More Cannabis & Marketing Trends Worth Knowing
If you’re like me, it’s been a busy start to the new year. But with the seasons beginning to change, I feel like I’ve been able to get more into a groove over the past few weeks. And I’m excited to get back to sharing my learnings!
To get up to speed on more of cannabis industry, social media, and marketing trends, you can read more of my recent writing here, and here.
Meet Brock Ollie
You've most likely seen this campaign by now, but if you haven't yet, meet Brock Ollie! Weed Maps’ newest digital spot addresses the current advertising restrictions imposed on legal cannabis businesses and brands regarding digital marketing.
The ad shines a light on the marketing challenges we face when growing our audience and providing education surrounding the plant. While we may never get a cannabis emoji to use, we hope that Brock Ollie can stop being mistaken for our favorite green plant.
How To Harness Digital Marketing Magic
BuiltIn shares shared six tactics to help digital marketers unlock the magic, and we want to share some of the learnings. My personal favorites include:
Engage with Relevant Communities: Brands need to integrate themselves into the communities where their target audience is already part of, making it easier to find one's brand. This is true beyond social platforms; it includes forums and other digital "hang-outs."
Never Stop Refining Your User Experience (UX): Brands must provide a positive user experience when patients and adult-use customers interact with any of our digital channels like social media, email, and web. For our brands to continue to grow as we expand, we need to get existing customers to share their love of Sunnyside with their audience through Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) and a positive UX is needed to do just that.
Creating A More Equitable Tribal Medical Cannabis Program
Earlier this week, Minnesota state Representative Mike Freiberg introduced a new bill, HF 3162, providing for the operation of tribal medical cannabis programs and authorizing Tribal compacts regarding medical cannabis. To create a more equitable cannabis industry, this bill would also establish dual registration of Tribal patients and provide for transportation of medical cannabis by manufacturers registered with Tribal medical cannabis programs.
While a Senate companion bill has not yet been introduced, I am hopeful that similar bills will be presented in states with Tribal communities.
Until next time!
Cannabis and Social Media Trends You Need To Know
Happy Black History Month! Without further ado, I have the latest cannabis and social media trends for you. If you’re looking for more info, I’d recommend some of my more recent blog posts, which you can find here, or here.
Introducing Black Cannabis Farmers
To kick off Black History Month, I wanted to share a piece about Black Cannabis farmers. Specifically, Damian Fagon, founder and head farmer of Gullybean, a hemp farm.
Learn about Damian's story and how his entrepreneurial journey could lead to more Black and Brown people gaining access to a growing, multi-billion dollar industry.
"The people who've had access to growing cannabis own farms, and they own land, and they live in communities that have very traditional agricultural roots," said Damian. "And only 2% of farmers nationally are Black, and so the disparities that already existed in agriculture and land access are just being amplified in the cannabis space.
Want to learn more? Watch BIPOCANN Founder Ernest Toney and I talk about his company’s efforts to shape a more equitable and profitable cannabis industry for BIPOC business owners and professionals
Two Years After Illinois’ Cannabis Market Goes Recreational
As of January 1st, 2022, Illinois has completed two years of legal recreational cannabis sales. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation is expected to pull upwards of $1.3 billion in revenue through legal cannabis sales for 2021.
The NACB shares their insights and predictions for legal cannabis in Illinois for 2022, including:
Grants that will support programs meant to reinvest in communities.
A plethora of new dispensary licenses in the state.
A rethinking of cannabis laws for licenses and drug testing policies in the state for the years to come.
Hybrid Shopping Trends In 2022
Finally, I wanted to share more from G2's 2022 Digital Trends series, specifically around hybrid shopping. We've seen this trend before when it comes to new ways for consumers to buy products, through things like subscriptions for products and services (like the new Taco Bell "taco pass"), curbside pickup, self-checkout, and buy online and pick up in-store (BOPIS).
No surprise, but consumers are comfortable purchasing via e-commerce and in-store retail. Brands don't need to be mutually exclusive though, with some of the most successful brands doing both well, with NRF data indicating 9 of the 10 top e-commerce websites being managed by companies with brick-and-mortar locations.
Until next time!
Influencer and Social Media News Worth Knowing
In the latest blog post, I have three articles to share covering influencer and social media trends worth sharing. You can find more interesting social media and influencer marketing news here and on my blog. There will be other cultural moments, even sharing some of my knowledge on LinkedIn.
Four Big Bets For the CMO in 2022
Tinuti has released a new 2022 marketing report touching on four trends that CMOs see coming this year. At a high level, the four big bets are:
Privacy - Say goodbye to last-click attribution and data management platforms (DMP). And say hello to first-party data, in a new world that's privacy first.
Convergence - It may not be QVC, but Gen Z is very familiar with purchasing directly while online, thanks to streaming, social media, and eCommerce.
