Craft Beer's rise over the last decade has included a heavy reliance on social media as a means to communicate with fans. Facebook & Instagram were able to offer a lot more reach to breweries in those early days while these platforms were still in growth mode and less concerned about monetization. As that has changed, its left breweries struggling to get their content viewed organically by a sufficient enough percentage of their followers. In an effort to find the white space, content creators and businesses are turning to TikTok, which is the fastest growing social media platform by a landslide, giving users and creators something new and exciting. But while the growth opportunity is there, that doesn't mean it's easy.

This panel will feature successful content creators around beverage alcohol and discuss who should and should not invest their brand's time and energy into making content on TikTok.

Russell Hainline and his wife co-founded in 2018 The Beer Travel Guide, a blog dedicated to helping people across America find the best craft beer near them. Over the last year, they’ve pivoted more toward posting video content on TikTok to extend their reach. He posts videos about where to find beer across the country, but he’s probably best known for his more comedic content, focused on his love of beer and lampooning some of the absurdities of the craft beer world. Professionally, he’s a screenwriter in Los Angeles— he has a Christmas movie, In Merry Measure, premiering on Hallmark Channel tomorrow at 8 PM, and he’s very proud that it features one of the rare scenes in Hallmark Christmas movie history of the lead characters going to a pub and drinking beer.

Mandy Naglich is an Advanced Cicerone, Certified Cider Professional, and has her WSET Spirits. She's a multi-gold medal winner at the National Homebrew Competition and writes the homebrewing column for VinePair. Mandy covers food, drinks, and travel for a variety of online and print publications. In 2018 Mandy began publishing her own educational content as @beerswithmandy where she shares homebrewing tips, beer history tidbits, and her own journey tasting beer around the world. Her first book How to Taste is a guide to savoring flavor in everything you eat, drink, and love. It comes out in Spring 2023, but you can preorder it now at how2taste.com.

Doug Veliky’s career in the beer industry started in 2009 when he joined Reyes Holdings, a global leader in the production and distribution of food and beverage products, including the largest beer distribution network in the US. As craft beer became a more significant part of the company's strategy, Doug got the bug and started Instagramming about craft beer at his handle @beeraficionado. In 2016, Doug was hired as the CFO of Revolution Brewing, Illinois' largest independently owned craft brewery, but after four years his passions and understanding of the brand led him to leading the marketing function in a new strategic role. He now oversees the company's brand and packaging development, activation & promotions, strategic partnerships, social media, digital marketing, and community development.