The Best Alcoholic Drinks Brands on Social Media
As a leading Belgian marketing agency, we love to watch brands on social media. Recently we looked at the best breakfast brands and how they engaged their fans. Today, we’re looking at the alcoholic drinks sector and the brands who engage their audience through content and social media marketing. Our team has compiled their top picks for the most innovative, engaging brands so charge your glasses and let’s look.
An Overview of The Alcoholic Drinks Market in 2020
Revenue in the Alcoholic Drinks market will amount to US$1,371,385m in 2020. The market is expected to grow annually by 8.7% The largest segment of this market is beer with a market volume of US$522,299m in 2020. Gin has shown the largest pick-up in recent times with consumption increasing to 8% of drinkers.
Alcohol advertising rules vary greatly from country to country with some placing restrictions and others enforcing outright bans. For example, Malaysia and Thailand, where alcohol advertisers get around bans by sponsoring music and sporting events. The alcoholic drinks sector has overcome several challenges in recent years when it comes to online marketing.
The first one centres around underage drinking and therefore appropriate targeting and responsible advertising on social media. In 2012, the CEOs of 11 leading alcohol companies Diageo, Pernod Ricard, Bacardi, Beam Suntory and Brown‐Forman to name a few, created the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD). A main focus of this organisation is to prevent minors from interacting with alcoholic brands online. The IARD has pledged to implement safeguards for at least 95% of its online alcohol marketing by 2024. In the world of social media, alcoholic companies must add risk warnings like this one from Budweiser:
They must also gate their website content according to visitor birthdates:
Additionally, Facebook will allow advertising for alcohol products, BUT, only for over age users and only in countries where it is legal.
The second huge challenge the alcohol sector faced in 2020 was the covid-19 lockdowns. Bars and restaurants around the globe were shut and distilleries were required to close their visitor centres. Interestingly, despite grim predictions, many alcoholic drinks brands strode ahead. They did this by rethinking their messaging to encourage people to stay at home (and drink of course). According to recent data, social engagement with alcohol brands has risen far more than other sectors during the pandemic. The research showed that in March 2020, social engagement was up 326.51% compared with March 2019.
“While many bars, restaurants, and venues are currently closed, consumers are still eager to connect and socialize with each other during this challenging period,” said Ted Murphy, Founder and CEO of IZEA. “People are turning to online platforms to reimagine the real-world social experiences that they can no longer safely enjoy in-person. The proliferation of online “Happy Hours” have offered a temporary substitute to traditional gatherings of friends, family, and co-workers.”
Social Media Stats For The Alcohol Sector
· The average Instagram engagement rate for beer, wine, and liquor brands is 1.53%. while brands in the top percentile for engagement saw an engagement rate of 2.85%.
· Social media users are five times more likely to order alcohol online vs. those that do not use social media.
· The average alcoholic drinks brand posts 2-3 times a week on Instagram, and the most active 20%, post 6+
· Eight out of the 10 top‐performing posts by alcohol brands addressed coronavirus in one way or another.
· In their first 1-3 days of lockdown, 47% of respondents say that their beer consumption increased, followed by wine at 37%, and spirits at 30%.
Top Alcoholic Drinks Hashtags
If you’re marketing an alcoholic drink, then you need to know which hashtags work best. Here are the top performing alcoholic drinks hashtags. (Don’t use #alcoholic or #drunk in your posts.)
#alcohol #drinks #cocktails #beer #drink #bar #wine #party #cocktail #whiskey #liquor #bartender #vodka #whisky #drinking #mixology #gin #instagood #cheers #rum #covid #booze #food #drunk #fun #drinkup #drinkstagram #tequila #spirits #photooftheday #bourbon #happyhour #nightlife #mixologist #foodporn #alkohol #instagram #pub #alcoholic #summer #bartenderlife #yummy #shots
Tip- If you’re promoting an alcoholic drink on social media, it’s essential you are responsible. Posting to Snapchat and Tik Tok, geared towards younger consumers could be construed as promoting underage drinking.
