There’s no question about it. In 2020, getting social media right is a must for big beer brands to connect with millennial audiences, and influencers can be a powerful conduit to that elusive market.
Big beer brands know this. And they’re allocating their budgets accordingly, despite heavy criticism from both journalists and consumers who don’t always get or approve of influencer marketing.
But as a category, big beer is underperforming compared to craft beer when in comes to influencer generated content, indicating a huge opportunity to improve partnerships. Will they manage to tap it?
1) INFLUENCE, SHMINFLUENCE?
Analysts forecast that global ad spend on influencer marketing will be between $5bn and $10bn by 2022. Don’t let the haters fool you, influencer marketing is far from dead.
As a category, big beer is underperforming compared to craft beer in influencer generated content, indicating a huge opportunity to improve partnerships.
2) LEVERAGE THAT BEVERAGE
According to this report by Traacker there are currently over 9,050 active beverage influencers in the two key markets of North America and Europe. In order to qualify as an active influencer, each of these 9K+ influencers had to meet stringent qualifying criteria, including targeting at least 100 beverage-related keywords.
3) UNDERDOG APPEAL
While craft breweries have just 25% the number of active influencers compared to commodity beer breweries, they boast 2x the engagement!
4) PLAYING BIGGER
At 2,248, Guinness has the largest network of influencers by far. That’s 2.5x more than second place (held by Corona).
5) CHANGE IS BREWING
According to Influencer Marketing 2020, 6 out of 10 digital marketers surveyed say that “the purpose that influencer marketing serves for their business has changed in the past 12 months.” That means reassessing your efforts at close intervals is necessary in order to generate a high Return on Influence rate.
6) OK, BOOMER
Of those digital marketers, more than half (56%) say the younger generation of consumers (Gens Y and Z) are driving the biggest changes, which place an even higher degree of emphasis on authenticity compared to older generations. Coming across as ‘well-intentioned’ is of the utmost importance.
7) GENDER GAP
While a full 45% of social media users surveyed reported being annoyed by sponsored posts, men are more annoyed than women, at 48% versus 42%. On the flipside, perceived authenticity among influencers is significantly more important for women, with 32% deeming it ‘very important’ compared to just 19% of men.
8) KEEP IT REAL
25% of survey respondents said content that ‘feels authentic’ is the most important factor in deciding whether to follow an influencer, followed by 19% who want ‘inspirational content’, 17% who want ‘fun content’, and another 17% claiming they want an influencer to ‘share their views’.
9) LET’S MAKE A BEER RUN
If you’re looking for a big beer brand that has influencer marketing figured out, it’s definitely Michelob ULTRA and their marathon-running niche. With only 384 active influencers, MU was able to generate the highest number of influencer mentions (16,982) as well as the highest rate of engagement (0.93%) compared with 14 other brands included in Traacker’s report*.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Traacker CEO Pierre-Loic Assayag, reports “The personality of the brand matters, and craft, independent brands tend to perform disproportionately well compared to mass market brands. This to me is a sign that the personality of the brand really matters in generating momentum on social media and with influencers.”
What used to be ‘go big or go home’ has turned into ‘get real or go home’ for big beer.
Statistics sources:
https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/post-influencer-culture/1584141
https://www.traackr.com/resources/state-of-influence-spirits-beer-wine
https://mediakix.com/blog/influencer-marketing-industry-ad-spend-chart/
*Traackr analyzed beverage influencer content from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018 on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. Data was pulled in January 2019.”
