Getting Inventive!

Craft breweries are adapting to the social media world. They are finding new and inventive ways to use social media for marketing. The main median of advertising for craft brews is through social media and they have to adapt as customers adapt. Technology is changing all around us and social media is one of the hottest things these days. There are new things popping up every day and that means craft breweries need to be on top of it. They cannot let their competitors get ahead of them or they will be left in the dust. Here I will talk about two of the new ways that craft brews are using social media to build their brand names.

QR Codes

QR codes are starting to pop up everywhere. They are on posters, in magazines, and even on packaging. Now they are starting to put them on beers. Crabtree Brewing Company from Colorado is putting QR codes on the bottles of their beer. What happens is when someone purchases a beer they can scan the code on their phone and a video of the owner will pop up. The videos consist of telling the customer a little about the beer they are about to consume. This is a great use of QR codes. They are really getting personal with the customers. This allows customers to really know what they are drinking and what they are supposed to taste.  

 
Location Based Services

Location based service is another social media platform that is gaining a lot of attention. Craft brews are using this technology to give customers discounts and offers when they check in on foursquare or other sites at bars and restaurants that serve there beer. One of the big craft beer sites is called Untapped. It’s like foursquare, but provides beer ratings and recommendation systems. People can check in where they are and what they are drinking. This allows for others to find certain beers that they are looking for or new places to get good beers. This technology allows companies to target people in certain vicinity and allows users to share with one another.

There is always going to be new things in the social media world. The craft breweries of America need to stay on top of the new ways of how to utilize the technology. It’s by far there biggest way to advertise and for some breweries it’s there only. It’s a cheap way to reach customers and a good way to stay in contact with them. They are able to create a more personal connection with people and I believe that’s how craft breweries will start to take over the big three.