Cannabis and Instagram – Boosting Your Social Presence

At Apex Trading, we’ve found that wholesale cannabis businesses can gain quite a bit of exposure and a good following of their content with Instagram.

What is Instagram?
If you’re not familiar with Instagram it’s a free photo and video sharing app available on Apple iOS, Android and Windows Phone. With it, people and businesses can upload photos or videos to share with all of their followers or with a select group. Wholesale cannabis businesses, such as cultivators and extractors, can post images of their products, production methods, staff and more to create a following. We’ll talk more about that under the Strategies for Posting to Instagram section below.

How to Set Up an Instagram Account
To create an Instagram account from the app:

  1. Download the Instagram app from the App Store (iPhone) or Google Play Store (Android).
  2. Once the app is installed, tap to open it.
  3. Tap Sign Up With Email or Phone Number (Android) or Create New Account (iPhone), then enter your email address or phone number (which will require a confirmation code) and tap Next. You can also tap Log in with Facebook to sign up with your Facebook account.
  4. If you register with your email or phone number, create a username and password, fill out your profile info and then tap Next. If you register with Facebook, you’ll be prompted to log into your Facebook account if you’re currently logged out. See more here

Pro Tip: When creating your Instagram account name, try to get as close to your company’s name as possible. You can use underscores, dashes or other characters to help.

Strategies for Posting to Instagram
There are hundreds of articles available online to help you figure out strategies for what types of content to post, frequency of posting, Stories versus Feed posting, and so much more. However, a good place to start is with three posts a week. You can mix up what you post, but highlighting your products, your brand’s personality, and members of your team are good places to start. Unlike Facebook, Instagram is a space for sharing original content. That is, sharing pictures and video you take and is less about sharing memes or news. For example, if you’re a cultivator, you can show the growth and production phases of your plants as well as those glamour shots of those beautiful, finished nugs.

Instagram and Cannabis
There are some challenges with Instagram and cannabis. Many b2b cannabis companies posting content on Instagram are careful to use disclaimers of “Adult 21+ only” “nothing for sale” and state licensing language on their profile bios. However and because we’re posting cannabis-related content, Instagram can suspend your account at any time. Just how they go about reviewing and suspending cannabis company accounts is a bit of a mystery. One way to play it safe on Instagram is by emulating others in your space that have been around for awhile and have a good-sized following. The loose reasoning being, if they didn’t get taken down, they were doing things right, though that’s not a guarantee for keeping an account safe.

Wholesale cannabis companies can really thrive on this social media platform and we would love for you to see success there as well. We hope this little introduction helps you get started with your Instagram adventure. If you’d like to learn more about how Apex Trading can help your business with inventory, order and sales management, please request a demo here.

 

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