On Instagram ‘sheknowsbeer’ – and wants brewers to know it

Most people see Instagram as a way to share photos and videos with friends and family.

Ava Palmquist and Steve Cross do, as well.

But Palmquist and Cross have mined the social media platform for more than snapshots. Through their Vancouver creative agency, called Ambient, the duo have created an Instagram account solely to establish their credentials in the craft beer industry and earn creative work from craft beer producers. The endeavor still rates as an experiment to supplement the agency’s bread-and-butter accounts, but early indications show the Instagram approach may be working.

The combination of tiny pictures, hashtag algorithms and other features have made Instagram an ideal host to introduce Ambient to the craft beer industry. Instagram reflects a frenetic society, Cross says, and it’s a better choice than any other social media platforms.

“Our attention spans have gotten to this,” he says. “People scroll. They just scroll super fast. And they see a picture, it’ll stop them and then they may read the caption.

“But the content — the photograph — has to be good. So that’s what stops them. That’s what puts the brakes on a little bit.”

Palmquist and Cross trace their formative work years to the real estate industry. Palmquist worked in sales. Cross prepared mortgages. The Great Recession and the real estate downturn knocked Palmquist out of the job market. Those same factors prompted Cross to reconsider his career path and to dabble in brand design and marketing starting in 2009.

Starting in 2010, Cross worked in marketing for a hospice and home health company. In 2012, he entered the creative business full time, devoting even more attention to the company he’d already called Ambient, choosing the name because it appealed to his musician side.

Palmquist joined the company in 2015 as a project manager, tapping a friend — Cross’ wife — to help her land the job. The agency eventually grew to six employees before scaling back to Palmquist and Cross last year for cost-cutting reasons.

They have done or continue to do creative branding work for three of downtown Vancouver’s better known companies — LSW Architects, United Grain and DiscoverOrg.

A dry erase board in their postage stamp-sized office is packed with tasks needed for their primary clients. But their pursuit of a place in craft beer marketing — through Instagram — is never far away.

They launched the Instagram account Aug. 1, just a day after they had formally become co-owners of Ambient.

They’d decided to target clients in the spirits, wine and beer industry, having been inspired by project work for Windy Hills Winery of Ridgefield.

But they believed a more imaginative approach to generating new business was needed than making cold calls, especially when they knew virtually no one in those industries. The Instagram “sheknowsbeer” was born. More on that name in a moment.

They vowed to be consistent: At least two posts a day, no matter what. And they’d insist on quality photographs that they’d shoot themselves. The early aim was to photograph a craft beer in the most flattering light possible and post it along with information about the beer and brewery. With deep respect for the power of social media algorithms, they’d pack the post with the most effective hashtags possible. And they would diligently respond to any viewer who submitted comments.

In so doing, they hoped to attract the featured brewery’s attention as well as build a community of beer lovers who tracked this sort of information on Instagram and other social media platforms.

“About a year ago we were like, ‘OK, how do we grow our portfolio in these industries? How do we make connections?’ ” Palmquist said.

Cross agreed.

“Very few people are going to want to have you as a vendor or somebody who’s supporting them if you just randomly cold call them,” he said.

In addition to crafting the Instagram campaign, Cross also created liquor, wine and beer ads and branding on spec — something to show prospective clients in addition to the Windy Hills work.

As the Instagram account was launched, they also decided that Palmquist would be the voice and face of the site.

While several photos displayed a brewer’s bottle, can or glass or beer in an artful setting, just as many or more showed Palmquist interacting with the product.

The agency duo credit themselves for not having Palmquist, a married Portland resident with two young children, show skin — a common component of other woman-led, beer-themed Instagram accounts. But they both acknowledge they calculated that most viewers would rather see Palmquist than Cross with a beer in hand.

And while their research shows the bulk of their audience — they elevated to the 8,000 Instagram followers plateau last week — is men, they say they are actively trying to court a beer-loving, female audience.

“I was always complaining to Steve that I find it really odd that the beer industry isn’t marketing to me,” Palmquist said. “I’m over 40, I’m a working professional, I’m a mother and I’m a beer drinker and I know lots of women like me.”

The first week of January, sheknowsbeer added “Talk + Beer” as a weekly live Instagram video feature. The half-hour program typically features Palmquist chatting about beer, commenting about quirky news events, then often talking on a split screen with another beer enthusiast in another part of the world. (They were planning last week to interview a Costa Rica-based brewer.) But sometimes they’ll visit brewers in the Northwest. And Palmquist will drink a beer. The entire time, Palmquist and Cross keep a close eye on the Instagram handle of users who tune in — about 300 people did during a recent live broadcast — often offering a personal greeting to that viewer.

The personal touch is deliberate, Cross said. Not only do they want to grow the number of Instagram followers, they also want metrics that reflect their audience interaction, figuring that data point will resonate with potential clients.

They look forward to eventually gaining 10,000 followers, a milestone for the Facebook-owned app. Once that number is crossed, a verified user can add a swipe-up link — usually distinguished by a delta arrow at the bottom of a photo and the words “swipe up for details” — allowing an Instagram photo to lead a visitor to a story, a website or another link.

But Ambient’s primary purpose for launching the Instagram campaign has been to attract clients. On that score, they have done projects for Brothers Cascadia Brewing in Hazel Dell and are redesigning a website for Stickmen Brewing Company, which has pubs in the Portland suburbs of Lake Oswego and Tualatin.

Cross said they’re offering to do work for beer clients at about half the price of what they would charge typical clients for creating a website or designing branding materials. He and Palmquist declined to divulge revenue figures for their company.

Independent brewers may seek distinctive branding not only to compete with mega-breweries but also to stand out from the craft beer crowd.

Take Deschutes, example. When the Bend-based pub opened in 1988, it joined about 100 independent breweries in the U.S. That’s grown to 7,000, Adweek magazine said in a profile of Deschutes’ ongoing efforts to distinguish its products in a sea of competitors.

And a creative agency like Ambient distinguishing itself in the beer world sounds intriguing, said Doug Zanger, an Adweek senior editor based in Portland.

“Good for them for trying and being consistent with it,” Zanger said. “What I applaud them for is sticking with it. It’s easy to start something and get frustrated. The fact they’re sticking with it shows they’re serious about building a business.”

That’s how Cross and Palmquist view it as well. They’ll stay the course with the Instagram approach, pursuing good matches along the way.

“We’re looking for a stable relationship,” Cross said, “and somebody who is loyal — we’re loyal to each other on helping them grow.”