Craft Brew Alliance Social Media Audit and Conversation Analysis

Stephanie Haisley Austin Hall Sarah Leavers Mackenzie Walker

Purpose

Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) is a beer brewing company with headquarters in Portland, Ore., that brands its beer under the names Widmer Brothers, Redhook, Kona and Omission. CBA was formed in 2008 with the merger of Widmer Brothers Brewery and Redhook Ale Brewery. Expansion took place in 2010 with the acquisition of Kona Brewing company, as well as the launch of a new brand in 2012 under the name “Omission”, a beer crafted to remove gluten. Based on 2012 sales volume, CBA is the ninth largest beer brewing company in the United States. According to its website (craftbrew.com), CBA was formed “with an eye towards preserving and growing one-of-a-kind craft beers and brands.” Widmer Brothers and Kona were formed within their respective families, thus CBA brands itself as one family that displays an inviting, transparent and family-oriented theme. CBA strives to build a trustworthy relationship with each other and their customers with the motto “Made True.” To CBA, “Made True” means that they brew true, sell true, stay true to their roots, and stay true to their customers. The purpose of this social media audit and conversation analysis is to assess CBA’s social media presence internally between its brands and externally against two of its competitors: Deschutes Brewery and Full Sail Brewing Company. By examining the social media channels of CBA, valuable information can be provided to CBA that will give insight to its consumer relationships through social media with the goal to analyze its strengths and weaknesses. With our recommendations, CBA will be able to focus on their strengths and strengthen their weaknesses to fully utilize its social media channels to build relationships with consumers.

Method We examined three channels throughout our social media audit: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Breweries use these channels due to the widespread use of social media among the core demographic of 25 to 34 years olds. This predominant age group engages most in social media with breweries. Key terms found through Twitter include hashtags such as #beer, #cheers and most importantly #thanks. The latter shows the dynamic gratitude-based relationship brewers have with their beer-drinking publics.

Our research began Oct. 17 and concluded Nov. 1. During this time we examined the months of August, September, and October. We used tools such as TweetStats to compile Twitter analytics and TweetLevel to discover what relationships each brewer has with its public. During our research, we utilized Facebook’s built-in analytic tool to discover the page’s popularity, successful or eventful days, and age demographics. Instagram and Facebook monthly posts were hand-counted for each brewery.

Results

Craft Brew Alliance shows inconsistencies in its social media strategies due to a lack of organization and parallel structure. When looking at CBA’s social media outlets, we found that three out of the four companies utilize Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; however, Omission Beer only uses Facebook. CBA owned breweries remain consistent with their logos, but lack identity and voice.

When comparing the graphs of the three brewing companies, we see an evident difference in Facebook presence. This could be due to the fact that CBA’s companies are widely distributed. Surprisingly, the smaller competitors we analyzed had higher consumer interaction on their daily posts; whereas, CBA’s companies did not.

CBA Facebook Likes

Competitor Facebook Likes

CBA’s Twitter handles do not have a strong following. When comparing CBA with Deschutes Brewery and Full Sail Brewing, Deschutes Brewery has 55,654 followers and Full Sail Brewing has 19,216 followers; while Red Hook Brewery, CBA’s most popular twitter handle, has 4,185 fewer followers. This is important because Full Sail Brewing is a small and localized brewery; whereas, Red Hook Brewery is more widespread through out the country. This suggests that CBA lacks communication in comparison to smaller brewing competitors. Omission’s lack of social media usage stands out among brewers within CBA. Omission demonstrates the least focus on social media of the four major brewers. The lack of a conformed social media presence reinforces a trend of inconsistencies for CBA and its brewers. The Twitter follower comparison between Deschutes and Full Sail reflect a difference in size. Deschutes, a large organization with breweries throughout the Northwest, has many followers due to its geographic reach. On the other side of the spectrum, Full Sail is a beer born and raised in Hood River, Oregon. Though both companies come from small towns, Deschutes success benefits from its social media fluency.

