Social-media influencers are a charged topic in the beer industry, with vocal critics as well as proponents. Before wading into the debate, it’s useful to clarify what an “influencer” is. For some, it conjures images of reality TV stars hawking cosmetics on YouTube. However, marketing experts describe influencers as a broad category, encompassing anyone from a local beer blogger to a nationally recognized bartender with a popular Instagram channel.
“Influencer marketing is really just a new title for something that’s existed forever, which is word-of-mouth marketing and expert recommendations,” says Evy Lyons, chief marketing officer at Traackr. Her company provides a software platform that helps companies manage their marketing work with influencers.
Social media has extended people’s spheres of friends and acquaintances, Lyons says, taking word-of-mouth to larger and larger scales. “An influencer is somebody who is an expert, who is passionate about a topic, and who has an audience.”