BrandBastion6/7/21 6:29 AM12 min read

Social media strategies for alcohol brands

Did you know that on average, beer, wine, and liquor brands have an engagement rate of 1.53% on social media, yet the most highly engaged alcohol brands have an engagement rate of 2.85%? Since the pandemic, it’s no surprise that e-commerce saw a surge, and online alcohol purchases were no exception. Beverage e-commerce grew by 42% on social media in 2020 across the core markets. This means that brands have a huge opportunity to boost engagement and build a loyal and engaged community, leading to more conversions.

It's clear that alcohol e-commerce is thriving, which is why your brand's social media presence must also be thriving. This goes beyond just posting fun content but by forging an online social community through thoughtful communication.

4 tips to boost engagement with your alcohol brand on social:

1) Moderate the comments section

To sustain a strong brand reputation and protect your audience, your brand must ensure its online community consists of legal drinking-age consumers. Create community guidelines that clearly state who can view and share your content. Moderate the comments section to ensure that no inappropriate content is being shared in the comments section and ensure that your audience comprises adults of legal drinking age.

BrandBastion Safety can help you proactively safeguard your brand reputation and protect your online community. We hide harmful conversations on your behalf 24/7/365 and send you alerts if your brand is at risk.

Brand Spotlight: Grey Goose

BlogFeatured Images + Blog Headers (8)

Grey Goose makes following the rules fun and easy by stating in their Instagram bio, “Sip Responsibly” and “Must be legal drinking age to view/share.”

2) Respond to comments at scale and around the clock

Many alcohol brands have a strong community in the real world, but it's important (and sometimes tricky) to extend that community to the online world. One way to create an engaged community is to respond to comments at scale. I don't mean a simple "thx," but instead, a thoughtful reply addressing the consumer by name. Alcohol brands tend to have strong brand identities, and it can be fun to bring that identity to the online space by engaging in a fun, humorous, or even sarcastic tone! Your community grows when you engage them.

If your brand is having trouble responding to comments at scale across social accounts, consider BrandBastion Care. Our fully managed service helps you increase response and engagement rates by replying to your brand's comments on your behalf 24/7/365. We can issue responses on your behalf both publicly (to comments) and privately (via Facebook Messenger) to solve customer issues.

Brand Spotlight: White Claw

BlogFeatured Images + Blog Headers (7) Hard Seltzer brand, White Claw, has a large online community of white claw lovers. The brand helps engage and maintain that community by engaging with its followers and responding to them. Here, you can see a fan community comment that the brand chose to praise and engage.

3) Be creative with hashtags

It’s important to steer clear of harmful or dangerous hashtags such as #drunk or #alcoholic. These are sensitive topics and are likely surrounded by sensitive content. Steer clear of promoting underage drinking at all costs by strategizing the hashtags your brand wants to use. Consider using some of these: #mixologist #Happyhour #bartenderlife. Bartenders and bar owners always follow alcohol accounts and are always looking for new and exciting recipes. Engage them by taking advantage of the use of hashtags in the comments section.

Brand Spotlight: Bombay Sapphire

BlogFeatured Images + Blog Headers (9) Popular gin brand, Bombay Sapphire, manages to engage bartenders by using the #cocktailinspo hashtag.

4) Create stories and add them to your feed

Whether you want to add drinks recipes to your stories or ‘house rules’ to make space for a bio free from community guidelines, consider making stories and then adding them to your highlights. Consistent stories are wonderful for engagement as they fall at the top of your followers' feeds and boost your brand’s discoverability. Alcohol brands, in particular, can ask questions, post quizzes, and run polls to get followers extra involved in your brand and create community.

Brand Spotlight: Smirnoff

BlogFeatured Images + Blog Headers Smirnoff is extra creative with the use of their Instagram highlights. They have a fun and games section, a recipes section, and a hang-out from home section to get people engaged.

Can you advertise alcohol on social media?

The subject of alcohol advertising has always been a hotly debated one, especially since studies have been able to demonstrate a correlation between the advertising of alcoholic beverages and increased alcohol consumption, especially among youths who were initially non-drinkers.