CBA Twitter Followers

Competitor Twitter Followers

When comparing Instagram followers, Deschutes Brewery has twice as many followers than the most liked Instagram account of CBA, Kona Brewing. Omission Beer lacks an Instagram account.

CBA Instagram Followers

Competitor Instagram Followers

Social Media Audit

Competitors: Full Sail Brewery Irene Firmat, CEO and founder of Full Sail, takes pride in her local business model based out of Hood River, Ore. Although the smallest competitor, Full Sail’s social media presence develops a loyal and close-knit group of consumers. Full Sail creates a Northwestern feeling through its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram posts. Facebook and Twitter make up the focal points in the social media strategy. Full Sail falls short in the use of Instagram, as most posts parallel to Facebook posts. Full Sail updates its Facebook at least once a day with a post relevant to its local voice. Posts most commonly pertain to launching new beers, hosting local events and partnering with local organizations. Full Sail always includes either a graphic or an actual photo in every post because of the extremely receptive community. Twitter’s update rate ranges from one to seven times a day with community interactions such as retweets, responses, interactions and announcements including release events and other beer-related events. All updates align with the image of Full Sail Brewery due to the use of a colloquial voice to match with its Northwestern vibe. The infrequent use of Instagram can hurt Full Sail’s social media growth, as more developed breweries such as Deschutes and Kona demonstrate extensive Instagram use. Full Sail mostly reposts images from its Facebook, unlike Kona, under the Craft Brewers Alliance, which has over 5,000 Instagram posts. The human interaction of Full Sail drives its social media use. Many posts to Facebook and Twitter show reposts of consumer-created content, interactive responses or announcing new products. The most popular posts to Facebook reinforce the local Northwest community, or the reposting of what others say about the brand. This creates brand loyalty and strengthens a company’s relationship with its publics. Craft Brewers Alliance presents a looming, almost

ominous, umbrella corporation that encompasses many breweries. A single human voice can help Craft Brewers Alliance personalize their organization. Two posts represent the typical amount of Facebook comments each post receives. Comments show a trend of positivity and always relate to the beer itself or the Northwest. Twitter usually consists of one or two retweets from local sponsors, beer drinkers or interaction between those who tweet about Full Sail. Posts on Instagram focus more on likes than comments, receiving an average of 60 likes per post, but little comment interaction. User-created content generates the highest amount of likes, comments and positive mentions for Full Sail. A recent Facebook post from Arizona generated 113 likes and five comments. Posts about the recent harvest this fall received 81 likes and three comments. Beyond this, affiliating with local businesses and organizations brings positive mentions to the brand as well. Twitter follows a similar trend akin to Facebook. Full Sail retweets @GorgeGuide and @Oregonbeer most frequently, with 15 retweets each. Once again, this points to the importance of local relationships and the fact that Full Sail connects most with the Oregon and Northwest public. Full Sail represents the most local brewery out of both the clients and the competitors. With this in mind, some obvious numerical differences between the cumilated data shows a clear difference among breweries. Full Sail not only represents the smallest and most close-knit community, but it also represents a brand that knows its public and embraces it through Oregon- centric posts that demonstrate its love for local community. Craft Brew Alliance could learn from Full Sail and how it can translate love for where you’re from into love for beer.

Competitors: Deschutes Brewery The Deschutes Brewery is an Oregon grown brewery located in Bend, Ore. Gary Fish established the brewery in 1988 as the Deschutes Brewery and Public Brew House. In 2012, Deschutes Brewery came out as the fifth largest craft brewery and the twelfth largest brewery in the U.S.

