Francesca has been promoting craft beer since 2011! Yes, you’ve read that correctly. Way before Instagram was as popular as it is today. At that time I can only imagine how much more difficult it was to help a brand grow or to “influence” and peak people’s interests in the craft beer market. Stay authentic and true to yourself and your brand and check out Francesca’s full story.
Francesca, could you introduce yourself and briefly describe your Instagram account — what’s your focus and the reason you started it?
FZ: Born in Los Angeles, raised and home-schooled by Sicilian parents from Brooklyn, New York — I’m Francesca, also known as, The Sicilian Beer Kitten, otherwise known as, The Craft Beer Instigator. That’s just what I do. My focus is to initiate Craft Beer.
We’d love to hear about how your passion for beer came about? What is it about this industry that draws you in?
FZ: It all started when I was 15 years old, I was at the park with my dad; watching his friends drink Miller High Life or Budweiser and Coors, my dad slowly reached into his Igloo cooler and pulled out a very odd-looking jug, something that 15 years old me thought was root-beer, I loved root-beer! He cracked the top and took a swig, told all of his friends to try it and they raved about this new-found beer. Naturally, I wanted to try it, I wanted to be like the adults, so, my father let me have a drink, I liked it. For those who’d like to know, that odd, stubby jug I had in my hands was Mississippi Mud Black and Tan.
What draws me in about the industry?
FZ: gosh, so much. We’ve got the art of craft beer, the pride, and dedicated individuals have for their craft, we’ve got the ever-developing styles to keep things interesting and sometimes a little controversial, the old school breweries that carry so much history to the new taprooms catering to our modern society. It’s all been really great to witness and be apart of. That said, above everything else, the community, the ability to meet really awesome people just by our appreciation of Craft Beer, I mean, it would be great if everything in life were that simple. “I like beer, you like beer, let’s go have a beer and shoot the shit.” — That’s literally how I’ve met 50% of my current friends. It’s a beautiful thing!
What led you to bring your passion for this industry on Instagram, of all available social media platforms?
FZ: I didn’t know the power of hashtags then, but I found out very quickly back in 2011, when I posted my first photo of me drinking my first Stone Brewing “Arrogant Bastard” using hashtag Craft Beer – that my photo was being shared with a lot more people that weren’t following me. I gained over 100 followers in 24 hours. I had shared this with my dad and it became sort of a fun thing for us. He’d go out to get more beer for us to try and I’d take the photos and post them Instagram. Why Instagram? Facebook was for family and more for words, not pictures — at the time. Instagram allowed you to communicate with pictures, allowed you to be artsy and just upload without having to explain what you’re doing, where you are, why you’re doing what you’re doing. If you’re on Instagram, you were just there for photos — again, at the time. Instagram was a place to find all of my beer stuff without sorting through family albums or random trips, it’s user-friendly, and that’s what I like.
Where do you think influencer marketing will be 5 years from now especially in the beer industry?
FZ: “Influencers” Everybody’s an influencer. I’m actually more passionate about this topic than I should be. When I started promoting Craft beer in 2011, there were maybe a dozen of us doing this, TheBeerWench, Ashley Routson was the original beer girl and she taught me a lot about marketing my brand and Instagram. Pictures were important, but I took a lot of time reviewing the beer, it’s notes, tastes, smells, labels, in my own humorous way. Fast forward to today, there are over 1 million Craft Beer “Influencers.” Everybody is doing it.
Now it’s harder to determine who’s real if they even like beer if they’re simply just doing this because it’s popular and everybody wants to be instafamous. That being sad, I think that the Influencer Market will crash. Permanently? I don’t think so. We’re a very advanced society who can figure out ways to break the rules. But, Instagram will launch new regulations targeting e-cigarettes and alcohol since there’s no real way to regulate a viewers age, therefore, marketing alcohol to minors will be prohibited. Since most of the “follow retailers” don’t screen or regulate the ages of their followers, I see this affecting the people who purchase their followers and likes to beat the algorithms. As a result, the new regulations Instagram plans to roll out will make it harder to market product like Craft Beer on social media.
Who influences you?
FZ: I influence me.
Great answer! Best atmosphere, mood or environment to grab a cold brew?
