How Social Media Marketing Can Help Your Cannabis Business

At Paris Marketing, we think cannabis is pretty dope (insert picture of a pot leaf with a smiley face and sunglasses, here.), but more specifically, we think successfully marketed canna-businesses are.

So, let’s talk about how you can market your cannabis business on social media.

Sponsored Social Media Updates are a No-No:

For other industries, my first suggestion would be sponsored social media ads. For those of you in the audience that are asking, “what’s a sponsored social media ad?” allow me to elaborate: Sponsored social media campaigns are posts, tweets, updates, or other content that are backed by cold, hard, cash ensuring that the content shows up in the news feed of targeted users.

Why would you want to spend your money on social media ads? Because social media is an incredibly viable marketing source with a lot of potential for getting in front of the right people. Unfortunately, social media platforms are reluctant to allow sponsored advertising for cannabis under its current, federally illegal, status. When the Federal law inevitably catches up with forward-thinking state legislations, this is bound to change, but for now, sponsored social media campaigns for canna-businesses aren’t in the cards.

Organic Social Media Updates are a Go-Go:

So how can you utilize social media to increase your brand’s awareness, reach, and ultimately your bottom dollar without putting money behind social media content? Organic social media is the ideal alternative solution.

Organic social media is just a fancy way of saying you can post social media updates without putting money behind those updates. In early 2018, the kingpin of social platforms, Facebook, updated its algorithm to prioritize content that engages audiences (content that inspires conversation between users, is “Liked” more often by users, or is more relevant to connecting friends and families through social networking). By and large, this resulted in greatly reduced organic social media effectiveness for businesses. Why then, am I suggesting organic social media for your canna-business? Because if you provide relevant, engaging content to your audience, you can still reach those users who matter most to your business.

Canna-businesses lack the ability to sponsor content, making organic social media their new best friend. By maintaining a consistent posting regimen that promotes relevant content to your audience, your canna-business can still achieve great results from its social media efforts.

What content would be relevant for my business?       

That all depends on what type of canna-business you’re running. For some businesses, photos of flowers would entice your audience. For others, showing your unique manufacturing processes and how they relate to the cannabis industry could be the stuff your audience craves.

Every business is different and should highlight what makes them unique, while still keeping the audience up to date with industry news and showing them content that entices.

In closing: Until federal legislation changes and social media platforms allow sponsored updates, organic social media is your brand’s best friend.   

By: Eric Troy, Social Media Specialist at Paris Marketing www.paris.marketing