It’s easy to do bang-average social media marketing for an alcohol brand. Grinning drinkers clinking glasses. Cocktail recipes. A few ‘Fri-yay’ memes. Call it done.
The kicker is that (despite what some brands will try to claim) alcohol can be quite a low differentiation category. Many liquids, often made in similar ways, tasting quite similar to one another, usually falling back to the same marketing tropes.
Plus, in any sub-category you can bet on a looming presence from a Guinness-sized goliath owned by a multinational giant with very deep pockets.
To stand any chance of making a dent, brands can’t afford to be anything but extraordinarily themselves. Which requires planning. And bravery.
Taking a second to understand the role of social
Before jumping into creating content, alcohol brands should consider the role of social media in their objectives. For instance….
Some might have listings. They need happy retailers and for the tills to keep ringing. Particularly if they aren’t blessed with OOH budgets, the job of social is to be so impactful that the brand gets remembered and picked in a buying situation, which might be a packed bar, a few months in the future. Research from Tracksuit shows in the dark spirits category consumers only consider 3 brands at any one time. Making it into this shortlist is no easy feat.
If the brand is a start-up or selling a special edition, the product may not be available in the outside world, and therefore the objective is online purchasing. In this case, social media needs to work harder to get people over the line. Again, no mean feat, and it still requires us to build some affinity with the brand alongside this conversion activity. It can’t all be performance.
Either way, nothing will be achieved with half measures. We need to punch above our weight creatively, to stand a chance of owning a corner of our audience’s brain space. There are a few key ways to do this.
Be consistent
First and foremost, the brand needs to look like the brand. If the content is mistaken for a competitor, we’ve really messed it up. Which requires us to go back to the strategy / guidelines.
Of course, being on social may mean taking part in various trends. But this is no excuse for sloppiness when it comes to littering the output with brand codes. Casamigos is a good example…
They very much have their finger on the pulse. Their feed is made up of various trends and references to culture and whatever is going on in the world. But it always looks like Casamigos.
The trick is to almost allow yourself to feel ‘bored’ with the visual approach. The temptation is to freshen things up regularly because we’re bored of seeing it. But consistency is key.
Be entertaining
We aren’t selling insurance. Whether it’s a highbrow whisky or a very cheap wine, there is so much potential to create something the audience will find cool / funny / interesting. Once we know what the brand stands for and who we are speaking to, social can be the place to really turn it up to 11.
This is an area where we really need to be honest with ourselves around what will resonate with our audience. The test is whether they would genuinely share in a group chat. Our work on Lacey’s Vodka Milkshake is very specifically around ‘uni girls’. And the content is fiercely targeted towards this group, with content and jokes specifically designed for them.
But it’s not all gags for the sake of it. With Lacey’s there is a very tight focus around building specific occasions for the drink, e.g. pre drinks. It’s entertaining and consistent enough to be remembered, but pointed enough so it’s remembered at the right time.
Summary
And there we have it.
Alcohol social media is a tough place to compete. You’re up against big brands, with big budgets. Being able to nudge into the audience’s consideration list doesn’t come without a tussle.
But hopefully this is empowering. Once we know what we stand for and we have an eye on the objective we’re trying to get to, our job is to create something so remarkable that it sticks.
To use one of my favourite quotes from Sarah Carter, start from the premise that “they really don’t give a sh*t” and therefore only the most consistent and entertaining brands that are unmistakably themselves will shine through.
