Where Should You Focus Content Marketing Efforts For Your Dispensary?

Content Marketing for Dispensaries: Social Media

Although it seems like just about every brand from Wendy’s to Pampers has some kind of social media presence these days, don’t fling yourself on the bandwagon just yet.

A 2018 industry analysis has shown a steep decline in the number of overall shares on social media channels, with the top 10% of a sample of 100 million posts receiving just 62 shares on average per post. Additionally, reports have shown a steep increase in private messaging platforms, suggesting that consumers are more frequently sharing content via private, direct communication than through retweets or ‘shares’ to their public profile.

Whether this decline in social sharing is due to an oversaturated marketplace, increasing data security concerns around Facebook, or just plain old user burnout, the marketing implications are clear: promoting your dispensary’s content on social media won’t get you as much traction these days.

Instead, focus on using social media to establish a brand identity — current events commentary, timely, well-executed memes, and even long, multi-tweet “threads” can all go a long way toward establishing an online persona for your dispensary. And Instagram? Well, we pretty much love it. While it’s owned by Facebook, it still maintains some of its indie cred and really allows dispensaries to connect with followers.

Content Marketing for Dispensaries: Blogging

Instead of publishing articles and then aggressively promoting them on social media, look at the articles and posts themselves as the ultimate vehicle content marketing for dispensaries.

Once you’ve done some research on the top search terms among your target audience, you have a theoretically endless array of topics to write about. A skilled SEO writer will be able to seamlessly integrate a search term -- for example, say “CBD oil benefits” -- into a full-fledged article that will pop up on the first page of search results for users seeking that very term.

Of course, it’s more complex than just plugging in words. In order to receive top billing in search results, your content should prioritize length — search engine analyst SEMRush has found that Google’s first-page results have an average of 1,890 words!

On top of that, be sure to keep your content updated as regularly as possible. In addition to helping your blog seem authoritative and well-maintained, the “long tail” theory of sales and marketing applies here — the idea that a deep back-catalog of consistent content is statistically likely to draw in more traffic from organic search than a few sporadic, haphazard posts. Aim for 4 new posts each month in order to keep your blog robust.

Have more questions? Check out our SEO primer and our guide to the must-haves for your cannabis business’ blog.