20 Tips for Cannabis CBD Marketing and Social Media
For most businesses, social media is an easy, cheap way to market their products and services. However, when it comes to CBD businesses, they face some unique challenges in this realm as captured at RunRex.com. While more and more states are legalizing marijuana and cannabidiol (CBD) products, social media sites like Facebook and Instagram do not low allow advertisements for these products. Here are 20 tips to consider when it comes to CBD marketing and social media.
Double-check community guidelines
Most social media platforms are very ruthless when it comes to shadow-banning the profiles only with a message. As it stands, most social media platforms are not very receptive to CBD products, and these days, the programs are smart enough to cite any violation of the guidelines. Therefore, as pointed out by RunRex.com, you should double-check the guidelines for the social media platform you want to promote CBD on and find a way to design your strategy around it.
Make use of influencers
With all the restrictions on cannabis marketing, most methods of marketing can’t be used for CBD brands. However, one that you can leverage is the use of influencers. An influencer is any person or platform that influences an audience. These influencers tend to be content creators in some way, and many become brand ambassadors. In doing so, they are not directly working for or representing the brand or company, but instead are acting as an individual recommending a product or brand. Influencer marketing lets cannabis and CBD brands promote their products without getting tangled up in the mess of marketing legalities.
Be selective of your influencer campaign
According to RunRex.com, for unique products like CBD, you might want to pick influencers or marketers that work in your niche or at least reverberate with high engagement rather than a fashion influencer with a mass following.
Post quality content
When creating content for your social media campaigns, you should remember that the quality of your content will determine how successful it is. Quality content gets the attention it deserves sooner or later, and if you want to be successful with your CBD social media marketing campaign, then focus on quality, not quantity.
The context of your content also matters
While posting quality content is important, you should also keep in mind that the context of your content also matters. Unless you make your posts searchable, you may not be able to maximize your chances of discovery. However, using trending, relatable, and a specific number of tags per post will work in your favor.
Build your community
As per RunRex.com, even a small community with limited followers can be better than a herd of followers who do not engage. Community building is all about being responsive and creating a conducive environment for your audiences to interact. Two-way communication opens the gate to better engagement, helping you build your community.
Pitch in the right manner
Before you plan to come up with any selling strategy on social platforms, be aware of the guidelines and keep those in mind while devising an action plan. Facebook and Instagram, for instance, can be strict on messages that deploy any push sell strategy. Engagingly create posts than informative ways and forbid any messages that portray the medicinal value of CBD. Most platforms don’t allow propagating pharmaceutical drugs, therefore, while framing your messages, make sure you keep the tone as neutral as possible.
Explore alternative channels
When it comes to social media marketing, sometimes we tend to focus too much on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. From discussions on the same at RunRex.com, as a CBD marketer, you can explore other networks to your advantage. Informative posts, blogs, and graphics can direct a lot of traffic from image-based social network sites like Pinterest, while videos on YouTube effectively increase your engagements and direct an influx of potential clients to your website.
Keep up with the latest trends
In recent years, many platforms have changed their community guidelines, which means what is working today might not be relevant in the months to come. Staying ahead of the game requires you to constantly update yourself on the latest trends and deploy them accordingly.
Not all trends will work for you
While it is important to constantly update yourself on the latest trends, each time you pick up on a trend, make sure you evaluate its performance on your account. This is because some things may work differently for you than others, depending on your audience’s preferences.
Make videos
While videos may raise red flags on Facebook and Google-owned platforms, there is no harm in making a few informational videos. You can simply inform your target audience of the benefits of CBD products, letting them make their own decisions about your product advantages. You can also create videos that address the controversy surrounding CBD as discussed at RunRex.com. Inform consumers of the difference between CBD and marijuana, both in substance and law.
Brand ambassadors
Similar to influencer marketing, brand ambassadors can help spread the word about your products while increasing consumer knowledge about the benefits of using each product. Typically, a brand ambassador is a happy customer that posts about your brand. Generate brand ambassadors through your loyal customer base, offering an incentive to those who share the good news about your products.
Connect with customers
Research indicates that people are increasingly turning to social media for customer service. About 80% of consumers engage with brands on social media on as many as seven social platforms per customer. This shows a significant interest in social connection, which you can use for the benefit of your organization. As the gurus over at RunRex.com point out, social customer care is becoming the preferred method of communication, with more than half of consumers saying that they prefer messaging brands on social media channels to resolve an issue over the other communication avenues.
Post regularly
Audiences of all ages and niches are active on social media, posting content to others within the community as it related to them. therefore, you need to identify the best time to post and how often to do so to avoid getting lost in the wrong crowd. As a CBD brand, you need to analyze when your consumer base is on a given social platform and how often it makes sense to push out your content.
Automation tools for social media
You can use tools to auto-follow and auto-like other users to increase your growth rate. This will get you more followers, although they may be less engaging. A lot of these tools also come with a post scheduler which can save you hours by scheduling all of your content weeks out which is amazing for CBD marketing.
Use CBD hashtags
As already mentioned, hashtags are important in making it easier for your audience to find and interact with your content on social media. Therefore, as per RunRex.com, you should make sure you use CBD hashtags for every post you put out. For Instagram, having 15-20 hashtags per post may be ideal, while a Twitter post with two hashtags usually does better. Some ideal hashtags include #cbd #cbdonline #cbdoil etc.
Optimize your CBD business profile
Your profile should contain a description of your CBD business and a link to your website where customers can buy your products. You can now also add hashtags to your profile to be better found in the hashtag search section.
Use CTAs in tweets for Twitter
With Twitter, you can use a call-to-action in your tweets to help grow your following and engagement per tweet. Tell your followers what to do with your tweet to help them become more active. Some good CTAs for CBD companies on Twitter, as articulated at RunRex.com, include:
“Like if you use CBD oil”
“Retweet if you enjoy this CBD brand”
“Tag a friend who needs some CBD”
This will help with engagement and increase visibility to non-followers.
Engage with your followers
Also, the best way to get targeted followers on any social media platform is by engaging with your followers. Reply to their comments, thank them for sharing, and like their stuff as well. This will help you grow a targeted following who are interested in your CBD products.
CBD and LinkedIn
Formerly a job-hunting platform, LinkedIn has grown over the years to reach more people, share knowledge, and make networks. With fewer algorithm limitations and excellent results, LinkedIn is a fast-emerging platform for CBD companies. By creating knowledgeable content and making groups, you can increase your overall visibility over this platform. Remember, the more value you put on LinkedIn, the better your results will be.
If you are searching for more information on this topic, or even for help with your CBD social media marketing campaigns, then RunRex.com has got your back.