By Jenny Mann
OK, so here’s the scenario: You’re on vacation, the most epic road trip. You roll into the city limits around noon, and you’re parched. The only thirst-quencher that will do the trick consists of hops, barley, water and yeast. You begin the phone search: “where to go for local craft beer”. You find a few…awesome!
You tap on web links, the addresses, click on reviews, find the hours, scan through the photos provided (the images are from six months ago, with a couple from two years ago and a menu from four years ago). You click on the website…it doesn’t share much detail about what’s happening right now. So…of course you go straight to a little thing called Instagram.
You get excited, because you see a photo of a schwarzbier…niiiice. You tap on the image and discover it was posted over a month ago. You do a bit more digging. The “highlights” show their “new beer” from 157 weeks ago. Hmmm.
That schwarzbier is still on your brain. You decide to go ahead and pop on over to check it out. But first, you try telephoning. No answer. Eh, it’s okay, no one answers phones these days anyways.
You pull into an empty parking lot. They open at 3 p.m. Back to the phone search.
Raise your hand if this has happened to you.
When consumers seek out information to visit a brewery and those details are not available or updated it can be very frustrating and difficult for them.
Not only that, this below-standards experience is their first impression of your business. Now, consumers know that they can’t expect to find updated details on a regular basis, which equates to less people seeking out your brand.
Making sure your information is up-to-date is important for your business, guests and potential fans to find you. It may sound rather silly to have to mention that, but it happens far too often.
This is where the “Golden Rule” can help business owners.
How to do it
When you want to visit a business and look them up online or on social media…
What do you find?
What do you not find?
What did you need to find?
Was any of it there?
Take a step outside and look at your own brewery details. Are you offering the same valuable information that you were searching for? Is it available to your guests and fans?
Remember the Golden Rule: Treat people how you want to be treated.
With over two billion Instagram users—most of which follow at least one business—using social media to keep your fans in the know about how they can support your business is vital.
A lot of people go straight to a brewery’s Instagram page, hoping to discover not only basic info but the all-around vibe. They check out the photos of the beer and people, then immediately look for personal information to make the choice to show up and support that business…or not.
Guests want to know if they can sit inside or outside with their dogs, if the business supports their neighborhood, if owners and staff create a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community, if it’s a family-friendly atmosphere, if non-alcoholic beverages available.
Craft beer has come a long way, and it’s of the utmost importance to provide details to our online community, not only to communicate our brands and what we are doing, but to provide the information necessary for would-be customers to make decisions.
Techniques for following the Golden Rule
Your Bio: It’s super-fun to have your mission statement and a Benjamin Franklin quote displayed, but that does not share the important information your fans need in order to find you. In fact, it makes them have to search harder. Frankly, lots of people won’t go the extra mile to do so.
Instead, try sharing your hours, location, address, website for beer-to-go, if you are 21-and-up, family-friendly, dog-friendly. Your bio section is a great way to immediately manage your guests’ expectations.
Your Highlights: What are “highlights”? Those little bubble topics displayed under your Instagram bio. Everyone has them, and businesses should use them! Highlights are where you store previous Instagram “stories”. Stories are a great way to keep fans updated about daily events happening throughout the week.
Create topics for your highlights—new beers, merch, events, etc.—then organize your previous Instagram stories into those highlights to share with fans. Keep it fresh! Update these each week and get rid of anything from a few months ago as those do pop up chronologically and fans will view those first.
Pro Tip: FAQ Highlight
Create content specifically for your FAQ finders by posting into your stories first and then adding them to your FAQ Highlight.
Here’s an example:
Welcome!
Tasting Room Hours
12pm-9pm Tues-Sun
Happy Hour is Tue-Thur 3-5pm
We are a dog friendly brewery!
Food Truck (check our daily stories to know what’s cookin’)
We offer beer to go and ship only in California.
Treat your guests and fans the way you want to be treated when seeking out and visiting breweries online. Give them the tools to find you and support your business!
Have more questions? Need some advice or creative brainstorming? Let me know. I offer a free 30-minute consult for members of our independently owned craft-beverage family. Just shoot me an email!