In many countries, alcohol advertising on traditional media channels has been outlawed completely. In countries such as Malaysia and Thailand, alcohol advertisers get around this rule by sponsoring music and sporting events. In Sweden, alcohol advertising is banned from radio and television. However, it is still legal in print publications if the alcoholic beverage does not exceed 15% alcohol by volume, and 20% of the advertisement's surface includes warning text about the harmful effects of alcohol. In Finland, outdoor alcohol advertising is completely banned - except during large public events, during which mild alcoholic beverages may be advertised.

For drinks brands operating across regions and countries, it is always tricky staying ahead of the new laws and regulations that different countries introduce.

The growth of social media advertising introduces a whole new ballgame to the regulatory aspect of alcohol advertising. While many countries have rolled out new policies for regulating alcohol advertising online, these regulations and guidelines vary from country to country.

To help you stay ahead of the latest developments, we've put together a comprehensive list of the current or upcoming alcohol advertising regulations affecting advertising on social media and beyond.

Disclaimer: BrandBastion is not authorized to provide any legal advice on advertising regulations. The information contained in this post is meant to serve as a summary of existing regulations. If there is any doubt of the clarity of a regulation, this should be verified directly with the sources cited and linked within this article.

US - Alcohol brands can only advertise on online platforms where 71.6% of the audience is reasonably expected to be of the legal purchase age: In the USA, the industry self-regulates its own advertising. There are three major bodies promoting alcoholic beverages in the country: 1) the Wine Institute, 2) the Beer Institute, and 3) the Distilled Spirits Council. The content of each institution's code of conduct is largely similar and is voluntary. For all three, the code dictates that alcohol should not be promoted to those under legal drinking age, depict models who may be mistaken for being under legal age, or promote alcohol in a way that underage drinkers might find appealing. In the case of online promotions where it is harder to determine the age of people looking at ads, then "digital marketing communications should be placed only in media where at least 71.6% of the audience is reasonably expected to be of the legal purchase age." Read more
Canada - Strict content regulation for radio and television: Most of the regulation for alcohol advertising is focused on radio and television advertising, which is regulated under the Radio Regulations and Television Broadcasting Regulations, under the Broadcasting Act. In order to maintain a license to broadcast alcohol ads, brands must adhere to very strict content guidelines. There are no clear regulations for advertising online. However, given that television remains a big portion of alcohol marketers' budgets and given that social media creative is often reused from creative created for television, the stringent broadcasting rules also impact online advertising. Read more

UK - Advertising should not encourage excessive drinking: In June 2017, the alcohol advertising regulatory body, ASA ruled that an email sent to customers promoting a Prosecco and pizza meal set using the terms "bottomless Prosecco" and "free flowing Prosecco" was contributing to an impression that the alcohol should be consumed in excessive amounts and was in violation of the advertising code. UK's regulatory system is a co-regulatory one, in that guidelines are negotiated with government, consumer complaints are handled independently outside of courts, but all costs are borne by industry. Read more
Lithuania - No online advertising allowed at all: As of 1 January 2018, the country enforced a total ban of alcohol advertising on all forms of traditional media as well as the Internet, in an effort to curb the heavy alcohol consumption. In 2016, Lithuania was ranked as the third heaviest drinking country in the world. Read more
Sweden - Ban on commercial alcohol advertising online may come into force in the future: On 15 January 2018, a white paper was presented to the government outlining plans to restrict and regulate alcohol promotion online. The paper focuses on limiting commercial alcohol marketing (i.e. advertising of products will not be allowed), but not outlawing alcohol marketing completely (i.e. showcasing traditional brewing methods may be permitted). Read more
Finland - Brands are also responsible for user-generated content on their online properties: A ban on certain forms of alcohol marketing common in new media was implemented since 2015. This includes using games, lotteries and contests to promote alcohol. Even user-generated content must be moderated by brands with an online presence, as the ban includes "the use of textual or visual content produced by consumers or content intended to be shared by consumers". Read more
Norway - A complete ban on all alcohol advertising since 1975, enforceable by law: In 2002, Diageo was been banned from importing or selling any alcohol in Norway for six months, after breaking Norway's strict alcohol promotion laws in its marketing for Smirnoff Ice. Although drinks manufacturers are allowed to market to the trade in Norway, they are not allowed to promote their products to consumers. The country's Social and Health Directorate ruled that certain trade events for the ready-to-drink vodka mix crossed into the public arena. Read more
Other European countries - Most have strict advertising standards for radio and television, as well as portraying the use of alcohol in a way that is associated with alcohol leading to success or sexuality. However, the regulations on advertising alcohol online are not so clear cut. This, however, may soon change in the near future as regulators and consumers alike begin to realize that online advertising has a significant impact and is making up a bigger and bigger chunk of alcohol brands' marketing mix. The Irish government in 2017 has already urged its European counterparts to consider a total ban on alcohol advertising, saying that children must be protected from an industry whose “primary interest is growing its markets and maximizing profits”. Read more

