High-vertising - How Influencers Are the Future For Thai dispensaries
Tips and tricks to advertising a business that keeps getting banned.
The cannabis industry is growing rapidly, and Thailand is no exception. Bloomberg forecasted that the medical marijuana and hemp industry will be worth USD 1.2 billion by 2025. But if you're a Thai cannabis dispensary, you know that it can be tough to get the word out there. Cannabis social media pages and influencers are in a legal gray area when it comes to promoting the products and services they offer. They cannot directly promote these items, but can talk about how great certain brands or strains are on so long as there is no mention of sales of illicit goods.
Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter & TikTok restrict ads related specifically towards cannabis, leaving many dispensaries unsure about how to run their social media marketing. Although in October 2018, Facebook revised their rules to allow cannabis business pages to appear in users’ search results, there are still a lot of extremely vague rules that dispensaries and cannabis-related brands need to follow.
Meta's Current Policy:
"Ads must not promote the sale or use of illicit or recreational drugs, or other unsafe substances, products or supplements, as determined by Meta in its sole discretion."
*(note the term 'sole discretion' used.)
With new dispensaries and cannabis-related brands opening weekly, incorporating influencers and content creators into your content strategy is a sure-fire way to amplify your brand message beyond your own audience and introduce your product or service to new communities for the first time. By partnering with the right influencers, you can reach a large audience easily, and creative influencer agencies like Kommune are the best way for you to get ahead.
Cannabis marketers reports that influencer marketing is one of the best-performing channels in terms of ROI and 75% say it increased both online and in-store traffic. Why? Because more than 60% of millennials (a.k.a. most likely your target audience) say that purchase from brands that they like and follow on social media.
5 Reasons Influencers
should be your dispensary's best friend
1. Brand Awareness: Influencers are an essential tool for dispensaries to use in order reach their target consumer while visualizing your brand to millions. Investing time into building a strong visual brand identity and personality is critical across channels for consistency. Repetitious messaging should be an integral part of how you communicate so there's no confusion about who your dispensary is and what value proposition(s) make up your offerings.
2. Knowledge: They know social media do's and don'ts. Influencers are the best resource for knowing what type of content will do well on social media and what content will get you banned. As they are also able to tell you when something is against policy, so that can help avoid any future headaches.
3. Content Creation: Save your time and money in planning, producing, editing, and posting content by leveraging influencers. Focus on the quality of content, rather than quantity. This allows you to connect with your community in a way that drives more impactful relationships and keeps them wanting more.
4. Provide Insights: Especially if the influencer IS your target customer, they can provide valuable insight from both their personal perspective and their followers. Find out on what works and what doesn't when it comes to marketing cannabis dispensaries immediately after each campaign to avoid inefficient spending.
5. Advocacy: Influencers can expedite advocacy and loyalty with your brand by turning it into a lifestyle. Keeping your community top of mind will always be beneficial for your brand in the long run, because the people in it won’t just be community members—they’ll be your biggest and loudest brand advocates.
As the cannabis industry matures, it’s important for brands to look towards long-term strategies that will help them stay ahead of the competition. One such strategy being influencer marketing. By working with key opinion leaders in the cannabis space, Thai brands and dispensaries can create a lasting impression on consumers and solidify their position as market leaders. If you want to jump-start your brand’s growth, contact Kommune Agency today – we would be happy to help!