Learning to Speak as One on Social Media

A brewery is many people. Capturing and speaking that can be a difficult task, especially since the branding message may sometimes be handled by just one person. That person becomes the mouthpiece for the whole brand. That can be a challenge.

“Although I am in charge of our public message, it is a tone and voice that was developed as a team to best reflect our brand,” said Ecliptic Brewing Marketing Manager Colette Becker. “The beer-drinking community is a fun – and sometimes serious — one. We try to be playful and have fun, while always taking any real issues someone may have seriously.

“That is something that comes up as you grow: complaints, online trolls, etc. You have to remain professional and also just learn to brush it off and try your best to stick to your brand image.”

For ​Stoup Brewing in Seattle, ​Twitter is a really effective way to promote the goings-on at the brewery.

​Lara Zahaba​, the brewery’s co-owner,​ often ​replies, likes​ or recirculates ​tweets that are engaged with ​published content ​communicating directly with ​followers ​through​ direct message.

​Zahaba said Stoup focuses on keeping it to “just the facts in a concise format.​

​”Responding to comments equals engagement, which is a real value,” she said.

Nick Beard primarily controls the message at Cheboygan Brewing, but he pointed out that they do align as a team on core values and overall message when posting content or responding to messages.

The brewery does have more than Beard connected to be able to past so it can have a more robust social media presence.

“[Phil] does a good job aligning with our brand personality,” Beard said. “We want to make sure we are doing this seamlessly.”

As the northern Michigan brewery has grown, Beard said they have found that personal touch goes a long way, and even though the brewery is bigger than when it started in 2011, they still try to preserve that as much as possible.

“People respond better to personal targeted messaging and content,” Beard said. “We want to have a relationship with our community and fans.”