Tips for Liquor Brands to Leverage Influencer Marketing

Increasingly, liquor brands are partnering with social media influencers to spread awareness and generate sales of their spirits and products. While this can be a great idea for many brands that sell alcohol and liquor, it does require strategy and planning. Before diving into a new partnership, consider Common Ground PR’s tips below:

Develop a strategy for the partnership. By using the brand’s marketing objectives and target audiences as a guide, identify the goals for the influencer partnership. What outcome must the campaign have to be considered successful? Asking some important questions can help direct the research into selecting the appropriate influencers for liquor brands.

Research influencers that fit with the brand’s aesthetic and voice. The more authentic the collaboration is between the brand and influencer, the more compelling the campaign will be. Seek out influencers that naturally have a similar look and feel to their social platforms that will fit with the established product branding. For example, if the brand is casual and colorful, don’t partner with an influencer who tends to be more serious and monochrome.

Keep it responsible. It’s important to make sure the spirit brand’s audience and the influencer’s audience align. Getting your content on the right social platform with the right person can make a difference in the success of your campaign. In addition, due to the alcohol (including wine, beer and liquor) industry being highly regulated, you’ll want to make sure most of the influencer’s audience is of legal drinking age or older. Also, ensuring that the images and the copy are appropriate and reflect moderation is crucial – it’s best to not showcase drinking games, binge drinking or consuming alcohol in inappropriate places.

Collaborate on content and ideas. A good influencer-brand partnership is a two-way street. Influencers bring a lot of ideas to the table, but not all those ideas may be perfect for your brand, so working together to develop a content calendar is key. If the spirit is meant to be consumed neat, a series of cocktail recipes may not hit the mark. Similarly, if the goal is to showcase the versatility of a spirit, then a variety of cocktail recipes and other creative uses may be the best bet. Whether it be planning a live virtual happy hour or publishing a series of recipe posts, collaboration is essential to ensure all goals are being met.

A few other things to note:

• Use the appropriate hashtags and account tags.
• Take advantage of organic holidays that lead to a celebration with liquor, such as Cinco de Mayo or St. Patrick’s Day.
• Create content that can be repurposed in a variety of ways.
• Use visual elements such as video or creative graphic treatments.

If you’re looking to develop an influencer or social media strategy for your spirit brand, Common Ground PR can help. Click here to learn more about our capabilities and contact us today.