Facebook and Instagram, both Meta company assets, have deemed any advertisement related to the sale of or production of any federally illegal substance as disallowed on their platform. While you may catch an ad every now and then from a brand or cultivator, these ads are most often shut down and more often than not their pages are deleted. Yet, there are some nutrient and ancillary businesses, like grow supplies and lighting, that have been able to successfully advertise on these platforms. Many people often ask if Facebook and Instagram advertising for cannabis is possible. The common answer is no, but that’s incorrect.
Advertising Cannabis on Facebook and Instagram Can be Done
Doing so presents a slight risk but so does managing a cannabis brand or dispensary brand page on Instagram. Even if you don’t directly advertise through your brand page, companies can leverage the powerful targeting tools from some of the largest ad platforms on the planet through creative brand integration marketing.
Here are three tips to have your brand leverage Facebook and Instagram advertising for cannabis brands.
- Building a “Non-Cannabis” Brand
- Influencer Campaigns
- Creative Brand Integrations
“Non-Cannabis” Brands
The most common of these is an apparel business. You must pay close attention to state regulations. Some (like Washington) technically disallow cannabis brands to create a separate LLC and apparel business to circumvent advertising laws. When it comes to social media advertising, the state regulatory body doesn’t have any authority over these. They especially have no authority if it’s concerning a non-cannabis business license (they likely only oversee cannabis, tobacco, and/or alcohol. Not one of those businesses? They can’t touch that business then). Plus, if these laws were written in stone, Cookies could not exist. This is because it was a clothing brand before it was a recreational cannabis brand.
An apparel brand is easy to create a logo and name that is incredibly close to your cannabis brand. Build lifestyle images and apparel photos that have absolutely nothing to do at a surface level with cannabis. Now you have a page that is ready to run ads on Facebook and Instagram without setting off any red flags or algorithms. You can target 21+ people that are interested in both cannabis and interests around your brand’s core demographics. This provides an incredibly powerful tool to put your brand name, look, and logo in front of 21+ people that are most likely cannabis consumers, and in your home state, city, or up to .5 miles or more from all of your dispensary accounts.
Influencer Marketing Campaign
While influencer marketing campaigns are not technically Facebook or Instagram “ads” per se, they are paid ads within the platforms and you can target demographics by choosing the right accounts.
You find an influencer whose audience is within your target geo-location, age range, and interest group. You pay them to create content and post about your brand while tagging your page or using a call-to-action.
Most of these gigs are paid half up front and half on delivery with screenshots of proof of posting. Always ask to see a screenshot of analytics 24 hours after the post was made and make sure to sign a contract that details when, where, how, and how long the post(s) will live. The most important part of influencer marketing is building the right relationships. Working with the same influencer or groups of influencers over time truly helps penetrate the market. Do you buy something the first time you ever hear about it? Probably not; you have to see it a few times to follow the marketing funnel (become aware, consider, convert).
Creative Brand Integrations
Creative brand integrations are when working with a platform or company that is not a cannabis brand you can access these advertising tools pretty easily. Whether you do a collaborative product offering or simply access their channels, they can run ads through their pages and you cannot. You can put your name and logo on the visual content and within the ad (as long as it doesn’t say cannabis/marijuana/weed/pot etc. within the logo) and get access to these tools.
Some successful ways to do this include:
- Powering local culture content that directly relates to the brand’s target audience
- Spotify playlists
- Music collaborations
- Clothing collaborations
Alternative Case Study: Cookies’ Berner has built the most recognized weed brand in the world. On top of that, he has access to growth hacking on social media by using all of the above options. It was a clothing line first and their clothing page actively runs ads on clothing. Berner is on tour with the Cookies logo plastered on a tour bus (which also appears in social media posts and ads). He puts up flyers/posters, and his music can be promoted everywhere which gains access to these tools. He also works with a ton of artists in the game and gets them to post his content which is a version of influencer marketing.
General Tips
Demographics
Know who you are trying to reach, where they are at, and what are they interested in. This helps choose what platform, what influencer, or what advertising interests to use. What is the positioning of your product and who is the ideal consumer? Where are they? Please don’t say, everybody… that would be an expensive campaign.
Keywords
Do not EVER use the word cannabis, photos/videos of cannabis, photos/videos of consumption, or pot leaves in your logo. If your brand’s name has “kush,” “weed,” or “cannabis” in it or the logo and it can’t live without it, then sadly you will not be able to use any of the above outlets except possibly influencer marketing (social media will be difficult for you in general). All of these platforms’ algorithms have red flags for keywords (and that includes what’s in the visual… yes these algorithms are scary).
If your name is “Ben’s Cannabis” and your logo is a big font “Ben’s” with cannabis under it, you can remove “cannabis” from the logo and use a “safer” option that looks identical and still presents “Ben’s” to the viewer. If targeting right and using other channels, you don’t need to drill “cannabis” into the consumer’s mind to subconsciously have them thinking of “Ben’s” or finding what it is.
Insights
Whether you’re running the campaign or working with an influencer or marketing agency, make sure to get insights and look over them. Learn what worked, what didn’t, and what to do better next time.
It’s Just One Campaign
Will one campaign catapult your business into the hall of fame of consumer adoption? Probably not, although it could! Marketing takes repetition and not every campaign will perform the same (does every one of your product SKUs sell exactly the same?).
Marketing Funnel
Different parts of marketing directly address different parts of the funnel. If you always run awareness campaigns, people will know your brand but they might not be converting or doing much more than seeing the logo a few times (and there is still a lot of value in this. The more known, the more likely you’ll be considered). You also can’t climb the ladder without going on the proper steps, a consumer is very unlikely to convert without considering and they can’t consider something they don’t know.
- Awareness: people have to become aware of your brand
- Consideration: they see more of it and start to check out websites, Google, or social media about brand/products
- Conversion: they now want to purchase
Manage Expectations
Cannabis is a federally illegal substance. Instagram and Facebook hate it. Get over it. Learn how to use these tools but also be prepared to have to adjust and roll with the punches. It is what it is on these platforms.
How to Run Paid Facebook and Instagram Advertising for Cannabis Brands (Video)
As always, RMR and our partner agency can execute, consult, or manage any of these ad types. We work with some of the biggest brands in cannabis and are actively assisting companies in all three ways. We know they work because we do them! Reach out to learn how your brand can leverage the most popular channels in the world to grow.
Need Help Running Facebook or Instagram Advertising For Cannabis?
Contact Us At info@respectmyregion.com
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