Social Media Monitoring Project Part 1: Trillium Brewing Company

Introduction:

In 2018, beer consumption in the United States looks a lot different than it did five years ago, and the differences are even more drastic the further back you go. For years, the market was dominated by light, cheap, and low alcohol content beers, with advertisements for them being shown during every commercial break, making them the standard in homes, bars, restaurants, colleges, etc. across the country. Although these types of beer still dominate the market, more and more people are discovering and drinking what is known as craft beer. The small scale breweries producing these more flavorful beverages have existed since the first eight opened in the 1980's,and the numbers have increased exponentially since then, with over 6,000 operating in 2018.

Not only are people switching to craft beers for their distinct taste, but also as a way to stand up against the massive corporate alcohol industry, by supporting local, independently run businesses. In addition to this, the craft beer community has become one full of collaboration, with multiple breweries coming together to release exclusive limited releases. This is the polar opposite of the hyper-competitive light beer market, where it seems profit is the only goal. Could you ever imagine Budweiser teaming up with Miller, or how about a Coors and Michelob crossover? 

These collaborations, among other limited/small batch releases have become sort of collectors items for craft beer enthusiasts around the globe, all of whom seem to be determined to taste the entirety of the beers present on Beer Advocate's top rated list. Some of the most sought after, and difficult to obtain beers are those brewed by Alchemist(VT), and Treehouse(MA), and people resort to online bartering, and trading on various online platforms in an attempt to get their hands on even just a four pack. 

Another company who has exploded onto the scene(and a Byrne family favorite), with twenty beers on the top 250 list, is Boston's own Trillium Brewing Company Founded in 2013 by JC and Esther Tetreault, the company specializes in beer that is both "approachable and engaging" with an attempt to use local ingredients as much as possible. Disregarding the ten mile proximity to my hometown, Trillium has always seemed like a much more accessible company than some of the other big name micro-breweries. Instead of creating hype through exclusivity, they are actively trying to increase their production to make their beer available to as many people as possible, and coming across as real people, instead of just a business. This project will analyze their social media presence to determine how approachable/accessible they really are. 

Social Media Presence:

As seen above, Trillium has a relatively strong following on various social media platforms, especially when compared to other similar sized breweries. What is more important to note is how active they are on both Instagram and Twitter, with over 2,000 posts, and 16 thousands tweets respectively, and also it should be noted that they have "liked" over 25 thousand Tweets, showing how they are interacting with the groundswell in some other way than just telling them information. Now, we will look at each of these platforms in greater detail.

Facebook:

Trillium's Facebook page primarily serves as a platform for the brewery to tell their customers about new products/events/promotions, as well as keeping them updated on the quantities left of particular releases. In the following screenshots, we can see Trillium announcing a new beer, then on the day of release, letting people know how many remain in both of their locations.

This release, and their other releases only really consist of Trillium posting and not interacting with the groundswell after that. On the initial post there was nearly 400 likes, and 100 comments (mostly people tagging friends) with not a single one being "liked" by the company. They replied to one comment with a link to a video, but nothing else. These kinds of posts may be more than many companies ever do, but they could easily be more interactive with a simple click of a "like" button.

Twitter:

Their Twitter account serves a very similar purpose as their Facebook page, focusing on keeping the groundswell informed. They also retweet many retweets that mention them, but these are mostly from bars/restaurants that are serving their beer. What really separates their Twitter from their Facebook is the fact that they actually answer questions, and "like"  tweets that mention them, really making the groundswell feel included. Even if they do not reply to a tweet, it still appears that they at least "like" every single mention that they get, which may be simple, but still says a lot. 

Instagram:

The first thing that sticks out about Trillium's Instagram account is that although the handle is @trilliumbrewing they still chose to keep the display name as JC Tetreault. This small decision helps add a sense of personality to the account, and instead of looking at photos courtesy of the company, you feel as if you are looking at photos courtesy of one of the founders, even if that is not the case. Because of the nature of the platform, their Instagram account takes on a much more photograph based approach, but still has the main goal of promoting new products. From a distance, the page is extremely aesthetically pleasing, and when looked at further, each photo is well composed, and purposeful. In terms of interacting with the groundswell, their Instagram page finds a middle ground between their Facebook and Twitter feeds where they are not as one-way as the former and not as interactive

as the latter.

    

On all three of these platforms, I was unable to find any overwhelmingly negative reactions to their posts, only people upset about missing out on a release. No one has criticized their lack of replies on Facebook which makes me wonder if they are communicating with the groundswell through private messages(Facebook says they usually respond within a day). It makes sense that their Instagram account is their most popular, due to the fact that it is the most used platform by their target demographic. They are trying to appeal to the 24-32 year old range who consider themselves "beer enthusiasts" and like to share photos of beer with their friends. Overall they do a fairly good job at energizing the groundswell and it can be seen through the vast amount of positive reviews they have received as a company, and the fact that people are trying their hardest to get their products.

Analytics:

Now it is time to look at some quantitative data regarding Trillium and their different beers. To do so I will use Google Trends, and Social Mention to research discussion of the brand as a whole and more specifically their recent Pow Pow release. 

Google Trends:

From this screenshot, we can see that in the past 90 days, Trillium has seen immense fluctuation with some very high peaks, and some very low valleys. It is safe to assume that these peaks coincide with various different releases, and the valleys are during periods with no new products. The highest point comes at February 20th which is the day that their Pow Pow beer was announced. The second highest came in November and seems to line up with the release of their limited cranberry infused beer, which seemed to be a hit around Thanksgiving time. 

This graph is pretty self explanatory in the way that Pow Pow had no discussion, then got announced, built hype, peaked, and dropped off once everyone got, or didn't get theirs. It is interesting to see that small peak earlier in December, so I attempted to look back and was unsuccessful in finding anything.

