Thanks for coming back and reading the 5th edition of my Beer Blogs.
I referred to Untappd and Instagram in an earlier Blog and would like to expand on my experience and evolution with regards to Social Media.
As per the above screenshot, my Instagram “Handle” is @robertdrinksbeer (Robert Drinks Beer). Yes, I know, not the most professional user name, but this is not a professional page, this is my personal page which reflects my interests and hobbies outside of work and volunteering. I make sure that most of my colleagues, co-volunteers and board members are aware of my interests, simply so they are not caught off guard by the unusual user name if they stumble across my account. I also use Untappd but not as faithfully yet. My handle on this platform is very similar, Robert Drinks-Beer.
Once I reached the 500th unique beer I was struggling to find new ones to try and to add on to my list by simply searching Google (mind you Google is a great way too). I was introduced to Instagram in July of 2015 by a friend and he actually explained to me that your handle on this type of social media venue needs to reflect you and what you want to follow. Basically Instagram is a very good tool to connect with and follow individuals who have similar interests. So with that advise, he suggested very simply, RobertDrinksBeer, and that’s when this hobby really kicked off..!
So there I was, July 2015 and running out of new craft beer to try yet still thirsty for more (pun intended). I had just joined Instagram and found it quite easy to find other beer fans and by following them all over the world I was quickly being introduced to new brews on a daily basis and the more people I followed, the more new beer I was finding. It got to the point where if you had enough accounts to follow you could see a new beer every time you checked your newsfeed. It took a while to start getting followers of my own but after a few tips from other much more successful Instagrammers like using Hashtags (#craftbeer) and tagging breweries and other followers, I slowly started to get more followers, comments and interaction. Regardless of what you are passionate about, Instagram is a really cool way to connect with other individuals and groups who have similar interests. I try to follow most of the people who follow me but I do try to stick to those who have the same interests as me.
I have two real reasons for sharing this part of the evolution in my journey. One, to fill you in on one of the important things that helped enhance and change the future of my journey, and two, to encourage you to join these type of social media communities, and maybe in the process, you can follow me as well…
Cheers!
As always, thanks for reading!
Stay tuned for Vol. 6 of my Beverage Evolution…
Robert E. Kimball – (AKA @RobertDrinksBeer)