#1 Rémy Martin
Established in 1784 (WOW), The Remy Martin story is an impressive one that’s beautifully told on their site.
We are drooling over the company’s illustrious history and loving the authentic details like this. We often say at Moondust, that great content needs to be the core of everything you do online. And storytelling is certainly a great way to go for this brand.
Despite its history this is not a brand stuck in the past. Remy Martin has a strong presence on social media including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Remy Martin maintained its brand identity this year with beautiful lifestyle shots, cocktail recipes and food pairing. Essentially, the three things we all obsessed over during lockdown!
Marketing Takeaways
· During the pandemic, the brand communicated stay-at-home messages and provided engaging cocktail-making videos on YouTube. If you’re promoting an alcoholic drink and the pubs are shut, your target audience becomes home drinkers. By showing fans how to make cocktails they continue to drive up sales.
· They also created this music video which hit the right notes in April:
· And they captured the foodie market with these incredible pairings videos. The lesson here is to cross market your alcoholic product. Viewers of these videos might be more interested in cooking glazed ribs, but then they learn about how well they pair with Remy Martin products.
- We loved the storytelling from chef Kwame Onwuachi. This is an excellent example of relatable influencer marketing that works to position your product.
· On Facebook, they live-streamed Cognac tasting with a cellar master and took us on a tour of harvest time. This is a great way to show the quality of its products whilst also involving the audience.
· Remy Martin is proof that social media engagement can be classy. Their channels are like watching Vogue or Hello magazine and strongly adhere to their brand values. Even their cartoon illustrations are elegant, like this one below:
· The brand reminds us about their history by using #1738. Utilising a key USP (unique selling point) is a great way to differentiate you from other brands.
· On Twitter, retweets and mentions highlight the brand’s positive press attention. Younger millennial and Gen Z consumers especially will be interested to read about sustainability and climate change initiatives.
TIP- Showing where your product comes from is key when it comes to attracting ethically aware, vegan or organic consumers. Plus, it makes for beautiful storytelling!
#2 Captain Morgan
Captain Morgan is another alcoholic drinks brand with an impressive history which it shares on its website along with a video about how rum is made.
The brand’s swashbuckling image carries through its content with seafaring fun and jolly cocktail recipes. In fact, Captain Morgan offers plenty of cocktail recipes for relevant occasions such as #WorldCocktailDay and #MothersDay. The brand strongly promoted its new Orange Vanilla Twist expression with cocktails recipes and strong imagery.
Marketing Takeaways
· The brand puts a positive spin on 2020 with fun calendar memes on Instagram. Positioning your products in a fun and colourful way is especially important for alcohol brands who need to be associated with good times and happiness.
- The brand offered fun video call backgrounds to consumers at home and also made their own fun video call parody on YouTube featuring drinks ingredients. The accidental nude orange made for a hilarious video that got a ton of shares and positive feedback over how relatable it was.
· Interactive photo contests usually fly well on Instagram, especially if they’re fun. We love this one that draws attention to the pirate theme of the brand and encourages user engagement. Creating a character for your brand has produced great brand awareness results historically. Successful examples include Meerkats of Meerkovo - Compare The Market, Duracell Bunny - Duracell Batteries and Churchill the Nodding Dog - Churchill Insurance.
· Captain Morgans embraces its charitable side by supporting bartenders and hospitality professionals affected financially by lockdown job losses. We love how this aligns with the brand but also shows that this is a brand willing to act.
#3 Absolut Vodka
“Crafting Absolut Vodka is a holistic journey born from our Swedish tradition in vodka-making commitment to our source and community.” states their story and the theme of community is one that’s echoed through everything they do. From fair farming, recycled glass, zero waste through to Pride diversity and rainbow vodkas, this is a brand that stands up for key issues.
The site also has a ton of great recipes, including those made from trending vodka drinks (who knew there were so many!)