Diversification - Multi-channel marketing continues to be an effective approach for brands to reach their target consumer with multiple touch-points.
Performance - Advertising is continuing to shift towards digital, and digital advertising is measurable. Therefore, all advertising will be performance-based. And thanks to same-day and even shorter delivery times, the shopping funnel is smaller than ever.
How To Make a Meaningful Community
We've talked about the importance of consumers having a digital community where they can interact with others that share similar values through the brands they purchase. These communities spread word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM) and help our brands get in front of our target audiences. Here are a few tips brands can implement to build a meaningful community:
Celebrate Your Brand Ambassadors - Whether it's through sharing their user-generated content (UGC) as Stories or sending swag for being a fan, brands can strengthen an existing bond with consumers through these gestures.
Invite Your Followers To Be A Part Of The Brand Building - We as humans love to share our thoughts and opinions on a wide variety of topics. By treating our patients and adult-use customers as a "board of advisors," we can use their insights as a sounding board for future content or brand.
Introduce Your Brand Ambassadors To Each Other - For those of us in the industry, the cannabis community is small, and our followers would likely enjoy meeting and discussing with other cannabis consumers. We've done this on some of our content on Sunnyside Dispensary’s social channels, but how do we as marketers spark conversations within the comments in 2022?
Influencer Campaign: Gym Shark's "Every Type of Athlete"
If the only athleisure brand you can think of is Lululemon, you might be unfamiliar with the UK brand Gymshark. Early this year, the brand launched its first-ever North-American campaign and sat down with Marketing Brew to discuss the campaign.
The company partnered with various athletes like UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou, Paralympic swimmer Haven Shepherd, and other fitness influencers to create sponsored content that would live on Gymshark and said influencers' social channels.
Some of the influencers like Ngannou and Shepherd are on retainer with Gymshark, consistently creating sponsored content for Gymshark. At the same time, the brand partnered with other influencers through one-time payments and apparel. Sound familiar?
Until next time, thanks again for reading!
Social Media News & Trends Worth Knowing in 2022
Happy New Year! If this is your first time visiting my blog, I provide consistent updates and recaps of the latest social media trends. You can find some of the recent blog posts here, here, and even a blog post about influencer marketing. Without further ado, let's get into our first weekly newsletter of 2022:
8 Emerging Visual Trends for 2022 [Infographic]
An infographic put together by Depositphotos asked digital marketers what visual trends they expected in 2022. Intending to provide some perspective on where consumers are looking on their favorite social media platforms and what's catching their eye in-feed. Some of my favorites include:
Psychadelic Art: Vivid, eye-catching visuals that will stop users scrolling in-feed. Culture is cyclical, and many expect visuals popular in the 70s (e.g., Kaleidoscopes, anyone?) to be popular once again.
Acts of Self-Love: Creative authenticity will continue to shine as brands look for ways to showcase art that feels simple or minimalist. And a good reminder for us all is that just because a social post looks easy to create doesn't always mean it's easy to replicate.
5 Common Social Media Myths
It's a blessing and a curse that social media is synonymous with so many people's lives. It allows us to reach millions of consumers across the globe, and means that millions of people have their idea of what makes successful social media content.
Sprout Social spent some time addressing social media myths; here are two of my favorites below:
Follower Count is a Vanity Metric: Let me preface by saying a brand's success should not be judged by the number of followers, as all brands are not made equal, and you can easily purchase fake followers or bots. Additionally, it doesn't account for the "90-9-1 rule". According to this rule, only 1% of social media users create content, 9% Share, Like, and Comment on said content, and 90% simply scroll. Sprout Social data shows that 90% of consumers will buy from brands they follow on social, while 86% will choose that brand over a competitor.
Marketers Have Gone All-in on Video: We've talked about video content before and how social media platforms want to prioritize video content to match consumer trends. We also know that video content is more time and resource-consuming when compared to static images. Sprout Social data sees that as well, with less than 15% of content published by brands across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter is video content.
Study: Consumers Want Funny And Reassuring Emails From Brands
More consumer insights to share this week! In a study shared on EmailMarketing Daily, we can learn a little more about how consumers want to be communicated with when it comes to email. Some highlights from the study:
Gen Z has the lowest receptiveness to inbound email out of all generations, even though that generation is the most comfortable with digital shopping.
57% of all consumers want inbound marketing to amuse and entertain them, up from 4% last year.
Of the Gen Zers polled, 53% prefer getting email marketing at least once a week, versus 66.5% of millennials, 63% of Gen X, and 58% of boomers.
Until next time! Thanks for reading!
The Latest Cannabis Industry and Social Media Trends Worth Knowing
If you’re new here, I try to provide weekly social media insights and news for marketing professionals. You can read more of those blogs posts here and here. And in another blog post, I talk about four influencer misconceptions that digital marketers and social media professionals should be aware of.
