10 Mistakes Dispensary Owners Make With Social Media - Part 1
Despite the ever present potential of a crack down from Meta, it is possible to be successful on social media. Just don't make these mistakes.
After another big news week and further confirmation that the Biden Administration is moving cannabis into Schedule III, it seems folks are excited abut the future of the industry again.
Over the last month since the initial leak of rescheduling news I’ve felt a noticeable shift in industry sentiments.
It seems that folks are excited that the end of federal cannabis prohibition is drawing closer and even more are excited that small operators may finally have tax parity with small businesses in other industries. Considering that retailers are required to pay upwards of 70% in taxes on their gross revenue, this will be critical relief for many.
However, even as some anticipate the ability to take a breath, those who are watching the chess board form see that the market is about to get even more competitive as new entrants and new money prepare to come off the sidelines.
Despite the headlines about the lucrative “green rush”, the cannabis industry is not just another rapidly growing sector of the American economy, it’s also an extremely competitive (and at times brutal) marketplace.
With more than 31,000 active cannabis licenses in the U.S. (according to CannaBizMedia’s database), it can be difficult for your brand to stand out to potential customers.
Even in less complicated and competitive industries, it’s hard enough for small businesses to survive.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 20% of new businesses fail during the first two years of being open, 45% fail during the first five years, and a staggering 65% will go out of business in the first 10 years.
That’s pretty tough odds.
In this treacherous landscape, dispensary owners need to leverage every tool at their disposal to ensure their brand not only survives but thrives. One of the most critical yet often mishandled tools is social media. Effective social media strategies can significantly impact a dispensary's success, but many owners fall into common traps that undermine their efforts.
To help you navigate this complex terrain, I've compiled a list of the top 10 mistakes that dispensary owners make with social media. Avoiding these pitfalls can set your business on the path to long-term success online.
Before we dive into the list, I want to remind folks that registration for the "Weed Doesn't Sell Itself" live training series is now open!
This comprehensive series is designed to equip you with the skills and strategies needed to excel digitally in the competitive cannabis market. As a special offer, those who register this week will receive an exclusive first-mover discount.
Don’t miss out on this opportunity to gain valuable insights and take your business to the next level.
Now, let's get into Part 1 of Top 10 Mistakes Dispensary Owners Make With Social Media:
#1 - 🚩 Don't start early enough.
In the fast-paced world of social media (and in life), timing is everything.
One of the most common mistakes I see dispensary owners make is not starting their social media efforts early enough.
Waiting until your doors are open to build your online presence puts you at a significant disadvantage. Frankly, even if you’re the only game in town, waiting until your doors open leaves money, and more importantly, community, on the table.
One of the easiest shifts I coach people to make in their heads is to not get overwhelmed thinking about all of the “content” you need to “create”.
Instead think about all of the opportunities you have throughout the day to let people in behind the curtain.
Social media has made us all voyeurs.
We will watch friends, family and sometimes random acquaintances live their lives from afar and rarely ever speak with them — but when we do, we often feel like we’ve been living their lives right beside them.
We also love to root on people that we like.
If you give an opportunity for your prospective customers to actually be part of your journey (even if vicariously), they will feel a sense of loyalty and community with your dispensary and be one of the first ones in line on opening day.
Most of us are glued to our phones from the time we wake up until the time we go to sleep and despite cannabis companies still facing discrimination from social platforms, social media remains one of the cheapest opportunities for low/no-cost brand awareness and engagement.
This is why I’m an advocate of the Gary Vee school of thought: Document. Don’t Create.
If you haven’t ever seen this video below, take some time to watch it and let your brain shift into this new empowering mindset that says that you don’t have to have a big team or have an operational storefront to build an audience on social media — all you need is yourself, your smart phone and the willingness to humble yourself enough to post every day, consistently, even when you aren’t getting any engagement at first.
Building a strong, engaged following on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok takes time and consistent effort, which can be hard for a lot of cannabis operators when they know that they could get shut down at any time.
This is why documenting your journey and starting early allows you to generate buzz, create anticipation, and establish a connection with potential customers before they even set foot in your store.
It also provides the opportunity to fine-tune your messaging, branding, and content strategy, ensuring that you're ready to hit the ground running when you launch. Just as importantly, it allows you to understand the nuances of each platform and how different audiences respond to different types of content.
To avoid the mistake of waiting too long, begin your social media strategy as soon as possible. Ideally as soon as you decide to go after a license, but at least 2-3 months before your planned opening so you can use the time to:
Develop a Content Calendar: Plan out your posts, stories, and updates in advance to maintain a consistent presence.
