5 Benefits of Influencer Marketing For Alcohol Brands

Alcohol brands have many restrictions to follow online and in person. Rightfully so, this can make it tricky to share the vision they want and evoke the emotions they hoped to within an audience. Influencer marketing has offered a new avenue for promoting alcohol brands across social media in a more casual way.

This article breaks down the following five benefits of influencer marketing for alcohol brands:

1. Effectiveness of Lifestyle Imagery

2. Influencers Have More Freedom

3. People Drink With their Eyes

4. Building Brand Trust

5. “Drinkstagrammers” Host Niche Markets

Lifestyle Imagery

Quite a few strict rules are surrounding the promotion of alcohol in digital marketing. You can’t have people in the ads drinking alcohol or participating in excessive drinking. The regulations can make it difficult for alcohol brands to showcase the taste and experience of partaking in their beverage, therefore they have to get more creative. Cue the influencers.

Through influencers, it is possible to show lifestyle content where alcohol is integrated into images and made to fit an aesthetic and feeling. Contracting influencers allows an alcohol brand to get exposure more genuinely and casually.

Influencers Have More Freedom Than The Brand

Legally, alcohol brands are not allowed to provide retailers with promotions of their alcohol at on-premise locations or events sponsored by the brand. Influencer’s, however, can be brand ambassadors that share content about a specific alcohol brand and promote a lifestyle that consumers associate with that particular alcohol brand. There is more freedom when you put a personality in front of the brand.

Guinness worked with chef creator @clodagh_mckenna on a St.Patrick’s Day collaboration to promote their beer in a fun way that paired it with delicious meals and snacks. They harnessed her following of nearly 90 thousand followers by connecting to her audience in a way that celebrated their love for food. It was authentic and engaging for both parties.

People Drink With their Eyes

Yes, people drink with their eyes in two ways. One, if they see someone they look up to enjoying a specific drink, chances are they’ll want to try it too. Two, pretty cocktails make us want them. The more beautiful looking the drink, the more interested audiences are. Influencers create a want just by showcasing specialty drinks. Images are more impactful than the written word, and when it comes to drinks, seeing a high-quality photo of a beverage is the same as seeing a juicy steak (or mushroom burger). You weren’t hungry before, but now you NEED it.

Building Brand Trust

Alcohol is a tricky area to get conversions because many people have their favourite spirit or cocktail and stick to it. Hearing from an alcohol brand that their liquor is the best because "x,y, and z" isn't necessarily reason enough to try it. However, hearing a positive review from a friend or trusted source can convince a long time gin lover to partake in a caesar cocktail. Influencer marketing is the way in for alcohol brands, looking to sell more bottles and create an engaged community of fans.

Influencers speak for your brand and can attest to the quality and taste of alcohol. It's far easier to jump into a lake once someone else has gone first, and that's what an influencer does; they jump first. Because they have an already committed group of listeners, they have a relationship of trust built between them, and your alcohol brand will get to benefit from that trust.

"Drinkstagrammers" Host Niche Markets

What are drinkstagrammers? These are drink/cocktail hobbyists that enjoy mixing tasty alcoholic beverages and posting them onto their feeds to share with the world. They often have a niche market of cocktail or beverage enthusiasts. Like with regular influencers, they have a specific interest audience market that your alcohol brand can reach if you connect with the particular drinkstagrammer to produce a collaboration.

@garnish_girl is a cocktail blogger who has over 20 thousand followers on Instagram. She collaborates with Tapster and restaurants, all while making her fantastic cocktails, like the ones featured below.

It's essential to keep in mind that if you're advertising alcohol on social media, the messaging should instruct that promoted alcohol is not for users under the legal purchasing age. Any forwardable content should have instructions not to forward the media to people below the legal purchase age of alcohol.

To find out more about how to get in touch with influencers for your alcohol brand, feel free to contact our team at hello@blitzmarketing.co.