Today, we’ll talk about dispensary social media marketing, and I’ll teach you 5 ways to utilize it. Let’s start!
Cannabis dispensaries can profit from any exposure. Needless to say, social media represent some of the best, most powerful platforms that would help you increase reputation within a particular field.
Unfortunately, the cannabis industry is plagued by numerous issues. You can’t simply start your dispensary social media advertising because many of these platforms don’t allow the advertising of marijuana and hemp. The same goes for the majority of traditional media.
But, that doesn’t mean you can’t use these platforms whatsoever. Savvy marketers can circumvent some of these issues and gain an enormous social media presence. To do this, they need to follow some of the best cannabis dispensary social media advertising practices.
Here are the 5 main things you need to pay attention to when you start cannabis SMM (dispensary social media marketing):
Learn more about your audience
Every industry and niche has its own ideal audience. They might differ in terms of preferences, lifestyle, education, financial means, and so on.
Knowing your audience is the first step to success. It will affect all other marketing decisions you make along the way.
As you can presume, most cannabis dispensary customers are relaxed individuals who just want to enjoy their favorite strain. But, we need to dig a bit deeper than that.
A business owner has to analyze the audience’s average age, gender, main issues with the product, and the level of cannabis knowledge.
Find the right dispensary social media channel
Finding the right social media channel is vital for every industry, but it is crucial for cannabis. Unfortunately, you have an additional problem you need to address due to numerous restrictions.
Most marketers start by testing different networks and gathering data. However, if you’re acquainted with the cannabis industry, finding the optimal cannabis dispensary social media marketing channel will be much easier.
Here are some of the leading platforms that you need to consider for cannabis:
No matter what you might about this platform, Facebook is still the most potent social media channel globally. You can utilize it to create shorter and longer posts and create your own cannabis group.
Instagram is slowly gaining on Facebook and Twitter in terms of its popularity. It is the best platform for image sharing, hands down. But, it is also a young and trendy platform that is still not utilized by older generations.
While images can be restrictive in certain ways, they give you the option of creating visually appealing posts. That would attract more attention from the visitors and lead to better conversion.
Instagram is especially great for cannabis, as you can showcase some of the beautiful strains you have in store.
LinkedIn probably isn’t the first platform that pops in your head when discussing social media marketing for dispensaries.
However, certain marijuana and hemp businesses can profit from this platform. Good examples are private and white label companies, as they have to connect with other companies to sell their services.
Keep in mind that many cannabis companies work as B2B organizations. That being said, LinkedIn might be a better alternative than some other, more vibrant social media.
Create value through education
Marijuana and hemp products are relatively new things. As a result, people don’t know what to expect from them, especially for their medical properties.
There are a lot of misconceptions, and often, people tend to get scared when mentioning these substances. But, if you use recreational marijuana, you know that this plant is not as dangerous as the media portrays it to be.
On the other hand, medical hemp strains are completely harmless. Therefore, by providing valuable information, you cannot only attract new customers, but you can also eliminate some of the common doubts.
A cannabis dispensary can share a lot of different knowledge via social media. For example, besides sharing safety and medical data, you can teach the audience how to grow certain strains.
Furthermore, you can give tips to up-and-coming businesses. For example, you can talk about different extraction processes, create different products, and maximize your yields.
1. Focus on consistency in your social media marketing for dispensaries
Social media is all about consistency, and here, we are not only talking about posting each day simultaneously.
Social media consistency can refer to a lot of things. For example, giving your audience the same or similar content all the time. This is very important for algorithms as they can pick up the slightest changes in user behavior.
If your followers stop responding to your posts because you changed the message, your reach will quickly diminish, and you will start sliding backward.
Consistency can also be seen through your spamming. Some dispensary marketing experts have a bad habit of pressuring their audience a bit too much.
They might try to sell the products as soon as possible, and as often as possible. Needless to say, this is one of the things that can quickly alienate your audience.
No matter what you do, try to stick with the same message, and don’t change your behavior for the worse.
2. Find the right representative
Every major brand has a fantastic representative. We all remember Marlboro man as one of the best examples of how a person can change a company’s perception.
Choosing the right cannabis dispensary social media marketing representative is not easy. Most cannabis companies think that it’s great to use the owner as the representative on social media. But, as you can guess, this rarely yields good results. In fact, unless you’re very photogenic, we advise against it.
There are several ways to tackle this issue.
Firstly, you can hire an influencer who will work closely with your brand. Secondly, if you want to start a campaign from scratch, you can find a brand ambassador.
Keep in mind that this person doesn’t necessarily have to be a professional model but, that person requires a good story that would connect them to your brand.