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Cannabidiol products have been gaining momentum lately.
However, there’s still a lot of controversy around them, which makes promotional content more difficult.
Besides, people are not ready to adopt CBD products in their daily lives as easily as other consumer product goods.
There's a solution.
Experts agree that CBD influencer marketing campaigns increase your profit, brand awareness, and brand recall.
Choose the right influencers, and you’ll get massive reach.
Read this guide to learn more about the pros and cons of influencer marketing strategies for CBD brands.
We’ll discuss some legal background, plus how to pick the right influencers and channels.
Keep reading below!
TL;DR - CBD Influencer Marketing
- CBD products are rising, but strict marketing regulations surround them.
- Influencer marketing can boost profit and brand awareness for CBD brands.
Benefits of Influencer Marketing for CBD
- Micro - influencers can navigate CBD advertising restrictions effectively.
- Social media influencers humanize brands, boost recall, and educate audiences.
- PR adds credibility and transparency to CBD digital marketing efforts.
Risks of Influencer Marketing for CBD
- Choosing the wrong influencers can damage credibility and lead to financial loss.
- Legal restrictions vary by state and platform, so research is crucial.
Choosing the Right Influencers
- Ideal CBD influencers have medical backgrounds and make CBD seem essential for a healthy lifestyle.
- They engage with their audience on social platforms, provide product demonstrations, and discuss side effects.
Top Examples of CBD Influencers
- Notable influencers like Tommy Chong, Michelle Ross, Sanjay Gupta, Emily Kyle, and Rena Malik.
- Their credibility and expertise contribute to successful CBD promotions.
Choosing the Right Channels
- Select channels based on your target audience and influencer suitability.
- Consider YouTube, magazines, and TV for medical experts, Instagram and Twitter for younger audiences.
- Be cautious with paid ads on social media, as many platforms restrict CBD products.
Cannabis Influencer Marketing Challenges
- Navigating legal intricacies in the CBD industry can be challenging.
- Restrictions in some states and on major platforms exist but can be worked around.
- Strategic influencer marketing can set your brand apart and drive awareness and sales.
Conclusion
- Cannabis influencer marketing is complex but offers significant benefits.
- Careful planning and professional agency assistance, like inBeat Agency, can help achieve success.
The Benefits of Influencer Marketing for CBD Brands
CBD brands have seen a massive boom in the last few years.
Micro-influencer marketing is an excellent way to promote these brands because:
- You avoid legal issues. With influencers, your marketing content can go around some strict advertising rules regarding CBD. That way, you can reach your audience seamlessly.
- Influencers tell your brand’s story. Thus, a solid influencer program can transform your brand into a relatable entity so that more people will connect and engage with it. Besides, storytelling leads to increased brand recall and customer loyalty.
- Influencers can educate your audience. When marketing such a sensitive product as cannabidiol, you need to analyze its pros and cons openly. These cons include possible adverse effects. Conversely, niche influencers discussing CBD are trustworthy and relatable. They can pierce through the current rhetoric to ensure your customers get the whole story.
Insider tip: Add PR to the Mix
If you want to reap all the advantages above, you must devise a sound plan.
Often, that means adding PR to the mix.
Here’s why:
Public relations efforts build transparency around your brand.
Thus, you’ll become a credible and trustworthy partner for your customers.
Besides, PR can go around common advertising laws that are a problem, particularly for CBD brands.
Remember: 50% of Gen Z-ers and Millennials buy products influencers recommend.
The Risks of Influencer Marketing for CBD Brands
Before moving forward, let’s review some risks of influencer marketing for CBD brands.
1. CBD Is Controversial
Problem: Using CBD still has a lot of stigma, although some medical cannabis products are accepted in the medical community.
Solution: You need trustworthy influencer partners with a reliable background in this area. Ideally, you’d look for big-time influencers and medical experts such as medical journalists or physicians.
Influencers who are continually researching and practicing healthy living are also reliable options.
What happens if you choose the wrong influencer?
Your entire marketing effort will spiral into an abyss that doesn’t stare back.
Nietzsche would be proud.
Joke aside, selecting the wrong people means losing credibility and money, plus the very high possibility of never recovering.
