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Bobsy wrote:I raised this issue with Ken a while back, and the short answer is that they have way too much work on their plate to take on any additional. Its not a great answer, but its understandable, I suppose.
seriously? if either ken or adrian honestly spent 5 minutes a WEEK they could easily keep the public engaged and probably help drum up business. it takes all of 10 seconds to send a tweet or snap a photo. we'd all be giddy seeing something as basic as "brewing xxxxx today!" or "more yyyy going into the tanks" or "bottles of zzzzz available at the store next week!" or "sorry, the latest batch of wwwwww has sold out". you'd keep the public in the loop about what's happening with the seasonals (and anything else you wanted to promote) for far less effort than it takes to post the occasional "seasonal xxxxxx available at the brewery" posts on here. i'd also be willing to bet that it would cut down on the overhead you have answering your phones as we all keep calling to check what is available and when to expect the newest releases.
i can understand not having time for something more intense like reworking the website and updating it on a regular basis. but something like twitter is practically a no brainer. i'm betting facebook isn't much harder. one might also argue that it's getting to the point where you need to make time for this sort of thing, whether you like it or not.
that was not supposed to come across at all rant-y, just saying how easy it can be.
Bobsy wrote:
i can understand not having time for something more intense like reworking the website and updating it on a regular basis. but something like twitter is practically a no brainer. i'm betting facebook isn't much harder. one might also argue that it's getting to the point where you need to make time for this sort of thing, whether you like it or not.
that was not supposed to come across at all rant-y, just saying how easy it can be.
That's exactly what I was thinking. I mean facebook (and I assume Twitter) are pretty much made for people with limited computer skills so it is not like you need to have an IT person to update it for you. Beau's has over 1200 fans on their facebook page, Mill Street has over 2000. Even Great Lakes has over 100. I mean if you update regularly it is a pretty easy way to get information out to your fans and build up some buzz and let people know about your product. I mean we talk on this board about how the beer sales system in Ontario hurts smaller companies. Which makes me wonder, if the small companies have access to this basically free advertising tool, why are they not taking advantage of it? I mean if it wasn't for that OCB discovery pack last year I probably would have never even heard of Black Oak.
I mean there is even at least one of the breweries from Vermont that I am a fan of, they don't even have a website, but they have a facebook page that they update at least 3-4 times a week.
I assume that it has to do with the fact that the aggregate age of the Ontario Craft Brewers is pretty high and that they don't necessarily get the same day to day exposure to social media that much of their audience gets.
I mean, if they asked nicely on their facebook page, Black Oak could probably find someone to update their website to a wordpress template which has built in twitter and facebook capabilities. For free. I bet someone would volunteer to do it. It's frustrating because their products are good and it would be easy to shape a media narrative for the company and get them exposure which would in turn increase their sales.
saints_gambit wrote:I assume that it has to do with the fact that the aggregate age of the Ontario Craft Brewers is pretty high and that they don't necessarily get the same day to day exposure to social media that much of their audience gets.
yup, i was thinking something similar. i mentioned twitter as it has the lowest barrier of entry and the simplest interface. spend 5 minutes setting it up, then all you need to do is send a text message to their number to post something. it doesn't get much easier than that - no computer even required! and if you happen to spend another 5 minutes to setup the twitpic side of things you can snap a photo with your phone and be uploading sexy photos like boiling wort and bags of hops - the sort of shit that gets us beer geeks all excited!
saints_gambit wrote:I assume that it has to do with the fact that the aggregate age of the Ontario Craft Brewers is pretty high and that they don't necessarily get the same day to day exposure to social media that much of their audience gets.
yup, i was thinking something similar. i mentioned twitter as it has the lowest barrier of entry and the simplest interface. spend 5 minutes setting it up, then all you need to do is send a text message to their number to post something. it doesn't get much easier than that - no computer even required! and if you happen to spend another 5 minutes to setup the twitpic side of things you can snap a photo with your phone and be uploading sexy photos like boiling wort and bags of hops - the sort of shit that gets us beer geeks all excited!
Hell you use facebook or twitter to throw a quaterly or even semi-yearly event at the brewery (like the seasonal release parties that Heritage does), maybe do a contest or two (give away a bit of merch) and you can actually generate some buzz and get some interest in your product from people who aren't super hardcore beer geeks (all at minimal cost).
I mean Beau's doesn't do much more than that (other than appearing at community event's and on local tv) and their following is huge.
This is the busy season for beer. We've run out of both Pale Ale & Nut Brown Ale in bottles due to a big LCBO delivery that was supposed to be completed by last Sunday but we are just finishing up today. On top of that we've been fixing a lot of our used equipment which likes to break down a lot, especially in the high heat and humidity. Another problem is trying to find parts but I won't go into any agonizing detail.
Basically we are not ready yet for Social Media. We really don't have an Anti Social Agenda, we're just swamped with too much work. We are moving towards that but everyday we've got a new crisis or something stupid to deal with. All of our twitter posts would be "Still looking for Parts"...or "Please take smaller sips, so we can get caught up"
Things like HST introduction coupled with all beer sales taxes transferring from the AGCO directly to the Ministry of Revenue (with a 4x increase in our manufacturers basic tax) take up a substantial amount of time.
We are planning on releasing some more 10 Bitter Years (no one really understands or appreciates that name!!!!) when it is ready and NOT BEFORE. When its ready we will announce it and proclaim an official "BITTER DAY", but not until then.
We're trying to do a lot with very little, and time is very critical to us.
We have installed a new bottling machine and have just got a new tank that we are installing as well (remember that we are still looking for parts!!!).
I can't commit to definite dates as to when things should happen because Murphy's Law comes out of nowhere and smacks everything out of order.
We're making progress, but its very slow and painful, so please be patient.
Probably my first tweet should be "Hiding under my desk in the fetal position & gently banging my head on the floor!!!"
Otherwise its about 90 hour weeks... and that's a small portion of why we're not on top of everything we should be...
Asst. Grain Shoveller wrote:Basically we are not ready yet for Social Media. We really don't have an Anti Social Agenda, we're just swamped with too much work. We are moving towards that but everyday we've got a new crisis or something stupid to deal with. All of our twitter posts would be "Still looking for Parts"...or "Please take smaller sips, so we can get caught up"
haha, i'm betting i'm not the only one who would enjoy that sort of thing
Asst. Grain Shoveller wrote:We are planning on releasing some more 10 Bitter Years (no one really understands or appreciates that name!!!!) when it is ready and NOT BEFORE. When its ready we will announce it and proclaim an official "BITTER DAY", but not until then.
Asst. Grain Shoveller wrote: We've run out of both Pale Ale & Nut Brown Ale in bottles due to a big LCBO delivery that was supposed to be completed by last Sunday but we are just finishing up today.
Hey Ken - I'm glad to see the Pale Ale in London LCBOs again. I grabbed a couple sixers the other day. Also, the Saison is tasting lovely at Chancey's. It'd be nice if the work wasn't so back breaking on your side, but we really enjoy what you guys are brewing. I can't wait to try some more 10 Bitter when it's ready. Here's to hoping those 90 hour work weeks can eventually turn into 40. Cheers
Cheers