Deschutes Brewery uses eight social media outlets to portray their obsession with beer and the valley it comes from. Here we have analyzed Facebook, Twitter and Instagram because they show as the most used outlets by the brewery. Deschutes Brewery has a consistent brand logo and name throughout all the social media outlets. Twitter is their most used outlet, with Instagram and Facebook behind that. Deschutes Twitter feed posts between two and eleven times per day. Facebook and Instagram show updates on an average of one post per day; however most Instagram posts always show on Twitter. Photos are a central focus of its entire social media plan. Every Facebook and Twitter post has a photo, link or video to supplement the message. Twitter and Facebook update the public about events, new beer, and the expansion of the brand nationwide. Instagram shows fun photos of the brand and people enjoying the beer, while also a few posts regarding the expansion and special events. Deschutes Brewery is a local brand, but with a fast growing reputation. Their likes on Facebook do not surpass any companies under the Craft Brew Alliance; however, Deschutes has the most Twitter and Instagram followers out of all the breweries analyzed. This is due to their success in engaging with their followers on all social media outlets. Their Twitter feed shows many RTs and mentions of their followers. Facebook shows comments on almost all posts. Instagram shows consistent likes varying between 150-900 with many comments from followers, although few from Deschutes. Deschutes most well liked Facebook post included a photo of the staff with celebrity Will Farrell after taking him on a private tour. The post attracted 2,820 likes, 137 comments and 500 shares. The amount of likes and shares shows their popularity and loyal following. Their most common retweets are from @dbwoody, the Deschutes Brewery mobile bar, and

@ccgpr, a consulting firm in Bend. All of their posts advertise new beers or exciting events going on at Deschutes. The most well liked Instagram post illustrates the sunset over Mirror Pond, a name of one of their most well known beers. The photo attracted 1,206 likes 20 comments. Deschutes shows the importance of their social media presence to its brand and development. By engaging in conversation with consumers about the business; posting photos of new label designs and asking for opinions; or simply answering questions, Deschutes has made it a priority to keep the conversation and knowledge flowing from all outlets. Their consistency with their logo, name and two-way communication contribute to the success of their social media plan that all brewers under CBA can aspire to.

Client: Omission Beer Omission Beer, brewed by Widmer Brothers Brewing, is a craft beer based out of Portland, Ore. Considered to be the first gluten-free craft beer in the United States, Omission focuses on great tasting beer with traditional ingredients, including malted barley. Omission was established in 2012. With the recent demand for gluten free products, it seemed as if Omission would take social media by storm—specifically on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, but that was not the case. Omission’s most utilized form of social media is Facebook. With over 41,000 likes, their page is considerably more popular than its gluten-free competitors. The company tends to release one photograph of their bottled beer every other day. However, Omission has no interaction with consumers via comments, shares or likes. On average, the photographs receive anywhere from 90 to 350 likes. Unlike its brother companies of the Craft Brew Alliance, Omission lacks a presence on Twitter. Specifically, they have not utilized this form of social media since January 2012. Due to their neglect of the Twitter page, there is little to no conversation happening about this company.

They have a mere 1.452 followers and have only tweeted 795 times — a staggering statistic in comparison to their competition.

Client: Kona Brewing Co. Kona Brewing Company, started by father and son team Cameron Healy and Spoon Khalsa, spread like wildfire through out the Hawaiian islands. Not soon after, the brand had become a household name and made its way to the United States. The creators wanted to create fresh, local island brews made with spirit, passion and quality. Kona Brewing continues to be headquartered right where it began, in Kailua-Kona on Hawaii's Big Island. Kona Brewing has a large following and social media presence. With 320,062 likes on Facebook, Kona soars above its competitors and brother companies. Kona tends to update their Facebook account every day, which is more than most brewing companies. With such a high number of posts, they establish themselves as a competitive and visible brand. When it comes to personality, Kona does not have one. Their posts tend to be very scripted, monotonous, and dull. They typically attach some sort of saying with their photographs, but it is very repetitive. These sayings are usually centered on cracking one open and enjoying the island life. However, they do not respond to any comments, questions, or concerns. This is an issue for Kona. Responding to consumers is how companies create customer relations and engagement. Without customer engagement, their brand loyalty decreases. It seems as if their photographs generate the most interaction. As we all know, photographs are much simpler to look at and digest than words. Especially with today’s “short- and-sweet” mentality, the less said, the better.

