Why Social Media is Important for Your Cannabis Brand

You hear it all the time: you need to be on social media in order to reach your customers and fans.  But the fact is that social media can be incredibly time-consuming and confusing with the constant algorithm changes.  At the same time, your cannabis business could either be blacklisted, banned from advertising, or shadow banned from the social media profiles you use the most.  So, how can your cannabis business thrive on social media if you can’t seem to use it the way you need?  This is a frustration we hear from clients all over the nation.  At Cannabis Marketing, Inc., we employ the best strategies for each client, which means that we may recommend Social Media on top of multiple other marketing strategies.  Of course, the marketing strategies that we are able to employ for our clients depends on their budget and what fits their target demo.  Every client is uniquely different in what they need and what they are trying to achieve.

Social Proof

No matter how small your reach is, no matter if you are beginning a business or have been in business for years, Social Media is a must.  The reason for this is because of social proof.  Have you ever looked at reviews before purchasing a product?  Have you ever asked your friends what their opinions are before dining at a new restaurant?  Have you ever left a positive review for a product that you loved, or maybe a negative review for an experience that was distasteful?  The reason that we as human beings look to one another before we make purchases is called Social Proof.  Social Proof is our nature to do things that our peers also do.  It sounds a lot like copycatting, but it is so much more.  By first understanding Social Proof, Social Media becomes a no-brainer for your cannabis business.

The Rules

There are rules when it comes to social media, and we encourage our clients to be as compliant as they can.  The fact of the matter is that simply being on social media as a cannabis company may be against the “rules”, so every single time you post, it’s even more imperative to make sure that it is of high value and that there is a specific strategy behind each post.  The thing that we often see is that cannabis businesses will post, simply to post.  In the social media space today, it does not make sense to post simply to have a presence, especially when your cannabis business may only be seen by a fraction of your followers.  Due to various algorithms, it makes it even more important to post high-value, branded content, every single time.  It is actually better to post once a week with something that is gangbusters, than to post every single day with boring or tired graphics and information.

Human-To-Human Interaction

The beautiful thing about implementing social media along with your other marketing campaigns is that your social media will help to establish you as a legitimate business owned by a real human.  Think of it as that warm and fuzzy feeling where you can reach those clients who are searching for you and let them know more about you.  Social media is your chance to expand upon what they heard on the radio, or what they sought on a flyer, or what they heard from a friend.  By overlapping your social media with your other marketing strategies, you have the opportunity to create brand presence and human-to-human interaction that your new and existing customers crave.

Enhanced Customer Service

The other beautiful thing about social media for your cannabis business is that it is an excellent customer service platform.  When you have a team of people monitoring your social media platforms to answer questions, tag fans, and thank people for sharing content, it gives you the opportunity to set yourself apart.  Social media is supposed to be exactly that: social!  So by having a strong social media presence, and using these platforms to add a level of communication for your customers, social media makes complete sense.

Outsourcing Social Media

The other thing we see a lot of in the social media space is that owners will assign social media duties to their budtenders or internal management.  We get it!  Having someone in-house to take pictures, attend events, and post on the spot is certainly valuable.  However, you hired your management to do a job, and do it well.  So let them be managers for your business.  Your budtenders are highly-personable and everyone has a great experience?  That is exactly what you want.  Allowing your staff to do exactly what they were hired to do, without adding the extra burden of social media marketing, is smart.  Outsourcing your social media allows each person on your internal team to focus on their strengths instead of trying to learn something that they may not even be passionate about.  At Cannabis Marketing, Inc, we take pride in becoming part of your team.  We visit your store on a regular basis, getting to know your staff and becoming one of the family.  We attend all of your events and will even help organize pop-ups to maintain great relationships with your vendors.  We are passionate about marketing, and that includes your social media.  We consistently learn the newest tactics and attend trainings to make sure we are in the know for you.  Did you know that the algorithm for Facebook recently changed?  Our team took a week-long training on how to utilize the best social media strategies, and we now implement those strategies so that we can get you the best results.

In conclusion, when it comes to Social Media for cannabis businesses, having business profiles on major platforms is a must.  Investing in your marketing with a team of experts is always the best strategy; hoping that people will come in the door is not.  We would love to help you grow your business, why not call us for your free consultation today?