For many cideries, social media has become less about simply posting a can or bottle release and more about understanding who the audience actually is, where they spend time online and what kind of content makes them stop scrolling to really dig in, in the first place.
The challenge, according to several cider professionals at the 2026 CiderCon, is that too many brands still approach social media as a one-size-fits-all marketing tool instead of a testing ground for learning consumer behavior.
At Brooklyn Cider House, Project Manager Manon Gros said one of the biggest misconceptions cideries can have is believing that bigger reach automatically equals better results. While major celebrity-backed beverage campaigns can create envy across the industry, she said smaller cider brands often benefit more from targeted collaborations with niche audiences already engaged in cider, food or local travel culture.
“Maybe that’s not exactly your audience either,” Gros said when discussing high-profile influencer campaigns. “What’s really awesome about cider is obviously our community, and we have a lot of micro influencers.”
Rather than chasing mass-market exposure, Gros said the company has focused on building relationships with creators who already speak directly to cider enthusiasts or adjacent audiences. But even that strategy requires more structure than simply shipping free product and hoping content gets created.
“Sometimes just sending them a box of cider is kind of an open-ended thing,” Gros said. “They probably get tons of boxes of cider. How do they prioritize? And how do you just make sure your content gets made?”
Her solution has been creating clearer partnerships with influencers by simplifying the process. In some cases, that means compensation. In others, it means providing scripting guidance or content direction that reduces the amount of work creators have to do themselves.
“We found to script something and make it a little bit easier for them,” Gros said. “That’s just going to take that 30 minutes to film. You already tell them what they need to say.”
That philosophy ties directly into a broader strategy Brooklyn Cider House is embracing: constant experimentation. Gros said the cidery plans to run A/B tests to better understand what consumers actually respond to online, whether that is educational cider content, tasting notes, storytelling or personality-driven reviews.
Brooklyn’s Cidermaker, Richard Yi, added that too many beverage brands assume consumers care deeply about technical tasting breakdowns when many audiences simply want entertainment, authenticity or relatability.
“How often are you watching people describe a cider?” Yi said to an audience of cidermakers and cidery decision makers. “Are you really watching people talk about this and this and this out of the cider?”
Yi acknowledged that while cider professionals may enjoy romanticizing flavor descriptions, consumers often engage differently online. That realization has reinforced the importance of testing content formats instead of relying on assumptions.
“I think what’s really important is just trying different things,” Yi said. “A fail-fast mentality.”
That willingness to test and pivot has also extended into collaborations with local businesses. Yi described a partnership with a Manhattan restaurant owner that evolved naturally through an existing relationship. The collaboration included a custom label and eventually led to strong sales inside the restaurant.
But Yi stressed the bigger takeaway was not simply the product collaboration itself. It was the audience crossover that came with it.
“The sense of community is so important,” Yi said. “You end up sharing your audiences, so that’s just a great synergy.”
For cideries looking to grow digitally, several of the speakers emphasized that collaborations work best when they align with the product being promoted. Gros said brands need to think carefully about which audiences fit each tier of cider in their portfolio.
“For me, my high-end ciders, collaborating with a retail store is not going to be the right move,” Gros said. “But collaborating with maybe a smaller team, a restaurant or something, for my higher-end stuff, where they are going to be a little bit more focused on the storytelling element, right?”
That same targeting logic applies to influencer selection. Gros said cideries should resist being distracted by follower counts and instead focus on audience relevance.
“I’m going to work with an influencer that does Hudson Valley trips, food trips,” Gros said. “That would make more sense for me than someone that has a million followers that does get-ready-with-me content.”
Her comparison of social media to fishing resonated throughout the discussion.
“Sometimes you have the wrong bait, or sometimes there’s just no fish in that pond,” Gros said.
While strategy matters, the panel also cautioned against overcomplicating platform selection, especially for smaller cideries still learning where their audience naturally gathers.
Schilling Cider’s Marketing Manager for Brand Partnerships, Marina Sumrada encouraged others to start broad before narrowing focus.
“If you’re starting from zero and you’re like, how do I grow all my channels? Post your stuff everywhere,” Sumrada said.
She pointed to a previous experience managing social communities where unexpected engagement surfaced on platforms that conventional demographic assumptions would have dismissed.
“We randomly had like a 10,000-person Facebook group,” Sumrada said. “Although it did not make sense to me, it defied what I understood about social media.”
The lesson, she said, was simple: let audience behavior guide the strategy instead of relying entirely on industry “facts” about age demographics and platform trends.
“Go where your people are,” Sumrada said.
At the same time, analytics still play a critical role in refining those decisions. Adrian Luna, communications coordinator for the New York Cider Association, said cideries underutilize the audience data already available inside advertising and social media platforms.
“You have to look at analytics,” Luna said. “Use the Meta insights to your power. Check your demographic.”
Luna said that information should dictate everything from ad placement to event promotion and geographic targeting.
“That’ll tell you this event will be Instagram-heavy,” Luna said. “Or maybe I do Google instead and Geo-tag it to a 30-mile radius.”
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Even with the rise of digital marketing tools, the group repeatedly returned to one core principle: social media growth often starts in physical spaces. Gros said cideries should think beyond the phone screen and create opportunities for customers to connect digitally while already inside the taproom.
“Put your Instagram QR code in your tap room,” Gros said. “Put it around. Put it in the bathrooms.”
For cideries heading into busy seasons, especially fall, she said every touchpoint becomes an opportunity to convert visitors into long-term followers and repeat customers.
“When you’re really in an event where there’s a lot of cider drinkers, definitely try to connect yourself to that,” Gros said. “It can be kind of an exponential effect from there.”