Client: Widmer Brothers Brewery

Widmer Brothers Brewery is a Portland, Ore. based brewery founded in 1984 by brothers Kurt and Robert H. Widmer when they decided to quit their jobs and open a brewery. In the late 1980s, Widmer Brothers Brewery gained popularity by creating the first American-style Hefeweizen in 1986 and were a part of launching the Oregon Brewer’s Festival in 1988. Today, according to followers, Widmer Brothers is the second most popular brand in social media for Craft Brewers Alliance due to a mix of their long-standing acceptance in craft brewing and frequent, but predictable posts. Widmer uses its individual social media channels in different ways. On Facebook, Widmer’s most popular channel with over 120,000 “likes”, Widmer typically focuses on advertising their wide variety of beers by posting a picture of the featured beer in warm, beer drinking environments coupled with one witty sentence. The most popular post with 901 likes is an outdoors shot of a man in a flannel, meant to signify the cold, holding a case of Brrr Seasonal Ale. The most popular posts simply go above and beyond the least popular posts of a picture of a beer with a witty sentence. Although Widmer has a large amount of likes, they are the least talked about of the three largest Craft Brew Alliance brands. Occasionally, Widmer will respond to the comments in their posts or create a post with a look inside their brewery. Widmer cleverly takes advantage of the profile photo and cover photo aspect of Facebook by using the logo of a profiled beer as the profile photo and the bottles featured on the cover photo. On Twitter, most of Widmer’s “tweets” are dedicated to interactions with their customers. In terms of posts, Instagram is Widmer’s most diverse social media channel and gets almost as many likes as their Facebook posts, despite having over 115,000 less followers and inconsistent post rates. The most frequently used word used on Widmer’s social media channels is “prost” meaning cheers in German. Although Widmer has a good amount of followers on their top three social media channels, Widmer struggles to find a balance of diverse posts through Facebook

and Twitter and a well-received Instagram by their low amount of followers. Overall, there is an identity, but there is also a lack of awareness that each channel exists across all channels. There is no consistent “W” logo between channels and no interconnectivity either.

Client: Redhoook Ale Brewery Redhook Ale Brewery is a craft brewery with headquarters in Seattle, Washington founded by Paul Shipman and Gordon Bowker in 1981. On first observation, Redhook seems to follow the same model as Widmer’s social media channels, but upon closer observation, some of the content changes. On Facebook, Redhook posts about events when they occur with the alternative being posts that increased in October of pictures of their beer in a beer-drinking environment with one witty sentence. Redhook only posted about events in August, followed by zero posts in September, and a match of Widmer style posts in October. Redhook has a profile photo and cover photo that coincide with one another with a promotion to a “‘flippin’ awesome sweepstakes.” The sweepstakes features low interactivity with a process of liking their page to enter a contest that involves flipping a virtual coin with potential prizes based on attending football games, one of them includes the Super Bowl without mentioning the name once on the main page. The two most popular posts consisted of three words or less and over 600 likes, one with a perfectly poured beer in a Redhook glass under red lights with the tagline “Well, hello sexy.” The other referenced “Game of Thrones” with the tagline “Winter’s Coming” featuring Redhook’s Winter Hook. The least popular posts consisted of its event-based posts and a post with 193 likes that associated beer with candy. Redhook has a similar voice to Widmer, but without a slogan such as “prost.” No interaction can be seen on any other channel than the sparingly used reply feature on Twitter. For having over 15,000 followers on Twitter, Redhook struggles to reach over five retweets and favorites, as their posts lack a voice that speaks to a large base of their followers. Redhook has appealing posts on Instagram, but without mention on

other channels, it only has 1,542 followers. Out of those 1,542 followers, the posts never reach over 150 likes. Across all channels, Redhook displays a consistent, identifiable Redhook logo, but there is still a missed opportunity of interconnectivity between all channels other than a hidden Instagram feed button on the Facebook page.

