Is Social Media marketing/promotion important?

For businesses and to be more specific, Breweries, Brewpubs, Bottleshops and Taprooms, social media promotion is something which hovers towards the bottom of the 'important' list of things to do. So why is Social Media promotion so important?

To most entrepreneurs, social media marketing is the “next big thing” a temporary yet powerful fad that must be taken advantage of while it’s still in the spotlight. To others, it’s a buzzword with no practical advantages and a steep, complicated learning curve.

Because it appeared so quickly, social media has developed a reputation by some for being a passing marketing interest, and therefore, an unprofitable one. However, since the rise of social media's importance for businesses, more and more businesses now rely on the power it has to enable them to reach hundreds of thousands of people. 92% of marketers in 2017 claimed that social media marketing was important for their business, with 80% indicating their efforts increased traffic to their websites. However, 97% of marketers are currently participating in social media—but 85% of participants aren't sure what social media tools are the best to use. This demonstrates a huge potential for social media marketing to increase sales, but a lack of understanding on how to achieve those results.

4 ways in which social media marketing can improve your business are:

1. Increased brand recognition

2. Improved brand loyalty

3. More opportunities to convert

4. Higher conversion rates

Social media has a 100% higher lead-to-close rate than outbound marketing, and a higher number of social media followers tends to improve trust and credibility in your brand, representing social proof. This basically means that building your audience in social media can improve conversion rates on your existing traffic.

With the media landscape shifting from offline to online and with more consumers interacting on social media, understanding and generating earned media is becoming even more important. There are 3 main factors of importance and these include; Distributing and amplifying your content, building credibility and driving sustainability and better ROI (Return of Investment).

Distributing and amplifying your content - Most businesses now recognize the value in creating interesting, engaging and relevant content. However, there is no point in creating content unless it reaches your target audience. Businesses need to think about how they will distribute and amplify their content in order for it to actually be seen by their target audience. Earned media is an important part of this process, as it can help a business to reach their target audience without needing to use paid media channels. Having your business featured in online and offline publications, consumer’s social media posts and tweets, product reviews and blog posts will help amplify your content and have it reach your target audience.

Building credibility - The most trusted source of information about your business comes not from the information you disseminate to the public, but from third party sources such as the media or highly satisfied customers. People are much more likely to trust messages about your brand when they read or hear about it in the media, than through a hard sales message. Your loyal customers – otherwise known as brand advocates – also have a key role to play in building the credibility of your brand. Brand advocates are a business’ most loyal, engaged and enthusiastic customers who are more likely to recommend trusted brands and favourite products or services to their friends and the wider community. The content they create such as reviews, recommendations, ratings and stories about their experiences with your business will help to build your credibility among your wider target audience.

Drive sustainability and better ROI - Many businesses are still spending a significant amount of their marketing budget on paid media. This is often because they believe that in order to generate leads and increase sales they need to pay to leverage the channel their target audience is using. In fact, studies have shown that up to 92% of consumers trust word-of mouth recommendations, but only 24% trust online ads. Earned media is proven to have better ROI and is also more cost effective. Businesses don’t need to pay directly for the content or the medium on which the content is published. The main investment is the time and energy required to build strong relationships with your customers and brand advocates. This can be as simple as engaging with your customers on social media channels by commenting and liking their posts. Earned media is also more sustainable. Customers will continue to create earned media through reviews, recommendations and social media engagement for as long as they continue to be satisfied by your business.

In a day and age where time is money, we understand that social media marketing/promotion can sometimes be a daunting task and might be considered lower down on the list of ‘things to do’ but the importance should never be overlooked. If a well thought out social media marketing plan can help your business by bringing more people through the door or help generate more online sales, this can only benefit your company. Fact!

Like, Share, Drink, Enjoy!

Brennan & Chrystal

Belhaven's Twisted Mango IPA & Twisted Grapefruit IPA

Belhaven Brewery has launched its latest beer in its fruit flavoured range - Twisted Mango IPA & Twisted Grapefruit IPA.

Firstly, let me start off by saying that we lived and breathed Scotland and more specifically, Edinburgh, for the greater part of 12 months. So the Scottish Capital holds a special compartment in our beer loving hearts. It's the place where I was first exposed to pints of Guinness followed by whiskey chasers........wait.....maybe that's because I was living with a Irish fella who was always up for a good time....probably. Nonetheless, it was also my first experience of Deuchars (a utterly iconic and superb cask ale) and shed loads of Belhaven Best (sweet and malty with toffee and caramel notes with a really smooth, satisfying bitter finish).

Belhaven’s brewing history dates back to the 12th century AD with the current brewery founded in 1719, so near enough 300 years of brewing history. So when we received a parcel with a couple of cans of Twisted Mango IPA, we had high hopes and a twinkle appeared in our eyes.

Belhaven's can design is kind of a retrocool design, with its representation of the Old Brewery's iconic stooped, concave like brewhouse roofs and the text follows along with the old yet modern style format. Quirky but effective.

Twisted Mango IPA - The beer pours clear golden with a moderate white head. The lacing is fairly weak but it has a good biscuit malt background. Definite floral notes from the Galaxy and Chinook hops but we feel it's fairly restrained. Unfortunately, if you aren't brewing in the Tropics, mango is hard to comeby. Even more unfortunate is that the synthetic mango flavouring is fairly apparent in this beer and that's a real shame. The bitterness on the end seems a bit lighter then we would prefer but its light to medium body does seem to carry the sweetness fairly well.

Twisted Grapefruit IPA - So this pours fairly clear, bronze in colour with a moderate white head. The floral notes are fairly prominent with a good malt backbone. The flavour is moderate sweet, lightish bitter with a dry, synthetic grapefruit flavour which is apparent but it's definitely the moderate and dry sweetness along with the woody aftertaste that makes this IPA sort of enjoyable.

Looking at these two beers without our 'Craft Beer' (Independent Brewery) hats on, we can sort of see what Greene King/Belhaven are aiming to achieve. Their fruit flavoured range is aimed at the market where they can attract beer drinkers (not necessarily beer lovers) to try something a bit different. With a market which is ever changing and swinging more towards variety, these beers have not been brewed to achieve market dominance. Instead, they have been brewed to entice and tap into a part of the market that can allow a non-beer drinker to maybe think about trying something new.

In all honesty, its most certainly not our kind of brew but we'll still have a pint of 'Bestie' anytime of the day!

Like, Share, Drink, Enjoy!

Crafty Couple