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Social Media Marketing
Chances are you understand the power of social media but are you utilizing it in the best way possible for your dispensary or cannabis brand? Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, the list goes on as do the benefits and value of using social media as a powerful marketing tool. So, let’s dive in and learn at least 3 new ways you can make the most of cannabis dispensary social media marketing.
What is Social Media Marketing (SMM)?
Social media in itself is considered to be any platform consisting mainly of user-generated content, whether it be a conversation, commentary, or multimedia. From a marketing perspective, social media is an opportunity for businesses like yours to engage with consumers directly and create content and ads that compel people to interact with your brand. Whether your goal is to gain attention, sales, or traffic – cannabis dispensary social media marketing is an incredible tool!
The Value of Social Media
There are 1.65 billion active mobile social accounts globally and there are 1 million new active mobile social users added every day (We Are Social). That’s the value in a nutshell – Your target demographic is most likely on one or multiple social networks. If your brand isn’t there interacting, you’re missing out on a multitude of opportunities. Aside from that, the data you are able to collect using today’s social media sites is astounding. What once was expensive and time-intensive is now available at our fingertips.
For example, you are able to pull demographic information about the age, gender, and interests of your followers on Facebook. If you posted a video, they’ll give you information on who watched 10% of it, 50% of it, and who watched it to the end while giving you the demographic profiles on each.
By including social media marketing in your dispensary strategy, you are able to reach new customers, build a relationship with them online, gather data from the followers you are attracting, all the while gaining attention, traffic, and ultimately even sales.
Social Media Metrics and ROI
Social Media Best Practices
Of course, social media marketing is not simply about existing online, it’s about engaging online in an authentic, strategic way. So, let’s take a look at what we believe to be the best practices you should consider when building out your marketing plan.
Listen
Before we get into how best to engage with your audience, we feel the need to emphasize the importance of listening first. What discussions are your customers having? What information are they looking for? This will allow you to create highly relevant content to attract your audience online.
Be patient
If you are just getting started, remember that patience is key. Nothing happens overnight and if it does, be suspicious. You need to commit to being consistent and creative high-quality valuable content to achieve results.
Create value
Creating value is part of why listening is important when using social channels. If all you’re doing to promoting your dispensary and pitching the new products on your store shelves, you are nothing more than an annoying salesman on the corner of the block. Engage with your audience and offer them something more. Build a relationship with them and create content that inspires, educates, and brings them in wanting more.
Be creative
You have an array of different multimedia to use in your posts. Don’t just implement one. Be creative and experimental. Switch up your formats. Try images, video, short copy, long copy, etc. Don’t be boring. Understand that you are an interruption on a social media user’s feed and that you need to be as engaging as humanly possible.
Be consistent
In terms of consistency, we are not only pointing to the importance of being regular with your posting and how often you engage but also in terms of your brand voice. If you are looking to grow a brand for your dispensary, you need to maintain a strong voice in your messaging. If you’re loud and bright, don’t post dark and rustic. If you’re grounded and have wood grain countertops, don’t post highlighter yellow and neon.
Use hashtags
Be deliberate when choosing which hashtags to include in your posts. If you are doing so in an inauthentic manner, your resulting following will be nothing but numbers and won’t interact with your future posts. Also, if you’d like to use a custom hashtag for your dispensary for customers to use, search first and make sure it’s unique and isn’t currently being used.
Appreciate your followers
Your followers are your business. If they’re posting a photo inside your dispensary or with a new product they just bought from you, share it with your community. Thank them for posting and you’ll not only get brownie points from that user, but you will also encourage more followers to post their own content.
Focus
Social media marketing is a great opportunity, but it’s not about being everywhere if you can’t handle implementing all the above practices for each channel you use. You’ll learn more about this below.
Utilize social media marketing tools.
Search Google, Bing, and Yahoo for the following:
Tools for Measuring Growth and Results
- Crowdbooster
- Social Crawlytics
- Simply Measured
- Demographics Pro
- True Social Metrics
- Moz Analytics
Tools for Gaining Insights
- Topsy
- Radian6
- Sysomos
- Vocus
- RowFeeder
Tools for Monitoring Your Social
- BuddyMedia
- SocialEngage
- HootSuite
- Sprout Social
- Meshfire
- Buffer
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Find the Right Network for You
If you’re just getting into this kind of advertising for your cannabis dispensary social media marketing can be somewhat overwhelming. There is a multitude of social media channels that you can include in your marketing plan, but which ones are right for you? It’s not best practice to be on all channels if you can’t or don’t intend to manage all the platforms to your best ability. Put your best foot forward and be conscious of what you can handle and which one will give you the biggest impact with the resources you have.
59% of users who ‘like’ a brand’s Facebook page do so because they have purchased or used the product or service while 45% ‘like’ a page for insider promotions and deals (eMarketer). Facebook, since its inception, has been an influential social media website that has grown year over year. You have the ability to create a business page complete with information about your dispensary, your hours, and can even choose a CTA (call-to-action) for your header section.
Top 3 Tips for Facebook
01.
When creating content, images are 39% more engaging than traditional text posts; video is even better.
02.
