Enhancing brand visibility is no child's play. Content creators need to roll up their sleeves and work diligently to ramp up their social media presence. However, in doing so, they also need to follow certain rules to ensure that their posts do not clash with the community guidelines of various social media channels. Instagram is hands down one of the most widely used social media outlets to enhance their reach and bolster their image. Indeed, a well-established presence on this platform can work wonders for a business.
However, for cannabis entrepreneurs, the situation can turn a bit disheartening. Instagram for cannabis store has become problematic mainly due to its stranglehold on cannabis businesses. It can be seen in the form of shadowbanning the content of such companies, which hinders their efforts to enhance their reach on this popular platform. Surely there must be some way around it. More importantly, what does shadowban entails?
What Is Shadowbanning?
It refers to blocking the content of a specific user on social media in a way that the user doesn't know that it's happening. Once shadowbanned, social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram will hide your posts from occurring on hashtags. If you are shadowbanned on IG, your posts will not show on other's feeds till those people follow you.
Put simply; shadowbanning is the ultimate nightmare of content creators and marketeers. It dramatically lowers your page's ability to be found by new followers. Worst still, you will not even get a notification from Instagram about you being shadowbanned. The clever algorithm will quietly do its work, leaving you stranded in darkness.
If Instagram deletes your posts for it being against their community guidelines multiple times, you may find your entire account getting permanently deleted soon. Suffice to say that you do not, in any case, want that to happen. So, how can you get your way around it? Well, by following certain tips and tricks.
Instagram for Cannabis Store - How to Use the Algorithm for Your Advantage
Let's call a spade a spade. If you are a business operating with the cannabis industry and posting images of cannabis and its products, Instagram won't like them. Consequently, you will have to bear the burden of becoming shadowbanned. But you cannot deny that this social media platform is a significant component of your social media marketing strategy. Given below are tips that you can use for promoting your business on it.
1. Focus on content diversity
First, assess what your business delivers to the customers. Then, compile a bunch of pictures and videos that reflect your customer experiences and your brand vision. When you find out how CBD Products your brand caters to the needs of its customers, you will be able to uncover the customer experience that your business showcases.
With this outlook, share images of your staff, dispensary activities, the honours you have received, and what you advocate. All of this should express the lifestyle that your audience desire to experience when they interact with your brand. Your aim should be to collaborate in the cannabis culture on Instagram actively instead of just flaunting your products. In short, share lifestyle, experiences, and people on the IG page.
2. Leverage Instagram tools
There's no shortage of tools that Instagram provides to the brands. You can use tools like Instagram Stories, Instagram Guides, Reels, and Carousel posts to enhance your engagement with your audience and help them get to know you better. All these tools have different features and are great for promoting your brand in different ways.
For example, using Instagram Guides, you can provide more comprehensive content like tutorials and frequently asked questions. While with Reels, you can create incredibly captivating 15 to 30-second videos about your brand and publish them. If you want to post some long-form video content, feel free to use IGTV.
3. Become a responsible hashtag user
Here's where you need to tread carefully. You cannot use popular hashtags like #cannabis, #weed, #cannabiscommunity, and many more on your posts. It's a sure-shot way of making yourself shadowbanned. You need to carefully phrase your hashtags, even if that means taking out the hashtags of cannabis completely. Turn innovative and use unique words like C*nnabis in your Facebook and Instagram pages. Instead of weed, write ouid or st0ner for a stoner.
4. Make your content informative.
Who doesn't love to acquire knowledge and information? Facebook and Instagram are always up for it. Accredited publications that bring studies and research on cannabis do not get shadowbanned primarily because they are educational in nature. Take a cue from such educational accounts and gear your content to educate people about terpenes interactions and legal rules. It will give you an air of authority. Impart new knowledge to your followers in every single video of yours.
Today, hemp and cannabis companies are striding ahead in removing the stereotypes associated with these products. It also means that there are loads of incorrect information about cannabis and hemp products that need to be rectified. Leverage it and start building a bond of trust with your audience.
5. Don't commit the mistakes you can easily avoid
You will find the environment of Instagram for cannabis store becoming more unfavourable for your business if you keep committing blunders regarding your content on this platform. Here are some of the errors that you can rectify.
The Takeaway?
Do not fall into the trap of getting inspired by a business that is successfully able to promote its cannabis-related sales content on IG. Know that according to Instagram's rules, posting any product or service related to cannabis is not correct. Lastly, educate yourself on the new rules and regulations so that you do not make any mistake.
Need some help to wade through the new cannabis laws and get ahead in your marketing game? Contact Promarketer, a marketing company that specialises in enabling businesses to gain more traction online while being compliant with the laws.
Marijuana is also known as pot, grass and weed but its formal name is actually cannabis. It comes from the leaves and flowers of the plant Cannabis sativa. It is considered an illegal substance in the US and many countries and possession of marijuana is a crime punishable by law. The FDA classifies marijuana as Schedule I, substances which have a very high potential for abuse and have no proven medical use. Over the years several studies claim that some substances found in marijuana have medicinal use, especially in terminal diseases such as cancer and AIDS. This started a fierce debate over the pros and cons of the use of medical marijuana. To settle this debate, the Institute of Medicine published the famous 1999 IOM report entitled Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base. The report was comprehensive but did not give a clear cut yes or no answer. The opposite camps of the medical marijuana issue often cite part of the report in their advocacy arguments. However, although the report clarified many things, it never settled the controversy once and for all.
Let's look at the issues that support why medical marijuana should be legalized.
(1) Marijuana is a naturally occurring herb and has been used from South America to Asia as an herbal medicine for millennia. In this day and age when the all natural and organic are important health buzzwords, a naturally occurring herb like marijuana might be more appealing to and safer for consumers than synthetic drugs.
(2) Marijuana has strong therapeutic potential. Several studies, as summarized in the IOM report, have observed that cannabis can be used as analgesic, e.g. to treat pain. A few studies showed that THC, a marijuana component is effective in treating chronic pain experienced by cancer patients. However, studies on acute pain such as those experienced during surgery and trauma have inconclusive reports. A few studies, also summarized in the IOM report, have demonstrated that some marijuana components have antiemetic properties and are, therefore, effective against nausea and vomiting, which are common side effects of cancer chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Some researchers are convinced that cannabis has some therapeutic potential against neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis. Specific compounds extracted from marijuana have strong therapeutic potential. Cannobidiol (CBD), a major component of marijuana, has been shown to have antipsychotic, anticancer and antioxidant properties. Other cannabinoids have been shown to prevent high intraocular pressure (IOP), a major risk factor for glaucoma. Drugs that contain active ingredients present in marijuana but have been synthetically produced in the laboratory have been approved by the US FDA. One example is Marinol, an antiemetic agent indicated for nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy. Its active ingredient is dronabinol, a synthetic delta-9- tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
(3) One of the major proponents of medical marijuana is the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), a US-based organization. Many medical professional societies and organizations have expressed their support. As an example, The American College of Physicians, recommended a re-evaluation of the Schedule I classification of marijuana in their 2008 position paper. ACP also expresses its strong support for research into the therapeutic role of marijuana as well as exemption from federal criminal prosecution; civil liability; or professional sanctioning for physicians who prescribe or dispense medical marijuana in accordance with state law. Similarly, protection from criminal or civil