It is very useful to get an idea of how different products are treated on social media in order to understand how to target different audiences. As it did for the food sector, Brandwatch has analysed how beverages are being discussed on social media in its annual report.
The most talked about drink in online conversations: coffee
When it comes to beverages on social media, coffee is king in the non-alcoholic universe, followed by tea and juices.
Furthermore, if we talk about those drinks that are more related to joy, coffee is joined by hot chocolate. This is because, in general, these friendly conversations associate a good awakening (and start of the day) with the first coffee of the morning.
But it’s not all good things when it comes to coffee. According to the Brandwatch study, there are notable differences between generations: while baby boomers and Gen Xers have the highest percentage of mentions of coffee, Gen Zers are the least likely to mention it. Related to this, it is worth mentioning that there is a decline in coffee consumption among younger people. There are also differences in the way they drink coffee. While baby boomers talk about taking it black or adding milk and sugar, Gen Z prefers it iced and comments on how they visit coffee houses.
Energy drinks
Although they have been in the public eye for quite some time, conversations about energy drinks continue to increase. Specifically, by 18% in the last year.
Gen Z people are the ones who mention them the most. After bubble tea, it is the most talked about drink (still within the non-alcoholic spectrum). In any case, it is worth noting that the predominant tone in this sector is negative. Around 44% of conversations about energy drinks have a negative tone. Moreover, if we compare these conversations with those about other drinks, we see that they tend to start with mentions of anger, accounting for 21% of the emotions expressing displeasure.
To find a reason for this phenomenon, the report refers to an analysis of reviews of these drinks. It shows that many of the negative reviews are due to the poor condition of the packaging or the cans, so it may be that much of the rejection on the networks is due not so much to their feelings about the drink itself, but to the overall purchase experience.
Flavoured waters
More or less everyone has internalised the health benefits of drinking water, but many people can find it boring to drink. Tips on how to drink it more often have become popular platforms such as TikTok, where recipes for flavouring water can be found. Around 380 million people have seen videos of people drinking “mermaid” or “birthday cake” water.
But it’s not all enthusiasm, on the contrary. Some 53% of the emotions categorised around water show dislike, the highest percentage of all non-alcoholic beverages. This is because some social media users report not having access to drinking water. Others relate the need to drink water to a condition or illness, so the context remains negative. Others simply indicate that they find it boring to drink water or that they don’t like the taste.
Given all this, it is not surprising that conversations involving flavoured water have increased. If we look at the figures, in the last year, conversations, recipes and other publications that include flavoured water have increased by 20%. From what has been observed, the most popular flavours are lemon, strawberry, orange and coconut.
The sober-curious movement
Younger generations seem to be cutting back on alcohol consumption for reasons ranging from saving money to a change in the perception that alcohol is needed to have a good time. There is a perceived shift towards sobriety in Gen Z and, in fact, more and more brands are including non-alcoholic options in their portfolio.
Thus, mocktails are climbing up the ranks and in the last year have increased their mentions by 14%. The most popular ones? According to mentions, mojitos, margaritas and martinis.