Cannabis and CBD Social Media Marketing
March, 2022
Marketing cannabis and CBD isn’t easy. You’re always walking a fine line around the nebulous rules of social media platforms and promoting your cannabis product, cannabis accessories, and truly marketing the health and healing benefits of cannabis.
Cannabis and CBD Marketing on Social Media - Organic Cannabis and CBD Posts
Social media isn’t sales and it’s difficult to attribute growth to social media beyond what a pixel tracks. If you’re only promoting your dispensary or cannabis products using organic posts, it’s even more difficult.
Here’s what you need to know: Organic cannabis and CBD social media marketing takes time. At least 6 months and more likely a year before you start to see the reasonable engagement and audience growth you’re looking for.
On social media platforms that use hashtags (not Facebook) it’s more difficult with cannabis because hashtags are banned all the time. We’re writing this on February 13, 2022, and #cannabis is currently banned on Instagram. They may open that hashtag back up by the time this article is published, but that’s the thing. Cannabis social media marketing takes vigilance. You always need to be checking what is shadowbanned and what’s not with every post.
Cannabis Marketing on Social Media - Run a Brand-Focused Marketing Strategy
Forget the pics of big bong hits, your social media cannabis marketing needs to focus on your brand and the benefits of your product without appealing to 18-year-old frat boys. You're educating a new market, building an audience segment, and utilizing all marketing avenues.
Think classy, stay classy.
This means you’re also prioritizing your compliance over hooking the low-hanging fruit. Your customers will find you and you’ll build better engagement because your posts will actually be seen instead of banned.
Cannabis Marketing on Social Media - Use Professional Photography
Your cannabis brand needs to show up in a way that outsteps any held assumptions about the cannabis industry. Keep your posts professional by working with a photographer that understands your brand. Professional photography elevates your brand image and respectability on social media. Remember, it’s not the frat boys you’re wanting to bring it. This is a potentially new audience that needs your education to use your products. Having a professional photography collection will help.
We’re connected with professional photographers throughout the country. If you need a photography recommendation in your area, send us a note.
Cannabis Marketing on Social Media - Disclaim Every Post
Keep it extra safe and add a disclaimer to every captioned post. You’ll need to go shorter on TikTok and other platforms, but here’s a disclaimer example. Of course, don’t use this one, consult your legal counsel.
Your Brand products are intended for use by individuals aged 18 and older and should only be used as directed on the label. Your Brand is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease and is not a medical remedy. Your Brand follows all current laws and compliance guidelines. Your Brand encourages customers to understand all potential interactions of Your Brand’s products with your specific health and lifestyle status. Consult your doctor before using this product in combination. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Cannabis Marketing Roadblocks - Paid Cannabis Ads
Hemp, CBD, and cannabis are often interchangeable in the Terms of Service worlds on social media platforms and listed collectively as legal drugs and recreational drugs. As of this writing, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok don’t allow paid ads for cannabis or CBD, but topical hemp product ads are allowed on Facebook.
If you’re going to go the CBD/hemp paid ad route, similar to paid ads for medical care, not applying assumption or need to the physical health or mental status of a person is crucial when it comes to hemp paid ads. Don’t use “I” and avoid leading questions are the first two rules, along with keeping an image extremely neutral and not cannabis-focused. Even you follow these basic rules, there’s no guarantee that any social media platform will approve your ad. Or your hemp ad could get approved and then shut down.
In 2020, Facebook stopped all paid hemp ads and threatened to shut down CBD pages that were running paid ads. These businesses did find ways around it and continued with their ads by not even using the words CBD or hemp at all, including on the landing page. We’re sharing this example to show you that, although tempting, running paid ads for hemp products can get dicey.
Leaving you with a last thought: All the social media platforms continue to evolve how they approach cannabis marketing. We know that recreational cannabis will be legal in every state and, eventually, it will be declassified by the federal government. Until this happens, use a professional social media marketing agency to manage your cannabis marketing. Take the pressure off and do interesting and compliant work; Contact Yancey Red for your cannabis and CBD social media marketing.