Social Mention:

The image on the left shows a basic search of "Trillium Brewing", and the right is "Trillium Pow Pow". I am honestly surprised to see these low numbers, especially after seeing how active they are on Twitter, and how it appeared that many people were talking about them. It makes sense that most of the mentions are neutral because many of the posts are simply talking about a new release, as opposed to discussing the quality of said release, but it is also good that the small amount of positives do outnumber the negatives. 

Reading Response #2

How many times have you ranted and raved to your friends about a fantastic new product that you just bought? Or even worse,how many hours have you spent cursing out your new purchase that has not met your expectations? Although this may not seem like anything too significant, word of mouth is an incredibly cheap and effective way of marketing, that can really make a difference in someones buying decisions. It makes sense though, who are you more likely to trust, a paid advertisement or a recommendation from one of your friends? Because of this, Li and Bernoff even state that ""word of mouth marketing is the most honest form of marketing"(Groundswell).

In 2018, word-of-mouth marketing may be more powerful than ever before, with so many online platforms available for the discussion of products,services,etc. To get the groundswell talking, Li and Bernoff propose that they must be "energized", meaning they must get them hyped up so they actually want to supply this feedback. There are three basic techniques for energizing the groundswell, and they are ratings and reviews, creating a community, an ambassador programs. Ratings and reviews are extremely useful because they can immediately show a potential customer information before they buy something. This not only can help influence buying decisions, but also can show companies where they needed to make changes. It is important to note that not all reviews are real! Companies have been exposed for hiring people to write reviews, so proceed with caution. Tell me, does this look like a real movie review to you?

Growing up, I was a member of a relatively small online community called the EMB. This was a message board made by the skateboard shoe company Emerica, and I was an active participant for probably too long. The conversations generally focused on skateboarding(duh), with tons of discussion related to shoes(duh x2). The  thing is we were always talking about other brands as well. what we liked better in them than Emerica, what we thought they were doing better etc. Not only this, but employees of the company were participants in the community, so they were able to get both positive, and negative feedback on their products, as well as letting us know about new shoes or promotions. The coolest part about this whole thing, is they even let use help design a colorway of a shoe! Even though I barely missed out on being on the insole, my thirteen year old self was still very excited. This was one of the first times I ever witnessed a company interacting with the groundswell, and it has made me have a great deal of respect for them as a brand.

Are you a member of any online communities like this? If so, have you seen the brand take any action as a result of your discussions?

Elon Musk Is At It Again

For those unfamiliar with one of the most powerful minds on the planet, it might be time to start paying attention. Although he has been making major moves since the 1990's, Elon Musk has seemed to fly to the forefront of everyone's radars over the past 5 years, and for good reason. The 46 year old South African native has continued to push the boundaries of what was thought to be possible for electric cars and space travel, among a myriad other seemingly science fiction technologies.

This past week, Musk has once again made huge waves, this time during a test flight of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket. The launch itself was a success, sending the most powerful rocket in operation blasting through the atmosphere. As amazing as a feat it may have been, the SpaceX CEO proceeded to one-up himself, in a stunt to help promote one of his other brands, Tesla Motors.

After the the launch shown above, Musk surprised everybody when instead of seeing the typical hunk of metal used in test launches,we saw his personal cherry red Tesla roadster, being "driven" by a mannequin outfitted in a SpaceX jumpsuit. The car will continue its journey by orbiting around the sun, eventually venturing as far away as Mars

Even though Tesla's marketing strategy has been continuously praised for its innovation and success(they claim to spend $0 annually on marketing/advertising) this is like nothing we have ever seen before. The space car demonstrates an expert case of cross brand promotion, as well as viral marketing that seems to have everybody talking about it. Not only were there large scale discussions on multiple social media platforms, but Musk supplied a livestream of Starman, and is even being tracked by NASA. Elon Musk may have claimed the car idea was just something silly, but it has received grand praise, and even seen as something that will be remembered forever, especially if the car does stay in space for billions of years. 

With all this being said, and with how much I am in awe of his technological breakthroughs, I am still heavily conflicted on Elon Musk. Between his previous ties with trump, the union busting at his Tesla factory, and his weird interest in flamethrowers, it is tough to pinpoint what he truly is trying to accomplish. Thoughts?

Reading Response #1

Li and Bernoff's book serves as a solid introduction into the concept of the groundswell, establishing what it is, and offering specific examples of it in action. They define it as, "a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather from traditional institutions like corporations". For quite some time, companies were spreading their messages through finely sculpted advertisements, where every little detail was strategically chosen.Today, in Web 2.0, the power has shifted to the public, who are now responsible for determining the perception of a brand.

Public opinion has always played a significant role in how businesses conduct themselves,and how successful they are, but as technology continues to advance, we are now given full access to people's opinions across the globe. This holds businesses accountable, who now have no excuse when it comes to accommodating the needs of the customer, or giving the masses what they want. Before Web 2.0, if you did/didn't like a product or company, you could tell your friends, and that would probably be the end of it. In 2018, your opinion is something that can now be seen by everyone, and can lead to actual results. 

Reading about groundswell reminds me of how anti-internet many of the older people in my life were. I would see constant criticism that spending a bunch of time online was "anti-social", or that it was not teaching how to interact with others. What Li and Bernoff do is completely destroy that notion, and discuss how technology encourages collaboration, and that the internet can be used as a strong tool for connecting with others. What is interesting about this connecting/collaborating is the fact that everyone involved is significant in their own way. One does not have to be a creator to contribute to a dialogue, and even if you are only a spectator you are still supplying a form of digital capital, in the form of views.