A social media marketing analysis between Miller Lite and Bud LIght, comparing social platforms and deciding who did the best job.

1. THE BEER
BATTLE
A SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ANALYSIS
Miller
Lite
Bud
Light
Megan Kingsley
March 2nd 2017

2. TABLE OF
CONTENTS
MILLER LITE VS BUD LIGHT
2

3. MARKET OVERVIEW
THE BEER BUSINESS
America has great taste, especially in beer. Whether you're meeting a friend or heading to a game, a majority of Americans enjoy
doing every day life with a drink or two in their hands. Beer is the world's oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic drink, and the
third most popular drink overall. Anheuser Busch InBev owns Bud Light, while the rival Molson Coors owns Miller Lite. The rivalry
between these two cause them to hold a majority of the market due to their advertising and loyal consumers. Bud Light owns 28.3% of
the U.S. Market Share while its competitor, Miller Lite, owns about 9.3% of the U.S. Market Share. The beer industry in general is
constantly growing, and is expected to reach $890.3 billion by 2025. At the end of 2015, there were over 4,000 breweries in the U.S.,
which is a new record. Both of these brands battle for the heart and end purchase of the consumer by utilizing mulitple social media
platforms to reach their target audience. Throughout this paper, I will talk through the various platforms such as Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, and YouTube, used by Miller Lite and Bud Light to evaluate their effectiveness and decide who wins the ultimate beer
battle. Below are some statistics shared by the Beer Institute from 2014.
Contributed
$256 Billion
Wages totaled
$79 billion
Over 1.75 million
employed
$48.5 billion
in tax revenue
3

4. BRAND INTRODUCTION
MILLER LITE VS BUD LIGHT
MILLER LITE
Frederick Miller came from Germany and went to Milwaukee, on the journey to brew a delicious pilsner in 1850 to then starting Miller
Brewing Co. in 1855. Miller Lite was introduced in 1975, and is known as the first mainstream light beer with 4.2% ABV. They use a 21-
day brewing process, and won two golds in 2010 and 2014 at The Great American Beer Festival for American-Style Lager.
BUD LIGHT
In 1876, Adolphus Busch introduced the pale lager known as Budweiser, and has become one of the best selling beers in the United
States. In 1981, AB Busch introduced Budweiser Light, Budweiser's flagship light beer with less calories and a 4.2% ABV. It is considered
to be a superior light premium lager and is one of the most popular beers in the United States. Overall, it has received plenty of life-long
supporters and critics along the way.
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5. SOCIAL MENTION
MILLER LITE VS BUD LIGHT
To have a thorough understanding of each brand's presence on social media and how efffective it is, it is very
important to gain a complete understanding of the sentiment that consumers have for each brand. I used Social
Mention, which is a website that analyzes the strength, sentiment, passsion, and reach of user-generated content
around each brand. Strength represents the likelihood that the brand is being mentioned on social media. Using this,
sentiment is the ratio of positive mentions to negative mentions (and also includes neutral). Passion shows the
chance that consumers will continue to talk about the brand on a consistent basis. Lastly, reach measures the overall
influence that the brand may have, showing information about the number of consumers who talk about the brand.
All four of these metrics are based on an average taken over a week from Social Mention.
Strength Sentiment Passion Strength
5

6. SENTIMENT ANALYSIS
MILLER LITE
64% 3:1
46% 40%
Overall, Miller Lite has very strong and consistent metrics.
Consumers are talking about their product fairly often, but only
somewhat positive. On average, Miller Lite was mentioned about
every 45 seconds, and had a high number of neutral mentions
daily, meaning they weren't necessarily positive or negative. At
one time, they had a strength of 78% which is fairly impressive.
Their passion shows that people are willing to talk positively
about Miller Lite more than just once. When people are willing to
talk about a brand often and positively, this shows that they are
creating long-term loyal customers. The metric variations were
minimal.
6

7. SENTIMENT ANALYSIS
BUD LIGHT
Bud Light had extremely impressive metrics in all four areas. To me,
their strength and sentiment are their strong suits. The strength
shows that people are talking about Bud Light often, and the
sentiment shows that on average, people are talking very positively
about their brand. At one point their highest sentiment was 9:1 which
was really superb for them. Consumers had really positive things to
say about their brand, and on a regular basis. They also had an
immense reach of 53%, meaning they had a fairly high influence.
Bud Light was mentioned on average every 25 seconds.
74% 6:1
46% 53%
7

8. FACEBOOK
MILLER LITE
2,116,391
26,492
#ItsMillerTime
Miller Lite is definitely trying to win the hearts of millenials due to their catchy and popular
memes, and by supporting trends the younger generation is currently following. This includes fun
socks, Christmas sweaters, Bonnaroo music festival, and a variety of sports beyond football. They
appear to have a presence by responding to comments, but it isn't at a fast pace. Miller Lite also
utilizes clear and interesting photos, while also promoting events and ideas. They show creativity
with videos and GIFs that make it interesting and appealing. By sharing ideas and showing quality
content, it is overall beneficial for them to have a Facebook page.
8

9. FACEBOOK
MILLER LITE
9

10. FACEBOOK
BUD LIGHT
7,804,577
63,144
Bud Light showcases their logo as their profile picture which helps consumers with brand awareness, and as an addition they
show the fun aspect of drinking with your friends with their cover photo. Bud Light thrives on the idea of being with your
friends and making new ones, and a lot of their content promotes it with videos and pictures. They encourage a lot of
consumer participation by having them share pictures to enter sweepstakes they host. Bud Light is also very present on
Facebook- they reply to most comments and within a short period of time. They share videos in multiple languages to be
relatable to more buyers. Most pictures and videos bring up friendship as the core value of their marketing which can be
attractive to the younger audience who enjoys being with their friends. They post consistently to keep followers and fans
interested with new content.
10

