In today’s competitive craft beer landscape, great beer alone isn’t enough to fill taprooms and keep customers coming back. Breweries that thrive are the ones that connect with drinkers beyond the pint glass, and social media is one of the most powerful tools to do just that.
At Valley, we work closely with brewers who are passionate about quality, creativity, and community. The good news is that social media gives you a direct line to all three. When used strategically, it can drive foot traffic to your brewery, boost brand awareness, and turn followers into loyal fans.
Below, we break down how breweries can use social media to drive more traffic and maximize their marketing efforts.
Why Social Media Matters for Breweries
Beer is inherently social, and so are the platforms your customers use every day. Social media allows breweries to:
- Reach local customers where they already spend time
- Showcase new beers, ingredients, and brewing processes
- Promote taproom events and limited releases in real time
- Build a recognizable brand personality
- Drive traffic to your taproom, website, and online store
For small and mid-size breweries, especially, social media is a cost-effective way to compete with larger brands without a massive marketing budget.
Focus on the Platforms that Drive Foot Traffic
Not every social media platform needs your attention. For breweries, success isn’t about being everywhere; it’s about being visible where local customers are already looking for places to go. The most effective social media strategies focus on platforms that influence real-world decisions, such as where to meet friends, attend events, or grab a beer after work.
Instead of spreading your efforts thin, prioritize the channels your customers are engaging with the most, as this is likely to bring customers through your doors and commit to showing up consistently with relevant, high-quality content.
Best Social Media Platforms for Breweries:
- Instagram: Ideal for visuals, beer releases, behind-the-scenes brewing content, and stories
- Facebook: Great for events, business hours, menus, and local community engagement
- TikTok: Perfect for short-form, personality-driven content, and viral reach
- Untappd & Google Business Profile: Often overlooked, but critical for local discovery
Consistency matters more than platform count. Choose one or two platforms you can realistically manage and commit to regular posting. Reliable, up-to-date content builds trust, and trusted breweries get visited more often.
Highlight the People Behind the Bar
Behind every great beer is a team of people who bring it to life, and social media is the perfect place to introduce them. Highlighting the people behind the bar helps humanize your brewery, making it feel more welcoming, authentic, and approachable to both new and returning customers.
Why This Drives Traffic
People are more likely to visit a place where they feel a personal connection. When customers recognize a brewer, bartender, or taproom manager from social media, the taproom instantly feels familiar. That familiarity reduces hesitation and increases the likelihood of a visit, especially for first-time guests.
Staff-focused content also builds trust. It shows that your brewery values craftsmanship, teamwork, and culture, which resonates strongly with today’s craft beer consumers.
What to Share
You don’t need highly produced content to be effective. Simple, consistent posts work best, such as:
- Brewer and bartender spotlights
- Short bios with favorite beer styles or current taproom picks
- “Meet the Team” posts for new hires
- Behind-the-bar moments during service
- Casual Q&A features like “What beer would you recommend today?”
From an ingredient’s perspective, staff features also allow brewers to talk about what excites them, whether it’s a new hop variety, a seasonal malt, or an experimental batch, without the content feeling overly technical.
Promote Taproom Events Early and Often
One of the most direct ways social media drives foot traffic is through event promotion. Trivia nights, live music, food truck partnerships, special releases, and seasonal celebrations give customers a reason to plan a visit, but only if they know about it.
Posting once isn’t enough. Successful breweries treat event promotion as a campaign, not a single announcement.
Event Promotion Best Practices:
- Announce events at least 1-2 weeks in advance
- Create multiple posts and stories leading up to the dates
- Use countdown stickers and reminders
- Share behind-the-scenes prep content
- Post day-of reminders with clear times and location
The more often people see an event, the more likely they are to plan a visit.
Create Consistent Weekly or Monthly Content Series
Consistency is one of the most overlooked drivers of social media success, as we discussed in another blog post, which you can check out here. Creating recurring weekly or monthly content series gives your audience a reason to check in regularly and helps turn passive followers into active taproom visitors.
Why This Drives Traffic
Recurring content builds habits. When followers know that your brewery posts something specific on a certain day, it creates anticipation and encourages repeat engagement. Over time, these touchpoints influence when and how customers plan their visits.
Content series also make your marketing more efficient. Instead of reinventing the wheel each week, you have a built-in framework that keeps your social presence active and cohesive.
Over time, consistent content series help your brewery
- Stay top-of-mind with local customers
- Increase engagement without increasing effort
- Encourage repeat visits tied to specific days or releases
- Build a recognizable and dependable brand voice
When customers associate certain days or moments with your brewery, social media stops being just content and starts becoming a driver of real-world traffic.
Examples of Effective Content Series
Successful breweries often use simple, repeatable themes such as:
- New Tap Tuesday: highlighting what just hit the tap list
- Flight Friday: featuring a recommended flight or style grouping
- Staff Pick of the Week: showcasing a favorite beer behind the bar
- Monthly Release Preview: teasing upcoming beers or styles
- What’s Pouring This Weekend: encouraging visit planning
These series work because they are timely, predictable, and directly tied to in-taproom offerings.
Takeaways
Social media should be an extension of your brewery experience. At its best, social media doesn’t feel like marketing; it feels like an invitation. It should reflect the same quality, creativity, and passion that goes into your beer.
At Valley, we know that great beer starts with great ingredients. But getting people in the door starts with great storytelling. Social media gives you the platform to tell that story, showcase what makes your brewery unique, and bring more traffic to the taproom.
When used intentionally, social media isn’t just a promotional tool; it’s a growth engine.