FZ: Gosh, there are lots of cool places to visit, it’s difficult to just pick one, but I’m going to have to say Lincoln Beer Company in Burbank, California. It’s in a CASTLE!! It’s a roomy, comfortable space, friendly bartenders who have great taste in musical playlists and they’ve got great beer. Candles lit on every table, really brings out the eyes of the sexy Abraham Lincoln mural on the wall. I can’t really ask for anything more.
What do you think your Instagram followers love most about your gram. What do you think sets you apart from all the other people in this industry?
FZ: I have a lot of long-time, loyal followers and a lot of them have made an effort to reach out to me to tell me what they like and why they’ve continued to follow me all these years. For the most part, it’s my sense of humor, I don’t take things personally, and I’m certainly not easily offended, by anything really. It is difficult to be real and not offend others, though, and remaining loyal to who I seem to have made a positive impact on my fans. I sometimes like to break the rules, even if it means I’ll lose a follower or 30.
Believe it or not, a lot of my male followers have expressed that they appreciate that I leave “something to the imagination.” One of my followers shared that “when you have a beer can between your ass-cheeks, you’re no longer promoting the beer, you’re trying to see how many likes you can get.” There’s nothing wrong with feeling cute, posting a pic because you feel sexy, even if you might delete later.
There’s nothing wrong with embracing your sexuality and I’m all for posting what you want, it is, after all, your page, if people don’t like it, they can unfollow you, but from what I hear, using Craft Beer as a crutch to do that is where you lose your audience. I won’t do that. If I am feelin’ cute and want to take a selfie, or just engage my followers with a simple hello, from time-to-time, I leave the beer out of it. I started my Instagram to promote craft beer, local independent breweries, and its’ cause; and it’s important to me to stay on track. I’m extremely grateful for the relationships I’ve made in the Craft Beer Community and while it’s not easy, I do try to reply to everyone who takes the time to follow me, support me and craft beer. It’s what makes the craft beer community so awesome. That’s all I have to say about that. <– [High-five if you read that in Forrest Gump’s voice.]
Other than the quality of the product, what makes you want to strengthen your relationship with a particular brand?
FZ: Loyalty, honesty, and good old fashioned hard work. Customer service is everything, too. All I need to see is that you’re passionate about your brand, you believe in it, and you do your best to make sure your consumer is happy… I’m f**kin’ SOLD!
Finish this sentence: “It really grinds my gears when a brand or product that is trying to establish a relationship with me…
FZ: “doesn’t follow through or do the leg-work it takes to close the deal.” Take beer reps for example, I can’t tell you how many times they’ll come into a bar to leave their business card or samples, but they don’t follow up. They don’t come back to see what was favored if they can bring you a keg or a different style. They hide behind keyboards and if their emails aren’t answered, they don’t try again. Then you have the ones who are good enough to get on tap, but once the sale was made, they don’t check back to see if you need anything, to offer new beer releases, etc. A lot of people want to make money by doing as little as possible. Again, this is just an example of personal experience and certainly isn’t the case for all beer/wine reps, but this is something that does “grind my gears.”
How often do you take a break from social media to recharge?
FZ: W’oh boy. One of my jobs is a social media manager, so I don’t really take breaks. In regards to my own beer page, I don’t post daily anymore. Since I do like to respond to as many as I can, I only post when I have some time to stick around to respond.
Let’s get personal. What are some of the most important things in your life?
FZ: Ew. Sentimental things. lol — The most important things in my life are naturally, my family, God, and my friendships. Without that, I’d be lost. Fitness is also important to me; challenging myself to be a better version than I was yesterday. As I mentioned earlier, I was home-schooled as a child, and my dad was my resource for any at-home P.E. He was into bodybuilding, mixed martial arts, kickboxing, all that cool stuff and he taught me all of it. That’s important to me, still, and continues to help me grow as a person. How we respond to pain and suffering, and how we feel surviving it defines a lot in a person. Stuff like that fires me up, excites me for the next day and makes me feel great. That’s all apart of what makes me, me.
Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
FZ: Yes. Thank you (Taste the Dram) so much for your interest in my answers and life on social media. I appreciate the opportunity to connect with more people and talk about life and beer. How you do one thing is how you do everything. Live with Passion. Cheers! -Francesca.
