We were recently invited by our friend Dan of Community Beer Works to contribute to / consider a question that beer bloggers around the country are supposed to write about. The program is called The Session, and the question is: Are breweries your friends? Or, another way of saying it – do you enjoy breweries interacting with you via social media, popping up in your feeds, or answering your rhetorical questions to the internet universe?
Dan Conley - File Photo
I can only answer this from our own experiences via our social media presence. We tend to be fairly active on a few different feeds: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Untappd, and Yelp primarily (see what we did there with those links!) We put out a lot of information, mostly about us, but also about other Buffalo/beer news as well, if it happens to be relevant. We also try our best to be responsive to any questions, comments, or issues you might have.
I don’t think breweries are very different than other forms of business. When a company launches a new product, or a restaurant prepares a new special, or a business has a big announcement, they usually like to tell people it, and that’s exactly what we do. It’s not rocket science exactly. Occasionally, we might also remind you that we’re open on a certain day, or that we have merchandise to sell, or some other slightly less exciting fact.
My guess is, you follow us because you want to know what we’re up to, or what we might have for sale, and we like telling you. Does that make us friends? Maybe more like casual acquaintances, but that’s okay too. And if you don’t like getting updates about us, then I guess you don’t need to follow us. But I think the very nature of following a business shows your interest in what they’re up to, so my guess is you follow us because you like getting this information (even if Facebook says you don’t).
The direct interaction between us and our “followers” (for lack of a better term) is a bit of a different story. If you have a question, or compliment, or even a complaint, we feel obligated to respond, and again, don’t at all mind doing so. A lot of craft beer in Buffalo is about education, and we want to provide you with knowledgeable answers about why our beer looks, smells, or tastes a certain way, or why we do things the way that we do them, etc.
Finally, we’re a fairly small and very local company, and even though we may only be acquaintances, we’re also your neighbors. More than that, we like living in this neighborhood, and heck, we like having you as neighbors. As you (hopefully) would with your neighbors, we aim to treat our neighbors with dignity and respect at all times.
And so, I’m not exactly sure we’re your friends, but that’s okay. We can still be a place you bring your friends to, and we’ll welcome you when you’re here, and I think that’s still pretty cool.
Does that answer your question, Dan?