Aitch takes a closer look at cider…
It’s an interesting time for cider. The category is buoyant and investment is high. You only need to look at Bulmer’s follower growth on Twitter, from 10,000 to over 30,000 since May, to see that Social Media budgets are benefiting from this sweet success.
But of the top 5 cider brands, who’s really doing it well? We peal back the Twitter layers on Bulmers, Magners, Stowford Press, Thatchers and Strongbow – to reveal some interesting insights.
September on Twitter for cider
Bulmers is outgunning the rest for follower growth and overall engagement (gross retweets, replies, favourites), but if we look at the metrics relatively (ie., per 1000 followers) for September, Magners is doing its best to prove that size isn’t everything. Its post frequency and relative metrics (calculated per ‘000 followers to create a level playing field for comparison) are all higher than Bulmers, suggesting its working both smarter and harder in an attempt to stay with the biggest spending brand in the sector.
Strongbow is interesting for slightly different reasons. It has the highest “relative” favourite metrics across the board by some considerable distance and acquits itself well in other areas, but with only 15 posts compared with Magners 161 over the same period, its issue seems to be committing to the Channel. The audience appetite is there, but unfortunately Strongbow is not, a large part of the time.
And speaking of “being there” Stowford Press and in particular Thatchers both have exciting opportunities for improvement. Despite viable community sizes (12621 and 8681 followers respectively) neither profile managed to average even a couple of posts a day in September and their commitment to the Channel, possibly in the face of Bulmers’ very public display of strength, is questionable. This is exemplified by the level of activity visible over the weekends.
A typical September weekend for cider brands on Twitter
Whilst Stowford Press making fleeting appearances out of hours, only Magners and Bulmers really take one of Twitter’s peak periods seriously. Size is great, but since October 2013 size can be bought. Best practice, being there and committing to engagement – the actions that create advocacy – are however, are available for considerably less.
Strongbow, Stowford Press and Thatchers should take a leaf out of Magners’ book and realise it’s STILL not just size that matters.