Cider Corner: Setting Up Your Social Media for Success

Social media can be nuanced. Each platform can be catered to different types of consumers and can tell your cideries’ story a differently.

“Customers want to feel like they are getting ‘insider information,’ said Blue Barn Cidery co-owner Jill Wolf. “They love seeing behind the scenes posts of cider making, staff and even things we find boring like cleanup and repairs.

“Customers also love when we share sneak peaks at upcoming products or events.”

You have to make sure that you know what your audience is looking for with each different platform,” added Chris Denkers of Coyote Hole Ciderworks.

“We will not post 10 Facebook posts in a day unlike Twitter,” he noted. “If you inundate people with too much content on the wrong platform, that is a sure way to lose followers.”

He indicated that people on Facebook are looking for big news and events that you are holding, not what you are thinking that very second. He believes that Instagram users are looking for a behind-the-scenes look at what you are doing, maybe bottling, new releases, fresh buds on your trees, crushing and such.

“Frequency is key as Facebook, more than Instagram and Twitter, use very complex algorithms to determine what content gets pushed out to your followers,” he said. “If you push too much content on Facebook, that content will not reach your followers. Videos and pictures are key.

“We try to only push a few posts a day at a maximum on Facebook, where as with Twitter, you can push as many tweets as you like. Instagram can be tricky, if you are going to be posting heavy one day because say you are at an event or have multiple things going on, you want to make sure you utilize the photo gallery or merging multiple pictures into one post instead of posting 30 pictures a day onto your timeline.”

Timing is extremely important, Wolf said.

“We are constantly asking, ‘What is the most opportune moment to post this?’ so that the post helps us achieve a specific goal,” she said. “For example, if we have a very large event coming up and we want to maximize attendance throughout a long time span we will post the event several weeks ahead of time, and add in more and more details as the event gets closer.

“On the contrary for smaller events that are ticketed that we want to sell out, or events that we need to moderate crowds for, we will post with less notice, not boost, and aim to sell out tickets quickly. Timing is a constant question for our social media.”