Collage of social posts of people drinking canned beer, led by a bearded man holding a can up, on an orange background
Submitted by TRIBEAgency IPI Score 32/100

BWS Insiders Instagram Staff Creator Program

Influencer Marketing

TRIBE manages and measures the BWS Insiders program, in which BWS store crew create Instagram content for the brand, and BWS reports some pilot posts reaching 35% engagement.

35%Post Engagement Rate
1.4%Industry Benchmark ER

Case in 60 seconds

BWS faced demand for content rising at a rate it could not sustain, with costs climbing and engagement rates falling, while the page reports that the culture inside its stores was missing from its own communication.

Crew who sell drinks every day already know the products and carry the culture the brand wanted to show, so the page treats them as credible creators because their expertise comes from the shop floor rather than from a brief.

BWS Insiders turns engaged store crew into content creators who post from their own BWS Instagram accounts, so the brand speaks through a group of staff advocates rather than through brand-made content alone.

The program launched with 25 crew members posting on Instagram, and TRIBE imported the Insiders into its platform, where they pitch ideas against briefs for product reviews, top picks, wine pairings and events such as World Martini Day. BWS reuses the content across its brand social channels, website, in-store digital screens and emails, while the TRIBE team onboards and trains the Insiders.

BWS reports that the first pilot produced an immediate uplift in engagement, with some posts reaching 35% against an industry benchmark the page gives as around 1.4%, and the page publishes no reach, sales or cost figures.

Strategy Breakdown

BWS customers on social media, whom the program set out to reach with raw and authentic content that shares the values and internal culture of the BWS brand.
Vanessa Rowed describes a real disconnect between the fun, dynamic culture inside BWS and what its communication portrayed, so the program set out to show that culture through the staff who carry it.
Content demand was increasing while costs rose and engagement rates kept going down, which the page frames as a problem BWS could not sustain through its existing content approach.
BWS positions itself as the 'unboring bottleshop' that puts its teams first so they can put customers first, so the program gives staff a public voice rather than keeping them behind the brand account.
BWS credits authentic, relevant content from people who sell the products with cutting through, and cites that as the reason some pilot posts outperformed the industry benchmark.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • Instagram

Partners

  • TRIBE

Results & Evidence

MetricValue
Post Engagement Rate35%
Industry Benchmark ERaround 1.4%
Insiders at Launch25 crew members

Why TRIBE's strategy worked

  1. 1

    Manual briefing, posting and reporting capped the pilot, so the page treats a shared platform for briefs, approvals and measurement as the condition for scaling a staff creator program rather than an afterthought.

  2. 2

    A pitch-first brief lets staff propose concepts from their own product knowledge, so the brand chooses among ideas rather than dictating scripts, which keeps the expertise of the crew inside the content.

  3. 3

    Retention depends on incentives the staff value, because BWS lets Insiders grow and monetize their own accounts, including work with other drinks brands, which the page says makes them stickier to BWS.

  4. 4

    Staff accounts can start from content quality rather than audience size, because TRIBE argues that Creator Ads let a brand buy reach behind a post from an account with few followers.

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