Conversation Analysis

When searching “Craft Brew Alliance” on Facebook, a page with 168 likes and no posts appears. However, if you search for CBA’s individual brands, the individual brewery and pubs appear, along with events with low invites and RSVPs. The most popular fan page is Widmer Brothers Brewery and Pub with a total of 2,204 likes and 24,433 Facebooks tagging themselves at the location. Although the most popular age group of each brand is 25-34, there are no prominent Facebook pages or events for CBA itself or its brands other than their main pages. Using the sentiment analysis tools SocialMention and IceRocket, it was revealed that Craft Brew Alliance was mentioned 107 times through the month of October on Twitter, with an average of 3.4 mentions per day. According to SocialMention, 98 of the tweets were neutral, while nine of the tweets were considered negative. Forty-two of the mentions came from Twitter user DenverBeerGuy, with a theme surrounding CBA’s third quarter results. The user with the second most mentions was Twitter user Neuberry S with five mentions and the rest having less than two mentions. Most of the mentions came from CBA’s 2013 third quarter results, hence the neutral mentions. A blog search for Craft Brew Alliance on IceRocket produced 10 posts. The most common theme of the blog posts was the rise of craft beers sales. Edelman’s Tweetlevel tool for CBA’s individual brands labeled Widmer, Redhook and Kona as “idea starters.” Tweetlevel considers Omission as a “curator.” Tweetlevel offers a description of the two categories to get a better understanding of what the meaning of an idea starter and curator is:

Idea Starters - this small collective of people are the creative brains behind many of the thoughts and ideas that other people talk about. Even though they may not necessarily have a large audience themselves, their insightful opinions often flow and are repeated throughout conversations long after they have left. They are typically well connected to other idea starters

(where they collaborate on thoughts) and amplifiers (who they often rely upon to spread their views). Idea starters tend to be well connected to curators and amplifiers.

Curators - this group though having a far smaller audience are perhaps one of the most influential groups. Long after the idea starters and amplifiers have left a conversation, it is the curator that maintains discussion. This niche expert collates information about a specific topic and is frequently sought after for advice about this specific area. They often take part in discussions with idea starters and are avid readers of topic-specific amplifiers.

From a consistency standpoint, it seems odd that CBA does not require its brewers to have the main social media outlets. If anything, the four companies should at least maintain a presence of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Due to the fact that all four breweries post photographs of their product almost daily, it would be a smart idea to link their Facebook with Instagram. Instagram continues to grow as a trend and more and more people are using Instagram over Facebook. Instagram would also allow the company to interact with its customers. On a basic search of Omission on Instagram, over 2,000 people have posted pictures of themselves enjoying an Omission beer in the past month. It is important to utilize this tool. CBA’s companies could do Instagram competitions, post consumers photos on Twitter and Facebook, or even release sneak peeks to their new types of beer.

Recommendations

As a company that brands itself as a family of craft brewers, Craft Brew Alliance faces the challenge of relaying its core beliefs revolving around building a trustworthy relationship with customers through four unique, independent brands. In order to make CBA better as a whole through its social media and conversations with customers, we recommend the following: Focus on common interaction with stakeholders using all social media channels.

• Post diversity, rather than using the same themes throughout social media channels.

• Develop universal hashtags that can be used to identify brands and improve interactivity (e.g., Widmer’s #Prost).

• Actively use Twitter and Instagram to create a social media presence for Omission.

• Utilize beer-centric events to generate social media interaction with consumers.

• Cross-link social media channels to improve followers, channel views or both. Most importantly, Instagram should be used as the source for pictures on Facebook and Twitter.

• Create Facebook and Twitter for CBA (e.g., Yum! Brands). This allows Craft Brew Alliance to create opportunities for communication with stakeholders.

• Remove or rebrand Omission. The brand has faced controversy by promoting themselves as a gluten-free beer, even though the Omission’s beer causes celiac complications.