2. CBD Promotion May Be Illegal in Some States
Problem: Some states and platforms don’t allow CBD-related content from influencers.
Ask your legal team to research all these restrictions because you may face the legal consequences of not respecting your state's law.
For instance, cannabis brands can’t highlight any health benefits on their packaging in most US states.
Solution: You can legally hire influencers that promote CBD products.
However, you must be careful about how your influencers discuss your cannabis products.
Luckily, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube don’t prohibit CBD marketing.
Now, all you have to do is choose the right influencers.
Choose the Right Influencers for CBD
You want CBD influencers with high average engagement rates who can create thumb-stopping content that sells.
Your content creators should be able to work creatively around rigid regulations and limitations to present your products to a larger audience.
We already told you that the best CBD influencers ideally have medical backgrounds or are archetypes of healthy living.
Insider tip: During our research of CBD brands, we’ve discovered a secret.
It’s what makes all these CBD recommendations from influencers tick:
Your influencers should present your CBD products as essential – even defining – for customers’ lifestyles.
Basically, their content says, “You don’t have to get CBD to live healthily, only if you want to live extremely healthily.”
Influencers should engage their audience through this offer that customers can’t refuse.
Here’s how:
- Ensure your influencer has a focused target with whom they interact.
- Ask them to show people how your CBD products work (how-to videos, before-and-after stories, etc.).
- Produce content that talks about side effects as well as advantages.
How Do You Find CBD Influencers?
Finding CBD influencers requires a nuanced approach due to the unique regulatory landscape surrounding CBD products.
Here's a structured guide to navigating this process effectively:
1. Understand the Regulations
Before embarking on your search, it's crucial to familiarize yourself with the latest regulations regarding CBD advertising and endorsements on various platforms.
Different social media platforms have specific policies regarding CBD content.
Ensure you understand these to avoid potential conflicts or account suspensions for your brand and the influencers.
2. Define Your Ideal Influencer
Look for influencers who already engage with wellness, natural health products, or specifically CBD-related content.
Their audience should match your target customer demographics, including interests and values.
Pro tip: Choose influencers with a genuine interest in or personal experience with CBD. Their endorsements will appear more authentic and trustworthy.
3. Use Social Media and Hashtags
Use relevant hashtags such as #CBD, #CBDoil, #hemp, #wellness, etc., to discover influencers who are actively discussing CBD-related topics.
You can also join CBD and wellness-related groups or forums on platforms like Facebook, Reddit, and LinkedIn to find influential voices within these communities.
4. Leverage Influencer Platforms
Platforms like inBeat offer tools to filter and find influencers based on specific niches like CBD.
Use these platforms to streamline your search and vet potential influencers based on their engagement rates and audience demographics.
Just add the keyword filters and details about the influencers' follower counts, language, and engagement rates:
Pro tip: Some influencer agencies offer vetting services to ensure that influencers comply with regulations related to CBD promotion.
5. Attend Industry Events
CBD and wellness industry events are fertile grounds for connecting with influencers who are genuinely interested in these products.
Networking in such environments can lead to fruitful partnerships.
You can also participate in or sponsor webinars and online forums dedicated to CBD and wellness topics.
These can be excellent opportunities to identify thought leaders and influencers in the space.
6. Do Content and Engagement Analysis
Don't just look at the number of followers; assess the quality of engagement an influencer has with their audience.
Comments, shares, and genuine discussions about CBD products are good indicators.
Additionally, review the influencer's content style and tone to ensure it aligns with your brand's messaging and values.
Their approach to discussing CBD should resonate with your brand's ethos.
Pro tip: Use an engagement rate calculator to make sure your potential influencers have a solid relationship with your audience and can produce a good return on investment.
7. Outreach and Collaboration
When reaching out to potential CBD influencers, personalize your communication to show that you've engaged with their content and understand their influence in the CBD space.
Ensure that any partnership includes clear discussions on compliance with CBD advertising regulations and transparent communication about the nature of the collaboration to their audience.
Top Examples of CBD Influencers
1. Tommy Chong symbolizes counter-culture because he’s been saying that hemp flower is exceptional since before Millennials were born.
Tommy Chong has had cancer twice, and he believes that CBD saved him.
