Can You Advertise Cannabis on Social Media?

Given the current federal status of cannabis in the US, many businesses are understandably hesitant to support advertising, selling, or funding cannabis in any way.

But this doesn’t stop legitimate businesses from promoting their wares on the platform. You can most certainly “sell weed” on Facebook and other social media platforms if you know the rules and follow them.

If you’re a legitimate purveyor of cannabis and cannabis products, here’s what you need to know.

Why Social Media Is a Great Place to Promote a Cannabis Brand

Social media can be beneficial for any business. That’s especially true for something like cannabis, where the following and culture are strong and vocal. Social media platforms like Facebook can be indispensable for a weed shop to get the word out and direct people toward their product.

It can help companies:

• Improve reach – Almost two million people use Facebook daily. And that’s just one platform.
• More website traffic – Social media is a great place to meet people online and guide them to your website or store.
• Building a trusting relationship – When you share helpful information on social media, you become an influencer in space. People trust you for advice in your industry.

It’s this trust that companies leverage to grow their business. But it’s critical to understand that trust comes first. For the most part, people don’t buy things through social media because you tell them to “check out our selection”. When you tap into the social aspect of social media, you build trust and interest in your brand. This leads to sales.

With that said, you’ll have to follow the rules when advertising a New Jersey dispensary on Facebook.

The Risks of Promoting on Social Media

• Social media will generally not approve an advertisement that directly mentions marijuana or any of its alternate names.
• An ad image whose primary focus is cannabis is likely to get rejected. You may be able to show a larger image with a decentralized focus on weed. But the final decision is up to the moderators.
• Repeat rejections could impact your future submissions. It’s critical to understand this. If you try to push the boundaries too much, it may make it harder to slide innocent advertisements through.
• Your account could get banned if you don’t play by the rules.

That all sounds really awful. So can you really advertise on social media or not?

How to Work within the Restrictions

Like just about any industry, if you’re discreet and creative, you can advertise just about anywhere. You have to learn how to work with the platform, not against it. Here are some of the ways you can do that and stay in good standing on the platform.

1. Pay Attention to Wording

Mind the words you use. Words like “marijuana”, “cannabis”, “ganja,”, etc. are out. Instead, use creative terminology that will be clear to your target audience but obscure to others.

2. Don’t Make Health Claims

If you’re in the US, that will get you in trouble with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This could result in fines. And your preferred social media platform wouldn’t like that negative attention either. So they’ll try to identify and block ads and posts that make health claims.

3. Use a Funnel

Focus on creating a conversion funnel vs. direct selling. This is just good social media marketing anyway. Attract your audience at the top of the funnel with content that’s only loosely related to cannabis, if at all. For example,

• How to improve sleep
• Reduce chronic pain
• What causes digestive problems?
• Get more out of your vacation

Grow your organic audience.

Even if you guide people off-site to learn more, be careful with health claims on your website for the same reasons listed above. With that said, you can guide your audience deeper into the funnel off-site, where you can actually share your offerings without explicitly stating they cure or treat anything.

4. Use Social to Improve Website SEO

You can also use social media to improve the performance of your website on Google. As you send traffic from social media to your website by posting engage-worthy content, Google sees this traffic. It will influence Google’s algorithm, so you become more visible in search results.

5. Use Relevant Hashtags to Increase Awareness

Hashtags improve your social media search engine optimization (SEO) when you use them strategically and wisely. People use hashtags to search for certain types of content specifically. And your audiences’ interest in certain hashtags influences the algorithm, so it naturally shows your audience more of your organic posts.

Research the hashtags your audience is using relevant to your product and use them to increase visibility. Now, you’re advertising on social media and can leverage this engagement to grow your cannabis brand.