Background
The world is changing, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the legalization of cannabis in several states including Oregon. As in any industry, “Cannabusiness” has sought the help of marketing agencies to help them reach their goals. This is a case study of one such example here in Central Oregon.
Cannafo.com approached Intrepid Marketing of Bend in late September 2015 to propose a social media strategy to grow its website internationally with a strategy focused on “make legalized marijuana more mainstream” and branding Cannafo.com as a key advocate for nationwide legalization. Intrepid subsequently spearheaded a 60-day launch, at three posts per day for 60 days. Intrepid took over the account at the end of October, and after a very successful launch, continues managing all aspects of their social media (including blogs and weekly e-newsletters).
Performance
There is no single “standard” metric to follow and as social media platforms evolve, so must the methods of reporting and comparing performance. To best compare performance, the table above compares key indicators in 28-day periods. Engagement during that time was also high. The reactions during the first period more than doubled the previous periods: from 46 Average Daily Reactions per post to 94 Average Daily Reactions per post. Average Daily Comments per post saw a very small increase, from 4.3 to 4.67, while Average Daily Shares per post saw a substantial increase, from 4.67 to 11.67. (These are often improperly referred to as vanity metrics, but they are all measures of how a page is engaging its followers and whether it is getting reach outside its fan base. This is important to note as we move to analyzing the current 28-day period.)
As the data table indicates, CannaFo.com has seen phenomenal improvement in six months’ time. At three posts per day, CannaFo.com has gone from an Average Daily Organic Reach per post of 424.7 to 4,698—a 1006 percent increase. The page’s current fan base is over 25,000 and growing. That is an increase of more than 460 percent over six months. According to Cannfo, this work has translated into their site far out-performing all competitors in their industry.
The best measure of performance for Social Media is the end result. For the month of December, CannaFo.com saw 2 million hits. Of those 2 million hits, 20 percent came from the Facebook page with an Average Time on Page from 6 to 15 minutes. CannaFo.com has now moved to phase 2 and is encouraging fans to create profiles on the website. Intrepid will evaluate this campaign’s performance at the end of April.
Content
Since legalization is still in its infancy, there are not many pre-conceived social media strategies on how to approach a newly-legalized drug. Intrepid felt it best to maintain a dynamic and responsive content strategy, evolving to best meet the client’s goals. At first, a variety of content was shared to determine what the page’s fan base was most responsive to. From the beginning and to this date, the fan base has been primarily male, ages 25-34 (currently 26 percent of audience). The composition of the fan base will help determine the content. How the audience receives that content will determine how willing they are to engage.
At first, the audience was most responsive to pictures and videos displaying product, people posing with product, humor involving cannabis, and business ideas for the cannabis industry. After an analysis of the first 28-day period, it was determined that Cannafo.com wanted to stay with a more progressive strategy that would appeal to all genders. The content strategy was adapted to create a more comfortable atmosphere for all genders and to be more in line with educating the public, regardless of fan base preferences.
At this point, content became more focused on movements for legalization, medical studies involving cannabis, and human interest, with touches of humor. Much of the most recent content has involved celebrities, athletes, and politicians who support legalization and the use of cannabis for both medical and recreational purposes. These are individuals who are accepted as “mainstream,” showing that their association assists in “making marijuana more mainstream.”
The “clothe, fuel, shelter, feed” graphic is the best performing content to date. This was posted on March 24, a Thursday morning, and had a reach of 90,252—considerable reach when considering CannaFo.com only had just over 23,000 page likes at the time. It received 1,507 shares, 5,027 reactions, and 231 comments. This is also a great example of a post generating viral activity. It had a viral reach of 73 percent. It appealed to a diverse audience.
The memes to the right are other examples of the great viral reach that CannaFo.com receives from its Fan Base. The Strain Train photo, two days after being posted had reached over 49,384 with 2,853 reactions, 406 comments, 582 shares, and a viral reach of 50.5 percent. The JFK meme, in January, achieved 23,453 reach, 1,345 reactions, 117 comments, 528 shares, and a viral reach of 43 percent.
The CannaFo.com social media campaign serves as a perfect example of the potential for a cannabusiness to grow vigorously, when guided by solid strategy, spot-on execution and outstanding performance.
Robert Haro is a Marketing Manager for Intrepid Marketing in Bend, Oregon. Robert has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from OSU-Cascades, a Certificate of Retail Management from COCC, and is a graduate of the inaugural class of 2015 at BendPoly. For more information, contact Robert at Bobby@intrepidforward.com or visit www.intrepidforward.com.
(Inset photos courtesy of Intrepid Marketing)