Thus, he appears very trustworthy in the cannabis community.
2. Michelle Ross from Big Brother 11 has a not-so-secret real life: she’s a neuroscientist and expert in mental health.
Her reputation, credibility, and expertise reflect upon the hemp-based CBD products she promotes.
Besides, Michelle Ross claims she has effectively used CBD in the treatment of her chronically ill patients.
3. Sanjay Gupta is CNN’s chief medical expert.
He can attract an audience of skeptics because he was also against marijuana use. However, thorough research has convinced him of the benefits of CBD products and hemp flowers.
He also caters to his audience of skeptics on their favorite channel: public interviews where he discusses various medical claims surrounding dietary supplements and more.
4. Emily Kyle is a "#cannamom living her best life with the help of the plant." She promotes a well-balanced lifestyle that includes the use of CBD.
She addresses younger hipster Millennials and older Gen Z-ers through professional photos, recipes, guides, and more.
5. Rena Malik is another medical doctor, urologist, and pelvic surgeon.
She uses her YouTube channel to educate her audience about urologic, sexual, and other medical issues.
She even discussed CBD oil comprehensively, so she would be a great addition to any cannabis social media program.
Choose the Right Channels for CBD Influencer Campaigns
Choosing the right channels for your CBD influencer campaigns will maximize your reach and impact while staying compliant with regulations.
Here's how you can make informed decisions in this process:
1. Understand Platform Regulations
Familiarize yourself with the advertising policies of various platforms regarding CBD products.
Policies vary significantly across platforms, and what’s permissible on one might be restricted on another.
Warning: Most social media platforms don’t allow paid ads for CBD products, especially in edible shape.
Stay compliant and transparent:
- Regulatory compliance: Ensure that your chosen platform and the influencer’s content adhere to CBD advertising regulations to avoid penalties and maintain brand integrity.
- Disclosure: Regardless of the platform, ensure transparency with clear disclosures about the sponsored nature of the content, aligning with FTC guidelines.
Pro tip: Stay updated.
Regulations around CBD marketing are evolving.
Regularly check for updates on platform policies to ensure your campaigns remain compliant.
2. Assess Your Audience
Identify where your target demographic spends most of their time online.
Different platforms cater to different age groups, interests, and behaviors.
Pro tip: Analyze your audience's engagement patterns.
Consider not just where your audience is but how they engage.
Some platforms may offer deeper engagement through forums or detailed posts, while others might be more about visual storytelling.
3. Evaluate Content Suitability
Certain types of content perform better on specific platforms.
For instance, educational and long-form blog content about CBD might resonate more on YouTube or websites, while lifestyle-oriented CBD usage might be more suited to Instagram stories or posts.
Pro tip: Decide whether your campaign will be more visually driven or information-heavy.
Platforms like Instagram and Pinterest are ideal for visually appealing content, whereas Twitter and Facebook can better accommodate educational and discussion-based content.
4. Factor in SEO Strategies and Longevity
Platforms like YouTube and blogs can offer long-term visibility through search engines, making them excellent choices for evergreen content about CBD benefits, usage, and education.
Pro tip: Consider the lifespan of content on each platform.
Content on platforms like Instagram may have a shorter shelf life than a well-ranked blog post or YouTube video.
5. Leverage Multi-Platform Strategies
Don’t limit yourself to a single platform.
Consider a multi-platform approach where influencers can cross-promote content, extending reach and engagement across their audience network.
Pro tip: Use the strengths of various platforms in tandem.
For example, a detailed blog post can be summarized and promoted through posts and stories on Instagram, driving traffic to the full article.
Kickstart Your Influencer Marketing Campaign
It’s challenging to market your products transparently when the legal intricacies are, well, intricate.
Even so, you can still distribute CBD-related content on social media platforms by following the legislation.
Choosing the right influencers and digital marketing tactics will bring your brand:
- Increased awareness
- More sells
- A powerful tool to set yourself apart from the competition
You have to plan your strategy carefully and take into account a myriad of factors.
That’s why it’s best to work with a professional agency like inBeat Agency.
Of course, finding the right influencers is key, so try inBeat.
Our database of influencers is free, fast, and flexible.