Moderate user comments on your page. Whether it’s a review or a comment, it’s your responsibility to respond regardless if it is negative or positive feedback. It’s public, so your following will see how you handle your customers.
03.
Maintain your credibility and reputation. It’s easy to share content to fill in your content schedule, but be sure to fact-check.
In 2014, the user engagement rate of Instagram was 15x higher than of Facebook and 25x higher than that of Twitter. Why? It is a platform that focuses solely on images and more recently, videos shorter than 60 seconds. Instagram allows brands to build a clear identity online with multimedia content. If you have a beautiful dispensary or an array of products, what better way to showcase it with beautiful photography and imagery to give more context to your audience. Just make sure to balance these with some other media you’re confident your audience would love.
Top 3 Tips for Instgram
01.
Include the location in each of your posts to build a visual gallery for your dispensary.
02.
Rather than ‘selling’ on Instagram, focus on sharing your brand’s vision and view of the world. Curate images that align with your target customer.
03.
Cross-promote your brand by connecting your Instagram to your business page on Facebook to leverage the full potential of a business profile. How-to here.
Twitter’s platform is great for connecting people and brands by posting and retweeting posts of common values and interests. While it’s very text-centric, don’t be afraid to use images as they are highly engaging on the platform and a great way to stand out.
Top 3 Tips for Twitter
01.
Spark conversation! Ask questions and use polls to engage and listen to your following online.
02.
If including links to an article, blog post or promotion, use an URL shortener like bit.ly to reserve characters for other copy like explaining where the link goes or a quote from the article.
03.
Curate and connect. While it’s important to post, it’s also best practice to retweet other users posts. It’s also an excellent way to appreciate your followers.
Massroots
Boasting 7+ million impressions a day, the Massroots platform is highly relevant to the cannabis consumer demographic. While their business profiles are still in Beta (get access here), Massroots is a fantastic platform to reach a highly relevant user base.
Top 3 Tips for Massroots
01.
Monitor featured hashtags to engage in the current conversation and get more eyes on your dispensary.
02.
Invest in high-quality photography. We’ve seen far too many lazy attempts at photos of fresh bud on this network. Stand out and get featured!
03.
Again, this is a great opportunity to repost your follower’s photos to build a stronger relationship with them and encourage them to use your unique hashtag.
YouTube
Youtube is the 2nd largest search engine online. As a cannabis business, you are limited in advertising, but nothing is stopping you from generating organic traffic but your SEO and your VSEO. First of all, video is the most engaging multimedia online. Second of all, using a video platform like YouTube to share these videos is a great way to attract new customers.
Top 3 Tips for YouTube
01.
Optimize your title and description to add SEO value to your video. Include a link to your dispensary website or social media page to generate traffic.
02.
Dependent of your resources invest in creating high-quality videos. Whether you’re using a smartphone or professional video camera, use natural light and minimize background noise to improve your results.
03.
If you choose to enable comments, most brands choose not to, don’t leave them unsupervised. Either ‘tend the garden’ or disable comments.
BMore than 5 million “article pins” are made per day. Pinterest, another highly engaging image-centric network, is a great platform to use for your dispensary should you have great content or products to offer on your website.
Top 3 Tips for Pinterest
01.
Don’t pin all your content at once. While we do suggest you pin throughout the day (use a scheduling software), you don’t want to post all at once or you’ll ‘flood’ your followers feed which is extremely aggravating.
02.
Utilize group boards and collaborate with brands your dispensary carries to create a conversation and community.
03.
If you are posting photos that are not your own, make sure to give the photographer or artist credit! We’ve seen far too many brands not give credit where credit is due.
Reddit is not a platform for you to blare your message or shout about your new products from the rooftop; it’s a discussion network. It goes by the slogan, “the front page of the internet”. It empowers users to curate and share the best content on the web in small communities known as subreddits.
Top 3 Tips for Reddit
01.
Find relevant subreddits and interact.
02.
Dispensaries have consumers who may need a better understanding of the products they buy or are looking to buy. You may want to look into directing inquiries to your Reddit to cultivate a discussion on your brands and products.
03.
Display news and events for your dispensary on your Reddit page. Your followers and brand advocates always want to be in the loop.
Blogging
Blogging is powerful in a variety of ways. It provides value to your customers, it’s rich in SEO value, and it’s a great way to interact with your followers. So, how does social media play into blogging? Analyze your posts across your social channels. Which were most engaging? Which had the most shares? Write a blog post on that piece of content! You already know it’s engaging so let’s take it one step further.
Social Doesn’t Stop There
You made it to the finish line! What are three things you’ve learned? Well, the learning doesn’t stop there. Now it’s time to implement, and we have one more lesson to instill in you regarding social media. Social media is not only about engaging online; it’s about bringing your customers and followers offline and into your shop. Regardless of which channels you choose to use, run promotions and encourage followers to visit you in-person. Making this connection is imperative to growing your brand and further building the relationship with your community!
Let’s take an in-depth look at each digital marketing channel.
Given the unique position of the cannabis industry, we’re only covering the digital marketing channels that are permitted to use by ancillary businesses, brands, dispensary owners, mobile applications, producers, processors, and websites. There is a legal gray area when marketing cannabis companies, and you should regularly reference the laws within your state before starting any campaign.
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