Introducing the Hometown Craft Beer Network, LLC (HCBN). The first socialmedia network featuring the Ohio Craft Beer Culture. It's taken about a year to launch this little project, but it has been fun, challenging, and educational along the way. We have met some great folks and have been fortunate to meet some local brewers who saw value in our concept. You can listen to their interviews in the coming podcasts. Stephanie and I hope you enjoy our offerings, and we certainly hope to contribute to the Ohio Craft Beer Culture. Exactly what is the Ohio Craft Beer Culture, you may ask? What is HCBN? What is socialcasting?...well, let’s start with the Ohio Craft Beer Culture.
...ALSO TUNE-IN TO TAPROOM TALK, PODCAST 1 - INTRODUCTIONS...
BEER GOGGLES is the written word of HCBN. It compliments TAPROOM TALK, the spoken word of HCBN. Along with our website and Twitter postings, we hope to inspire fellow craft beer enthusiasts and craft brewers alike. Looking forward to many conversations in the future.
The Ohio Craft Beer Culture
So, what is this thing we call the “Ohio Craft Beer Culture”? If you follow our blogs, podcasts, and other HCBN musings, then you will come across this term a lot. In short, the Ohio Craft Beer Culture is us - proud Ohioans fascinated with and passionate about craft beer. The history, traditions, renaissance, and the resurgence of the neighborhood craft brewery. It doesn’t matter what particular part of Ohio each of us calls home, we each and all have great pride in our Ohio-based craft beers. One of the unique things about #OhioCraftBeerCulture is our warm and welcoming hospitality to our family, friends, and visitors - even if we just met them sitting on the barstool next us. No matter where we go - Northeast (Cleveland / Akron), Northwest (Toledo / the Islands), Southwest (Cincinnati / Dayton), Southeast (Athens), Central (Columbus), and all points in between - all are welcome...and we enjoy the time spent with each. Any topic is open for friendly debate over a couple pints. There are very few sub-cultures that can boast such a common enjoyment.
What is the Hometown Craft Beer Network?
HCBN is a socialcasting network, utilizing various socialmedia platforms in order to serve the craft beer interested, enthusiast, brewer, and cottage industries. At first, our network is a grouping anchored on our website, www.HometownCBN.com, with podcasts, blogs, and social blasts each playing an integral role. It is our vision to offer insights into the #OhioCraftBeerCulture by presenting various local craft beer style interpretations through interviews and other postings. We're open to all facets of the craft beer industry (just a note: mobile canning operations and hop farms fascinate me...). But, (through the words of Pee Wee Herman - there’s always a BIG BUT…), we are not critics...each of us has our own tastes, likes, and dislikes and HCBN chooses to celebrate and respect those individual tastes bonded together by a common passion for craft beer.
If we inspire you to taste or brew something new, then we have met our goal. If we help to embolden someone to try a craft beer for the first time, then welcome to the family!
HCBN is unique. At the time of this writing, HCBN is the only such network dedicated to the Ohio Craft Beer Culture. True - there are many outlets promoting local craft beer-centric events and social calendars - and they make up a vital part of the Ohio Craft Beer Culture; but, HCBN is the first and only network integrating multiple social media platforms under a single network dedicated to the Ohio Craft Beer Culture.
Socialcasting started around 2008 when video, or streaming, was carried via the internet. Some referred to it as Web 2.0 or web TV. Since that time, it has kind of spread to other social media platforms. HCBN goes well beyond social media...HCBN integrates various social media platforms into a complimentary network where the written, spoken, and visual word compliments each other rather than contradicts. Our initial launch includes our website (www.HometownCBN.com), our podcasts (TAPROOM TALK), our blog (BEER GOGGLES), our two Twitter accounts: @BuckeyeBeerTalk (Christopher) and @HmetwnCraftBeer (Stephanie), e-mail newsletters, and our Facebook page. We do have plans for sustainable growth, but for now, we are focusing on just a few.
HCBN Test Market
HCBN's test market is the Central Ohio region. To be honest, not sure how long this test period will last - perhaps a year for content build - perhaps less (or more). We certainly have every intent of traveling to ALL Ohio regions. There is no preference to Central over Northeast or Southwest...to be honest, HCBN chose Central Ohio as the test market because the staff lives in Central Ohio, but we frequently travel to all areas.
Call to Action
If HCBN sounds interesting to you, then please continue reading BEER GOGGLES, drop us an e-mail, listen to TAPROOM TALK, and visit our website. Let us know your thoughts and interests.
Now, promoting the Ohio Craft Beer Culture costs money. We are not looking for any major investors (at this point), but we could certainly use some financial help. Things like Facebook campaigns, podcast hosting, web hosting start to add up. Please consider advertising on our website or sponsoring a segment on TAPROOM TALK. Until then, Cheers my Friend!
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