Well without further ado, let’s get right into the latest cannabis industry and social media trends you need to know.
Weedmaps’ "2021 Cannabis In America" Report
Weedmaps recently published their 2021 "Cannabis In America" report, highlighting how our industry has progressed and stalled over the past twelve months. This report covers a variety of topics, but I'll share some interesting tidbits regarding cannabis consumption:
Half of cannabis consumers responded by saying their overall consumption has increased since the start of the pandemic.
The majority of respondents (66%) say their preferred method of consumption is alone or with one or two people.
Nearly half (40%) of cannabis consumers say they consume their preferred cannabis or CBD product every day.
Influencer Marketing Surges in 2022
In Collabstr's 2022 Influencer Marketing Report, it's clear to see that influencer marketing is here to stay and, if anything, become more prevalent for brands in 2022. Some interesting tidbits worth knowing:
Spend associated with influencer marketing grew 42% to $13.8 billion in 2021, up from $9.7 billion in 2020, according to a new year-end report released by Collabstr. By the end of 2022, it's projected to reach $15 billion.
Females currently dominate influencer marketing, with 77% of influencers actively monetizing their content being female, while only 23% are male. Coincidentally, research from Collabstr shows photos shared by female influencers perform better than photos shared by male influencers.
At my 9:5, our company will be hitting the ground running in 2022 with sponsored collaborations with five influencers and sending out surprise and delight opportunities to 20 influencers for an upcoming campaign.
HubSpot 2022 Social Trends
HubSpot's released their 2022 Social Trends report ahead of the new year, for marketers to better understand what trends will be prevalent in 2022. The report touches on a variety of topics, including the metaverse and the growth of social audio, but here are some of my favorites:
HubSpot noted that TikTok was the most downloaded app on the App Store in 2021. But Hubspot believes that this trend is more about the prevalence of short-form videos than TikTok itself, especially as other social media platforms look to tap into that trend like Instagram with Reels.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and brand inclusivity will continue to be front and center across all industries. Over the last two years, diversity and social equity were woven into some of the most memorable campaigns of this year, regardless of industry. These same social issues still matter to consumers in 2022, and whether you’re an established brand in your category or a challenger, brands and consumers will look to see how we as marketers address these very issues.
With less than four days left in the year, I hope 2022 starts off on a more positive note for everyone. Happy New Year!
Social Media Trends You Need To Know
Welcome back! If you haven’t had a chance to read my latest recaps on social media trends, I highly recommend it. I also recently shared my thoughts on four misconceptions when it comes to influencer marketing. Without further ado, ere are the latest news and trends in social media.
1) Sprout Social 2021 Content Benchmarks
Sprout Social released their 2021 Content Benchmarks report, which takes a look at what types of content marketers are publishing on social and what is performing best. A few takeaways below:
Consumers like or follow a brand on social primarily to 1) learn about new products or services, 2) to stay up to date on company news, or 3) to be entertained.
Despite the value of video content, marketers report underusing it in favor of photos and posts containing links. Whether this is a resources issues or just preference, it's worth noting.
Marketers cite budget, market research, and audience research as the top resources needed to achieve their social media goals. This feels applicable to most marketers, not just social media professionals.
2) Short-Form Video Help
Let's talk about video content some more. We know that digital marketers want to use video content more but are struggling to do so. Well, influencer Valeria Lipovertsky sat down with Later and provided three tips she uses to create short-form video content that reaches her 4M+ followers.
Tip 1: Find inspiration in the comments section. Learn what our audience has an appetite for by reviewing the comments. Think of the comments as our personal audience research (albeit it doesn't replace a traditional focus group).
Tip 2: Stay on top of trends. Being aware of new platform features and other brands creating "best-in-class" social content through internal knowledge shares () leads to better overall work. Use the "Explore" function on your favorite social media platform as inspiration!
Tip 3: Get connected with your audience. We already know consumers want to feel connected to the brands they interact with daily. So creating Reels or other short-form videos that generate a sense of community should perform well. Showcase all of the unique things that make our brands what they are!
3) Twitter Holiday Trends
Ad Age partnered with Twitter's Conversation team to put together a trends report for brands to better understand how to connect with the consumer during the holidays. A few key takeaways:
Digital has emerged as the dominant shopping platform "post-pandemic." And after everything 2020 was, consumers are looking for positive messaging about the holidays.
Brands continue to be involved in holiday celebrations, with some of the top branded hashtags during the holiday came from product launches (#PS5), shopping-related philanthropic donations (#FillTheCart), and semi-virtual experiences (#Macys Parade).
Finally, a recent Twitter survey showed that more than 33% of respondents said they get inspiration from the celebrities and influencers they follow.
Until next time!
