Social Media Monitoring Project: It Was the Summer of White Claw

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Introduction: 

The summer of 2019 may as well have been known as the summer of White Claw. This hard seltzer brand’s popularity skyrocketed during this time - with sales surpassing beer-giant Budweiser and even hitting a point where there was a shortage of the product. White Claw was actually created in 2016 by the Mike’s Hard Lemonade company. Spiked seltzers or hard seltzers are a low-calorie alternative to wine, beer and cocktails. This year, these types of drinks became extremely popular. But White Claw tops the charts of hard seltzer popularity with more social media followers than its competitors and more sales. White Claw is also the brand name that has become synonymous with the spiked seltzer products as the world of social media recognizes and, often, pokes fun at the phenomenon. The trick for this company and others selling this product now will be to expand their product’s popularity beyond the summer months. Recently, White Claw launched a new product called White Claw Pure that seems to be aimed toward that end. The product is an alternative to the fruity flavors that were marketed and sold throughout the summer.

Social Media Presence:

White Claw has a presence across all the popular social media channels – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Their largest account is on Facebook where they have more than 132,000 followers. This is followed closely by YouTube and Instagram, where they have another 131,000 and 116,000 followers respectively. Their Twitter account has 23,000 followers.

Interestingly, you see the most interaction between the brand and its customers on Twitter. There, White Claw retweets and responds to many of its fans tweets. They also have some more fun and whimsical posts on Twitter that feed in to the humor expressed by many of their fans.

The rest of their social media channels use largely pre-packaged marketing content. There are sleek black and white photos with colored cans and quick video clips. Some include men and women holding the can or doing something at the beach. They post only every couple of weeks on their channels (with the exception of Twitter).



Analytics:

As we can see from examining Google Trends, White Claw saw a steady growth in popularity this summer.



We can compare this growth with competing brand, Truly. Clearly, this type of drink became more popular this summer. But it is also clear that White Claw was the brand most synonymous with hard seltzer.



Recent analytics show a spike in attention on the brand again around Sept. 6 and 7 when it was announced that there was a shortage of White Claw. The widespread news coverage clearly brought attention to the brand.



On Oct. 6, White Claw announced their new product: White Claw Pure. Based on a Social Bakers analysis, we do see some growth in the brand’s followers after this announcement.


Target audience: 

 While many have accused the brand of being the drink of choice for "basic" white girls, the appeal for the product seems to be much more broad than that. This type of beverage obviously taps in to the "diet" beverage market. The New York Times credits White Claw's success with "marketing to a post-gender world." If you look at their marketing materials, it is true that White Claw shows both genders and certainly doesn't only seem to encourage female customers. There's also been some acknowledgement that all of the attention the brand has received has led to more men drinking the White Claws -- even if only ironically. As one guy is quoted in the New York Times as saying:
“I feel like meme culture is really ironic in the way that it is in the first place. It’s funny almost. It’s funny to drink them. We’re not seriously fist bumping for White Claw. We just tried it and it’s good, so what else should we drink? I don’t want to be a beer snob.”
SWOT Analysis:

Strengths: White Claw already has a huge, energized fan base and a high brand name recognition. There are so many people already talking (and joking and raving) about White Claw. Comedian Trevor Wallace posted a viral video about White Claw.



White Claw memes and hashtags flooded social media this summer. Some are making fun of the brand’s enthusiasts, but some are also positive about how obsessed people are with the product.























All of this has led to White Claw being synonymous with hard seltzer, which is obviously a huge strength for the brand.


Weaknesses: While there are so many energized fans talking about this product in the groundswell, there’s very little response or interaction coming from the brand itself. The polished photos posted on Facebook and Instagram illicit some comments, but there’s no response or support from the brand. On Twitter, the brand is a bit more active and has taken advantage of some of the social media activity by White Claw enthusiasts. But overall, their lack of connection with fans on social media is a weakness.

Opportunities: White Claw has a large and energized following. The brand does market itself well as a low-calorie, easy drinking beverage that fits with a number of diet plans. The company could expand in the diet market and keep its gender-neutral marketing. Interacting more on social media with their brand ambassadors has the potential to strengthen brand loyalty, as well.

Threats: Everyone is trying to figure out if hard seltzers have a place in the market year-round or whether they are just a summer drink. Looking at the Google Trends heading into fall, the brand seems to be waning. The biggest threat may be that come next summer people will have forgotten about White Claw and moved onto the next thing.

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