And Absolut Vodka just oozes Instagrammable cool. With incredible recipes and stay-home chic!
The brand also raised important issues, including the promotion of #DenimDay to raise awareness of victim blaming.
Marketing Takeaways
· Animations work so well on social media and we’re obsessing over these incredible pastels on Absolut’s Insta channel. If you don’t have the budget for something this fancy, then why not ask your fans to create one and incentivise them with a prize? Check out the great animations from Amandah Andersson used by Absolut below.
· If you’re going live, remind people first. In fact, remind them on Facebook even if the live is on Insta.
- Absolut’s invites to tag friends are a winner in social media terms. Friends love to tag friends and if you provide an incentive then you’re sure to get increased engagement.
· We also love how interactive their Facebook posts are. All of the above sounds interesting…
· Absolut frequently uses Rico in social media posts. Ricardo (Rico) has been mixing drinks for over 18 years and made his name working for the Jake Burger emporium, such as the Portobello Star, Jake's Bar and Still Room. This adds a friendly and familiar vibe to the brand whilst also pouring some influencer into the mix. Readers can learn more about the collab here.
· We also loved seeing Lizzo on the brand’s YouTube playlists. A singer with a rich voice and rapper with talent, Lizzo is all about feel good lyrics, body positivity and fun. Another great influencer pairing.
#4 BrewDog
Beer is part of so many happy occasions, intrinsic in the culture of so many countries and it has a strong social media community. This is something heavily emphasised by craft brewers Brewdog. This is a brand that celebrates its roots, originality, people and community. With some excellent content marketing to tell us about their charter the brand states:
“It all comes back to our people. Everything we do is for our team and the craft beer fans that get to enjoy the produce of our labour. In coming to work every day, we want to ensure that our beer can be enjoyed by any and everybody – and in so doing, make our bars and bottle shops as inclusive as possible.”
In fact, content rules on this crafty beer site with so many interesting articles, product facts, charitable initiatives and that all important covid-19 update.
The brand is a popular follow on social media too. With 357k Insta followers and tons of engaging initiatives like the kickstart collective that aims to support pubs suffering losses during the pandemic. These updates are rolled out through stories and then highlighted on the main Insta page.
And we love their YouTube channel too. As well as the usual home beer taste testing and cocktail recipes, Brewdog got a little bit wild!
This adventure challenge series includes exhilarating beer related challenges all around the world like this one in Belgium! We love the localised subtitles and the way we get to see different countries as well as the beer.
On Twitter we see exciting product launches, cheeky gifs and an exceptional level of customer support. Remember, all the marketing in the world won’t compensate for poor online service!
On Facebook, Brewdog combines some humour with solid charitable and environmental initiatives like this one. We love the tree planting initiative which really speaks to their target audience.
Marketing Takeaways
· Have an online store and promote it through social media. This is a very necessary step for alcohol companies impacted by continued lockdowns.
- Edgy but impactful. This approach won’t work for every brand but Brewdog’s young and passionate fans absolutely love the impact they are making.
· Help consumers to buy your products. Brewdog showcases all the pubs that stock its beer, and the stores that can deliver it during lockdown. This is all presented through snappy Insta stories.
· Know your audience. Brewdog does and that’s why they tie in BBQ videos with beer promotions on Facebook. What’s a BBQ without beer, right?
More Marketing Tips For Alcoholic Drinks Brands
· Who says wine tasting needs to happen in a bar? Utilise Facebook or Instagram live to feature live wine tastings. You can invite your audience to watch or participate.
· Link to local supermarkets or wine merchants so fans can purchase online. With continued uncertainty about covid-19, more consumers are shopping online than ever before.
· Photography is everything. If you’re promoting drinks on Instagram, you need to invest in a professional camera and all the props to make your photos pop. That might be great glassware, fruit or even cooked food or salads.
· Team up with brands that compliment your own to do some marketing together. This will amplify your reach and potential fan base. For example, teaming up with a seafood restaurant to promote your white wine could yield great results.