Case Study: Online Marketing Within Cannabis Guidelines
Opportunity
Cannabis is a growing industry across the U.S. As of April 2022, 18 states have legalized the use of recreational cannabis for individuals over age 21. Additionally, medical cannabis is now legal in 37 U.S. states. Although several states have approved both medical and recreational marijuana, there are numerous difficulties when marketing online and across social channels due to cannabis being federally illegal. Social media’s dominance has long been an exhausting feat for cannabis hemp companies because of strict regulations. Brands are held to higher standards across social media than users which makes it particularly difficult for companies in regulated categories, like cannabis.
High Mountain is a local cannabis dispensary in Billings, Montana that approached Kinetic with an opportunity to garner awareness around their new opening. First and foremost, the client asked for a heavy social media presence and looked to Kinetic to develop brand assets and create Facebook and Instagram accounts six weeks prior to the opening.
Actions
Kinetic partnered with High Mountain for a photo shoot and to create brand assets to execute across their website and social media channels. With deep knowledge around the strict guidelines within Facebook, Kinetic developed a social media content strategy that would not terminate or shadow ban their presences across either Facebook or Instagram.
Kinetic strategically created and managed the High Mountain Facebook and Instagram accounts six weeks before the opening of the dispensary, creating monthly content calendars that focused on educational, cultural and seasonal content. Within the social media content strategy Kinetic ensured that the Facebook standards and best practices were carefully followed.
Kinetic concluded that copy could not:
- Include false or misleading claims
- Promote overconsumption
- Depict consumption whatsoever
- Promote health or therapeutic claims
- Include imagery appealing to children
- Include games or competitions related to consumption
Kinetic consistently safeguarded High Mountain’s brand presence across both Facebook and Instagram providing community management guidelines and carefully following cannabis category regulations while also adhering to social media platform policies.
Results
Kinetic responsibly complied with all of Meta’s policies and guidelines and executed High Mountain’s social media strategy beautifully, reaching over 20,000 people on Facebook and Instagram. High Mountain’s social channels were never flagged or shadow banned throughout the social campaign. Rather, it resulted in high engagement rates across both social media channels. Facebook maintained an 8% engagement rate throughout the campaign, performing 4.5% over the industry benchmark, while Instagram garnered a high 22% engagement rate. Within the strict guidelines of Meta, Kinetic withheld a heavy social media presence throughout the six week campaign flight, meticulously using verbiage that would correlate with Facebook’s strict guidelines. The campaign garnered awareness in the community for the upcoming opening of the dispensary and was a high performing cannabis campaign.
Let Kinetic produce your next digital marketing strategy for your company’s industry. Download a PDF of this case study here.
