How to market your cannabis business online? Tips for canna-preneurs.
You just had a brilliant idea: “Why don’t I start my own cannabis business?”
After countless hours of research and brainstorming, you start experimenting with different strains and brand names until you come up with the perfect ones. You are ready to launch to customers: you create social media pages and post ads as it is the cheapest and most efficient way of generating leads.
This is where you hit a brick wall…
You just realized that most social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram or Tiktok consider cannabis as a “community guideline violation” and thus pages or ads related to such products are usually banned and taken down. How will you reach your audience without these valuable tools? It can be tricky, but it is not impossible, you just need some creativity!
PACKAGEWEA partnered with the founder of SheSmokes Media, Rhiannon Hvezda, to provide you with 5 tips to bolster the promotion of your cannabis brand online despite all the digital barriers. Rhiannon is a media manager, content creator and web designer who specializes in the cannabis industry and she has graciously agreed to share her knowledge with us in this short article!
Tip 1: Monitor hashtags
Monitoring hashtags is a great way to improve traffic across your platforms. Doing research regularly for your platforms is the key for this tip. You want to make sure you are utilizing these best hashtags hacks – Not using banned hashtags, use the recommended number of hashtags per post, and then using a combination of high value hashtags and ones that are not as popular. Get as creative and as specific as possible when hashtag hunting.
Tip 2: Don’t smoke on camera
We all know that they consider cannabis content a violation of their platform’s terms, but there are some loopholes being utilized by creators now. A loophole to that would be not holding the smoking product, being advertised, to the mouth of the creator. Blowing smoke and not showing the glass in the same shot or scene, is recommended. Showing the plant itself is also a big ol’
“No-No.” and the use of green vegetables such as lettuce or broccoli could get your message across in a “censored” manner.
Tip 3: Be engaging and consistent
Another key to gaining more reach is not just what you post, but also how consistent you are with your posting. The AI will push someone who is active not only on their page but also within their target community. It's best to research the recommendations for each platform you are present on. Example being Instagram, they recommend 3x-6x weekly for posting.
Tip 4: Correct format when posting
Using the recommended formats for your content, is another thing the AI is going to favor and push out. Understanding that each platform has different guidelines and using them to their fullest will help increase organic reach on socials.
Tip 5: Be present on platforms your audience is present
A huge key to getting more from your target audience is being present on the platforms they are on. Meaning if they’re all on TikTok then it might be within your best interest to also be on TikTok. What would I even post? – You can repurpose video content, and you can also hire a content creator for your business. You can also use UGC created by ambassadors, or fans who have already created stories and videos tagging your business.
Bonus Tip
Working with an agency can improve leads and sales drastically. Finding a team to navigate and regulate content and engagement consistently should be a key point in your media marketing strategy. Doing this is going to drum up major traffic for your pages.
In conclusion, there are no surefire ways to go viral or get seen online, but for the cannabis industry, creativity is a must to circumvent the community guidelines. Creating video content and being present on social media is one of the largest ways to reach your customers nowadays. Word of mouth is still marketing’s most powerful and influential ways to generate sales but being present in the media can help you expand in ways and in areas that word of mouth can’t.
Hiring a media manager could drastically improve your cannabis media marketing strategy but how to do it all and excel at the same time, is the hard part. That’s why I started my business.
For more social media marketing tips, tricks, and hacks make sure to reach out to Rhiannon via email (shesmokesofficial@gmail.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/She.Smokes.Official/) or call (760) 215-2664!
