Social Media as the gateway Into the Niche Cannabis Market
Cannabis-related radio and television ads are currently prohibited by the FCC, email marketing campaigns take careful curation and dedicated writers, and SEO is an extremely powerful but long-term solution to getting your business attention. That leaves social media as the next best tool to getting your business out quickly and to the right people.
Social media is not an easy world to navigate, here are some tips for marketing cannabis on TikTok and Instagram
Getting Around the Algorithm
Unfortunately, META and TikTok have strict restrictions on cannabis-related accounts and content. That being said, it does not mean it is impossible to get your account traction on these platforms.
Using Proper Hashtags and Algo-Speak
META and TikTok have bans on popular cannabis-related hashtags and terms like “cannabis”, “weed”, “420”, and “stoner”. Using these could spell disaster for your business as it puts a target on you to be banned. Instead, you have to find browsable workarounds like “#budtender” which have yet to catch the attention of META or TikTok.
Using Proper Slang, and Visuals
You cannot even type “weed” let alone show weed flowers on TikTok. Instagram is sometimes more lenient with cannabis pictures but could take down photos and accounts for no known reason. So how do you get around TikTok and Instagram’s harsh restrictions?
Some creators opt for using community-known and accepted slang and visuals to get around the bans. In videos or educational posts, creators will choose to show broccoli or herbs in place real cannabis flowers.
When putting captions and titles on videos and posts, instead of typing “weed”, creators might choose to put a leaf and smoke emoji.
Prepare for Bans
The most important thing you can learn is that social media is unpredictable. Administrators can choose to remove posts or content and even ban your account for posts you might see other accounts doing. The best thing for you to do is create backup accounts in case anything happens to your main one. Make sure to have activity on backup accounts to get users to come to the new page if the main one gets banned.
Ensure you follow social media platform’s terms of service as best you can to prevent your account from being targeted.
Move your audience off the platforms
With how unpredictable these platforms can be, the best thing you can do is make your audience take action elsewhere off of these platforms. Incentivize your audience to sign-up for newsletters, email campaigns, and follow your other social media accounts to make sure you do not lose them if you lose an account. Social media is not your product, it is a tool to get prospective customers to your products.
Hiring WJ Media Group For Your Cannabis Marketing
Hire professionals here at WJ Media Group. We are currently working with numerous cannabis companies, building their websites, and social media presence, and further boosting their SEO and web presence. We provide a secure and trusted service, contact us here. Visit our cannabis marketing page.