Engage with Your Audience: Start conversations, respond to comments, and build relationships with your followers.
Highlight Your Journey: Share behind-the-scenes content of your build-out, product selection, and team preparations to create a sense of excitement and investment in your success.
By starting early, you'll build a loyal community that’s eager to support your dispensary from day one. Remember, the earlier you start, the stronger your social media foundation will be.
#2 - 🚩 Don't properly invest in marketing team + budget.
I want to start off by saying that “properly investing in marketing team and budget” sits at the intersection of both an objective and subjective statement….but let me unpack it a bit.
We all do what we can with what we’ve got but we can’t be having champagne taste on a PBR budget.
As entrepreneurs, we are used to wearing any hat that needs to fit and often times that can mean waiting until the absolute last minute to hire for tasks we think we can do on our own.
I’m here to tell you that while I can appreciate the need to bootstrap, eventually you’ve gotta hire some staff (or a contractor) who’s full-time job is to think about marketing for your business.
Marketing isn’t just about creating a few posts or running occasional ads; it’s a comprehensive effort that requires consistent strategy, creativity, and analysis. When you try to juggle marketing on top of your other responsibilities, it often leads to subpar results.
Here’s why investing properly in your marketing team and budget is crucial:
Expertise Matters: Marketing professionals bring specialized skills and knowledge that can elevate your brand. They stay updated with the latest trends, algorithm shifts, and best practices, ensuring your strategies are effective and up-to-date.
Consistency is Key: Effective marketing requires a consistent and cohesive approach. A dedicated team or contractor can ensure your messaging is uniform across all channels, maintaining your brand’s voice and image.
Focus on Core Business: By delegating marketing tasks, you free up valuable time to focus on other critical aspects of your business, such as operations, customer service, and growth strategies.
Data-Driven Decisions: A skilled marketing team can analyze data to understand what’s working and what isn’t. They can adjust strategies based on performance metrics, ensuring your marketing efforts are always optimized for the best results.
Creativity and Innovation: Professional marketers bring fresh ideas and creative solutions to the table. They can develop campaigns that capture attention, engage your audience, and drive conversions in ways that might not occur to someone juggling multiple roles.
I recently read a book by Dan Martell called “Buy Back Your Time” and it talks about the need for CEO and owners to let go of tasks that are not within their zone of genius. Marketing is often one of those tasks.
By investing in a dedicated marketing team, you're not just buying back your time; you're investing in the growth and success of your business.
Proper investment in marketing means allocating a budget that allows for not only hiring skilled professionals but also for executing comprehensive strategies that include market research, content creation, advertising, and continuous optimization.
Remember, the goal is not to do more with less but to do more with more. With the right team and budget, you can achieve exponential growth and position your business as a leader in the industry. So, take the leap and invest properly in your marketing team and budget—it’s a crucial step toward long-term success.
Let’s explore what a fully resourced marketing team could look like (I call this my magic wand scenario), down to a leaner team of 1-2 dedicated people, and why it’s unfair to expect one person alone to handle everything.
Fully Resourced Marketing Team (Magic Wand Scenario)
Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) or Fractional CMO: Provides overall strategic direction, oversees the marketing vision, and ensures alignment with business goals.
Marketing Director or Creative Director: Manages the team, drives strategy, and oversees production to ensure cohesive branding and messaging.
Marketing Manager #1 (Website/Blogs, Email, Social, SMS): Handles digital content, manages social media platforms, email campaigns, and SMS marketing.
Marketing Manager #2 (Partnerships, Influencer Marketing, External/Event Marketing, Support Role): Focuses on building partnerships, managing influencer relationships, and organizing external events to expand brand reach.
Marketing Manager #3 or Contractor (Graphic Design Specialization): Creates visually appealing graphics for social media, websites, emails, and other marketing materials.
Marketing Manager #4 or Contractor (Videography/Editing Specialization): Produces high-quality video content, from filming to editing, for various marketing campaigns.
I fully recognize this is a much larger marketing team than most normal dispensaries are investing in, but I wanted to underline how many different types of specializations there are on a marketing team and why it’s completely unrealistic to expect one person to do it all.
That being said, even if you combined a few of these roles, you are still looking at a three person team if you want to cover just the basics of marketing in 2024.
Lean Marketing Team
I would venture to guess that most dispensaries don’t even have a three person marketing team. Whether this is an actual budget issue or just a resource allocation/prioritization issue matters less than the fact that operating with a lean marketing team means you are making a trade-off for less quality or less quantity — and sometimes both.
