Brewing Solutions5 Creative Ways for Microbreweries to Engage with Customers during the Pandemic

https://www.microbreweryindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/largest-manufacturing-beer-company.jpg

Beer connoisseurs and casual customers love microbreweries for a variety of reasons. They love to experiment with the new flavours and beer styles offered. But, what sets apart taprooms and pubs from other eateries is the camaraderie among customers.

Taprooms and beer pubs have emerged as the go-to spot for customers of all ages to unwind, relax, and socialise with friends and strangers. With the coronavirus pandemic showing no signs of receding, pubs and breweries across the country have been forced to close their businesses temporarily.

Customers are missing meeting friends and listening to their favourite local bands at their go-to microbreweries. One of the many casualties brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic is customers lose out on the social aspect of sharing a pint of beer with their friends.

As businesses adapt to the new normal, brewpubs, and taprooms across the country are finding creative ways to stay active and engage with customers. Here, in this article, we list some ideas that you can use to stay connected with your customers.

1. Host a Virtual Happy Hour

 

beer-plant-india
 

Take your Happy Hour online with Zoom or Hangouts. Hosting a virtual happy hour is an excellent way to showcase your brews with your customers. It’s highly entertaining as well as informative. You can give customers a sneak peek of what goes behind the scenes.

Several beer manufacturers in India are hosting virtual happy hours, where they discuss brew styles and flavours with customers. It helps customers feel connected to your business. It’s a great way to make people forget that they are cooped indoors. It replicates the scene in your taproom as close to the real thing as possible.

2. Rent your Taproom to Livestream Musicians

 

beer-manufacturers
 

With restaurants and pubs closed, several music bands are out of work. You can lend/rent your taproom to musicians, standup comedians, and other entertainers. Live stream the event to your customers. Based on the popularity, you can even sell tickets to the next event.

3. Conduct a Social Media Contest

 

beer-canning-manufacturer
 

With people spending more time indoors than ever before, they are looking for creative ways to relax and unwind. You can get attention from your customers by organising a social media contest.

Challenge your followers to come up with creative recipes using your brews. Or you can start a Tik-Tok challenge with your customers showing creative moves while drinking beer.

Get creative and keep your followers engaged and entertained with a social media contest.

4. Take Customers on a Virtual Brewhouse Tour

 

beer-manufacturing-company
 

Customers of all ages love to visit breweries to see how beer is made from scratch. Even if your taprooms are temporarily closed, it doesn’t mean there is no activity going on at your brewery. You will have to keep the brewhouse running to keep your yeast cultures active.

Why not let customers get a sneak peek of what happens backstage. Organise a live stream of your brewhouse and take customers on a virtual brewery tour. Just make sure that all staff engaged in the process maintain adequate social distancing and practice all proper hygienic requirements.

5. Organise a Virtual Beer Tasting Event

 

beer-manufacturers-near-me
 

Virtual events are going to be the trend for the rest of the year. You can even host a virtual tasting event. This one requires some planning. First, send out the notice for the event and ask interested customers to sign up for it.

Once customers sign up, you have to ship the beers that you’re including in the tasting event to the residence of customers. Then, during the tasting event, go live. Everyone drinks the same beer at the same time. Once everyone has sampled the brew, you can start the discussion. Customers can ask questions about beer, style, notes, flavours, etc.

Organising a virtual beer tasting event is also an excellent way for microbrewery manufacturers to get feedback from customers. You can quickly see which flavours were popular, which ones customers loved, which didn’t click, and more.

Adapt to the New Normal

The reality is that no one knows for how long the effects of the pandemic will continue. The silver lining here is that customers are willing and even eager to adapt. From trying out packaged beer to supporting local businesses, customers have stood by their favourite microbreweries during these challenging times.

Microbreweries need to think out of the box and keep customers engaged during these unusual times.

Do you know of any other creative ways to keep customers engaged while staying at home? Let us know in the comments!