Australia - Advertising should not depict adults who are under 25 years of age: In Australia, while the legal drinking age is 18, regulations state that alcohol advertising should not "depict an adult who is under 25 years of age unless they are not visually prominent or they are not a paid model or actor and are shown ... within an Age Restricted environment". On 16 April, the ABAC (Alcohol Beverage Advertising Code) Scheme upheld a complaint that Charlie's Liquor Barn were using models in its Facebook ads who were under 25 years of age. Charlie's Liquor Barn then had to remove the offending Facebook ads and brief their marketing partners to ensure they were not unknowingly using models below 25 years of age. Australia has a quasi-regulatory system for alcohol marketing: guidelines for marketing have been negotiated with government, consumer complaints are handled independently, but all costs are borne by industry. Read more
China - Advertising suggesting alcohol helps women be more sexually confident is banned: In June 2018, government media regulators have ordered broadcasters to stop showing ads promoting a sparkly beverage Sawow (3.5% ABV) with the message that drinking alcohol makes women more sexually confident, as they “misguide the development of young people.” Read more
Thailand - Taking a selfie with a beer could land you in jail: While there have been a number of regulations seeking to curb excessive drinking in Thailand, such as bars being allowed to open only until midnight and a "sin tax" on alcohol, the government has only recently started to enforce seriously the rules related to alcohol promotion listed in its 2008 Alcoholic Beverage Control. Previously, alcohol companies have skirted around the rules which ban them from promoting the consumption of alcohol by using influencers to promote their products on social media. In July 2017, according to Vogue, "police announced their intention to more closely patrol social media and charge those found breaking the law." The Nation reports that arrests were made on 31 July after three girls in revealing outfits posted a five-minute Facebook live video promoting “buy one, get one [free]” beer sale. Read more
Vietnam - Ministry of Health considering a ban on beer advertisement: According to Viet Nam News: "Advertising beer could soon be a thing of the past after the Ministry of Health proposed calling time on commercials. The plans were revealed yesterday at a conference held to come up with ideas to complete the draft law in an attempt to curb alcohol problems." The draft law also plans to restrict the times during which people are allowed to buy alcohol. Read more

South Africa - New bill to ban daytime alcohol adverts and raise the drinking age is being considered: Since early 2018, South Africa is considering the proposed Liquor Amendment Bill, which could result in a ban on alcohol advertisements on television and radio between 6am and 10pm. The bill also includes a proposal to lift the legal drinking age from 18 to 21. According to an opinion piece published in Business Day, "The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) intervention is necessary since SA is among the biggest consumers of alcohol in the world, while foetal alcohol syndrome rates are the highest globally." Read more >>
Uganda - Proposed bill attempts to crack down on advertising alcohol to pregnant mothers: In Uganda, alcohol consumption by pregnant women is widespread because of a lack of awareness among these mothers. In 2016, the government proposed a new alcohol-control bill to ban alcohol marketing and require drink manufacturers to produce warning labels. To date, alcohol advertising, sponsorship and distribution in Uganda is poorly regulated, contributing to the growing use of alcohol by pregnant women, as reported by the Global Press Journal. Read more >>

In conclusion, alcohol brands need to keep up with changing trends to ensure their advertising stays relevant. Learn more about the key trends that matter in our new report, in which we analyze over 10,300 comments from 26 recent alcohol ads on social media to understand what brands in this space can learn.

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