If you’re operating with a smaller team, here’s how most people think of it:
Marketing Generalist: A versatile individual who can handle multiple aspects of marketing, such as social media management, content creation, and email marketing. They must be skilled in strategy, execution, and analysis.
Freelancers or Contractors: Supplement the generalist with specialized skills as needed, such as graphic design, videography, or SEO. Hiring freelancers allows you to access expertise without the cost of full-time employees.
The Reality of a Single Person Marketing Team
The idea that one person can effectively manage all aspects of marketing for a dispensary is a tough reality.
Here’s why:
Limited Bandwidth: One person can only do so much. Juggling multiple roles often leads to burnout and diminished quality of work.
Lack of Specialization: Marketing encompasses a wide range of skills—social media, content creation, graphic design, video production, SEO, and more. It’s unrealistic to expect one person to excel in all these areas.
Inconsistent Efforts: With so many tasks to handle, consistency can suffer. A single person may struggle to maintain a steady flow of high-quality content and engagement.
What does your marketing team look like? Are you just letting a budtender manage your social media or is there someone who is dedicated to building a strategy for your success?
Even if you are a marketing team of one, you need to make sure you are properly investing in that one person so that they have all the tools and skills they need at their fingertips.
There are a lot of courses like Weed Doesn’t Sell Itself that can teach your staff the skills and strategies they need to be successful, as well as pieces of software that can help them become more efficient, irrespective of how big your team is.
#3 - 🚩 Say things like "we need to go viral" without doing anything interesting.
If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say “we need to go viral”, I could spend a lot more time with my kids but instead here I am trying to teach people that the point of your business being on social media is not to “go viral”.
This mindset is one rooted in a 2010’s way of doing social media that was focused on vanity metrics like follower count and “likes”, but the real valuable currency on social media today (especially when you are trying to drive new business) is engagement —not just potential reach.
Sure, there are definitely growth hacks that you can employ to have a higher percentage chance of going viral on these platforms but most people are trying to do that before ever figuring out why they want to go viral and even more importantly, why anyone should care.
Going viral should never be the primary objective of your social media strategy. It's a byproduct of creating genuinely interesting, valuable, and engaging content. When your focus is solely on virality, you often miss the mark on what really matters—building a loyal and engaged audience.
Here’s what you should focus on instead:
Value Over Virality: Create content that provides real value to your audience. This could be educational, entertaining, or inspirational. When your content resonates with people, they are more likely to share it, which organically increases your chances of going viral.
Authenticity Matters: People connect with authenticity and people buy from people, not logos. Share your brand’s story, values, and mission in a genuine way and one that highlights the humans in your business. Authentic content tends to build stronger connections and trust with your audience.
Engagement is Key: Prioritize engagement over sheer reach. Respond to comments, interact with your followers, and build a community. Engaged followers are more likely to become loyal customers and advocates for your brand, plus the algorithms prioritize pages with the most engagement because it means it’s keeping people on their platforms.
Consistency Over Flashiness: Regularly posting high-quality content is more effective than trying to hit one viral home run. Consistency helps keep your brand top of mind and reinforces your messaging over time. It also trains the platform algorithms to expect new content from you regularly, meaning they will continue to serve it up to new viewers.
Experiment and Adapt: Don’t be afraid to try new things and see what works. Failing quickly is one of the best ways to get good at social media. Use data and feedback to adapt your strategy. Track your engagement rate across posts and make sure you gather insights from the comments on your posts. Sometimes, unexpected content can strike a chord and gain traction — that’s when you need to double down.
So next time you think about going viral, shift your mindset towards creating meaningful content that resonates with your audience. Focus on building lasting relationships and delivering value. Virality will follow when you consistently meet and exceed the needs and expectations of your audience.
Part 2 of 10 Mistakes Dispensary Owners Make With Social Media coming soon…
I want to give a special shout out to these awesome sponsors who are supporting our newsletter even in our infancy.
If your company/brand is interested in sponsoring, please reach out!
Did you know that CannabisCMO is partnered with Marijuana Moment to offer special discounts to our readers on advertising in their newsletter and on their website?
Interested in getting in front of 80k active subscribers + millions of readers who come to MarijuanaMoment.net for the latest cannabis industry and advocacy news?
Wrap Up:
Thanks for reading another edition of #CannabisCMO!
If you like what you are reading, there are three things you can do to help us grow:
Follow us on LinkedIN
Subscribe to CannabisCMO YouTube channel
Become a paid subscriber today!
As always, please feel free to leave some comments here on Substack, shoot us a message on our LinkedIn page or reach out directly to kaliko@thndrstrmstrategies.com