OnTap Magazine

L et me just have a sip and shed some light on how I came to be the one writing this article. On Christmas Day, 2017, I was gifted “The League of Beers” box by my wife. I was blissfully unaware that these beers were produced in South Africa and I posted my first pic a few days later (28 December) to show my friends and family and thus my first post was posted under the handle @byrondasiren. This set me off on a journey that I never in a million years would have imagined! Today, as @thebeerbruh I have over 2.5k followers on Instagram, over 1.2k followers on Facebook, over 2.5k followers on Tik-Tok, I have a YouTube channel and my own website, www.thebeerbruh.co.za. I’ve meet some amazing people over the years and even got to brew my first commercial beer in 2022. All this from one picture I posted in 2017. Social Media sat at the heart of it all. Social Media builds a contact database, drives traffic to your website, assists customers and helps build and protect your brand reputation. Let’s also be clear that social media should not be replacing your newsletters sent via email, events or even PR. This can be seen to augment all other channels to explore. Social media has the uncanny ability to bring products/services directly to the customer. It can be the most important tool you use to connect with your audience and today, many millennials will only buy from brands that they follow on social media. Take your product to the customer via social media, because waiting for them is no longer the order of the day. Social Media has exploded over the past decade and here are the platforms you need to be on. Has over 2.5 billion users. The reality is, however, that it is declining but the advertising tools have proven to be very effective and you have access to analytics. Products and services can be sold as well as advertising your brand through a variety of available content. You can also build a fantastic community of Facebook groups. With over 1 billion followers and growing, here the use of Insta Stories is highly effective and it disappears after 24 hours. This promotes better engagement than that of Facebook. This is due to that fact that Instagram was built to be a more mobile friendly platform than Facebook. Instagram also has a 10 times higher engagement rate than Facebook. This can be utilised to connect with like-minded people in your industry and also profile your business. Has over 400 million followers and growing daily as this fast-paced application has become highly addictive to some. Many spend a minimum of 50 minutes at a time on this app. There are also many ways to advertise your business. YouTube does offer a broader reach for business, however if you want to create brand awareness or appeal to a younger crowd Tik-Tok would be the site to do so. There are over 500 million tweets sent everyday on this platform and it has been found to be highly effective with customers showingboth appreciation anddissatisfaction. This platform cannot be ignored and is often seen as not being as visually appealing as Facebook and Instagram. Twitter can be utilised to increase brand recognition. It’s also a way to promote your website and drive clients to your sites. Create a board to link to your products or drive customers to your website. FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM LINKEDIN TIK-TOK TWITTER PINTEREST Around 500 hours of content is added every minute (yes, let that sink in a bit) and considered the alternative to TV these days. It is the second highest search engine after Google. This site can be used to develop interesting stories and educational information. YouTube makes provision for longer in-depth content compared to Tik-Tok which only has a maximum of 3 minutes per post. YOUTUBE How do you start you may ask… Create a profile on Facebook (This can be linked to Instagram as well). Keep in mind that you should have a logo, some sort of information about your business and most importantly a plan to create content consistency. In my case I invited friends and family at first, who in turn shared my content and slowly grew my following. I also followed content creators in the same field and all the social media present breweries in South Africa. The initial ground work is essential and it will take lots of time and effort. Facebook and Instagram are ideal platforms on which to get started. When creating content, you want to ensure that it is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely; SMART . Content can also align your social strategy to your business objectives. Integrate your social media and never forget to follow your audience and the platforms they use. • Presence is key and you grow your following alongside your business. • Working harder initially will save you in the long run. • Organic content does not require expensive tools. A smart phone and tripod with a ring light will go a long way. • Engage with your audience, be it positive or negative feedback. • Social media can supply you with new revenue streams cost effectively and efficiently. Cheaper than traditional advertising while reaching many, this is the future. • Theplayingfield is level when it comes to social media with opportunities being endless. Start-ups can battle big industry on these platforms. Use this tool to its maximum potential. Keynotes ontapmag.co.za | Autumn 2023 | 33