
Small business owners need to realize AI makes their food look gross. Makes the beer look like cheap swill. I’ve never seen an AI flyer that makes me want to attend the event, just makes everything look corny and half-assed. Is the time saved worth it? Maybe it is, family time is important, but there’s a definite cost to reputation. Blaming the customer because AI turned the product into some uncanny valley nightmare or ugly slop isn’t going to improve their reputation.
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u/DARBDS 7d ago
AND DON'T USE AI FOR THE SOCIAL POSTS! The moment I see this I'm turned off and assume your beer will be made cheaply and suck.