11. FACEBOOK
BUD LIGHT
11

12. TWITTER
MILLER LITE
234K
834
4,787
5,157
followers
following
tweets
likes
Miller Lite uses Twitter to their advantage by responding to customers more
frequently than they do with their Facebook page. They continue to be appealing to the
younger generation by using memes and funny posts that they will want to favorite or
retweet. A lot of their tweets involve them responding to the concerns and comments
which is a positive for them. Miller Lite also shares different content than what is on
their Facebook, so if the the same user follows them on multiple platforms, they will
see new posts. They also show humor and wit in their responses to keep it light and
fun between them and the consumers. Miller Lite also shows their concerns when a
customer is disappointed, by reaching out to them and trying to make it right with
them.
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13. TWITTER
MILLER LITE
13

14. TWITTER
BUD LIGHT
165K
149
25.1K
526
followers
following
tweets
likes
This might be Bud Light's weakest platform in comparison to Miller Light with less
followers and five times as many tweets. However, a majority of their tweets are in
response to customers but it does clog up their content shared. It seems that they use it
more to respond to people versus sharing content which can be positive and negative.
Customers love to be heard and responded to, but very little original content is seen
otherwise. A lot of millenials follow on Twitter to get updates and see pictures, GIFs,
and interesting tweets. While it is nice that they respond to customers, they should
create an incentive and interesting content to get more followers, and ultimately reach
more people. If Bud Light shares more original material, more fans might feel inclinded
to give them a follow.
14

15. TWITTER
BUD LIGHT
15

16. INSTAGRAM
MILLER LITE
71.2K
159
followers
posts
0
following
Miller Lite has a verified account with over 71,000 followers
mostly sharing pictures of the product from different viewpoints and aspects. A high majority
of the pictures focus directly on the beer, using clever and witty captions instead of promoting
events or trends like their Facebook page. They do share content from users by giving them
credit for the photo, which does encourage consumer involvement. Miller Lite seemingly
shares less creative content on Instagram which could be a mistake due to millenials high use
of Instagram verus Facebook. Millenials are looking for new ideas and trends, which Miller
Lite should try to accomodate for. Miller Lite also doesn't advetise "It's Miller Time" as much
on this platform besides using the hashtag, which they should definitely utilize because it is a
rememberable phrase.
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17. INSTAGRAM
MILLER LITE
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18. INSTAGRAM
BUD LIGHT
164K
300
followers
posts
11
following
Bud Light uses Instagram well to their advantage by using creative content that
is similar to the other platforms but also unique to Instagram. They do a lot of
promoting of events such as sports like the superbowl by using the gold can
sweepstakes, Bud Light's content is full of interesting and creative posts by
modeling different cans, showcasing celebrities, and advertising with ads they
also run on tv. A lot of creativity is shown in their "festival cans" posts when
they were advertising festivals and concerts taking place around the U.S. They
also continue sharing their value of friendship to this platform by sharing
picture of groups of people together and using the line "a Bud Light among
friends is a story waiting to be told". Overall they use great content that is fun
and trendy. 18

19. INSTAGRAM
BUD LIGHT
19

20. YOUTUBE
MILLER LITE
7,862
subscribers
24,916,711
views
Miller Lite uses their YouTube channel to share
creative vidos along with ads that are also seen on
tv. The product is certainly at the center of the
videos and the channel which is a good marketing
strategy. They also use the chance to promote the
benefits and positives of the product to make it
more appealing to consumers. The homepage is
well organized with playlists since they post
regularly. A majority of Miller Lite's videos are
short clips, but they grab the attention of the person
watching and creates interest in the product.
Overall, they use it well to their benefit but they
could create some curiosity to watch more videos.
20

21. YOUTUBE
MILLER LITE
21

22. YOUTUBE
BUD LIGHT
33,783,933
views
110,107
subscribers
Bud Light certainly out-does Miller Lite in number of
YouTube subscribers- they have over ten times Miller
Lite. Bud Light continues to promote "Between Friends"
and the value of friendship through each platform
which makes it feel related but still unique. Their mini
series of "Between Friends" is clever and entertaining
to watch, with high number of views on most of their
videos. Their clips range from about 15 seconds to just
over a minute, but still captures the attention of
whoever is watching.Bud Light also appeals to different
target markets but showing vidoes in Spanish, about
friendship and family which is heartwarming to the
consumer. The mini-series causes people to watch
more than one video, creating higher views and more
subscribers.
22

23. YOUTUBE
BUD LIGHT
23

24. WINNER
BEER BATTLE
Bud Light is the winner of
the Battle of Beer!
Bud Light is the official winner in Battle of Beer, a marketing analysis of social media. They
were clear winners with Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, even though they lagged behind Miller Lite on
Twitter. Even though they didn't do a perfect job, they are clearly well aware of their target audience and how to
have them engage on social media. Bud Light had a superior marketing strategy with having their core value be
around friendships, using "Between Friends" on all platforms, creating harmony. They make sure to reach out to
their consumers and address their concerns to make them feel as though they have a voice. Bud Light also
creates extremely unique and fun content that is visually and emotionally appealing to multiple target markets
which is tough to do. In doing this, they have a large amount of followers, likes, and subscribers across the social
media platforms they utilize. Miller Lite does not place the consumer at the center as they should, and this could
cause customers to lack in engagement and interest. Even though this was just breaking into the surface of what
these brands do, it is clear that Bud Light creates conversation and engagement for their consumers, while
making lasting relationships on the road to success. 24