Cannabis on instagram
Social media often help to build brand awareness and engage consumers in many industries. Based on the companies that produce cannabis vaporizers, it is worth understanding how to use social media to promote your products, as well as other products. Currently, little is known about the content of messages delivered to consumers. Social media is a powerful tool for reaching a large and engaged audience. Posting regular updates, interacting with followers, and sharing educational content can help build a following and drive sales. For this reason, American researchers decided to conduct a study describing the characteristics of Instagram posts related to cannabis industry. It was based on three popular brands of cannabis vaporizers in the USA.
The background
State legalization of marijuana for medical and recreational purposes is becoming more and more common in the United States. This increases interest in everything related to this market. What is more, public support for the legalization of cannabis has grown over the past decade. As cannabis has become more accessible, new trends in the methods of its administration have emerged. To understand how cannabis brands use social media to promote their products, the researchers conducted a content analysis of Instagram posts of six leading cannabis vaporizer brands over a 12-month period.
Vaping
Vaping, which involves heating cannabis flower or concentrate into a vapor that users inhale, has recently gained popularity as a method of using cannabis in the US. Vaporizers are pen-like devices – they are a popular tool with which users administer various forms of marijuana. Currently, there is little research on the health effects of vaping marijuana, and concrete evidence is provided. While the health effects of marijuana vaping are understudied, even less is known about the marketing strategies of vaporizer companies.
Results
The study indicated that cannabis vaporizer brands use Instagram as a marketing channel. This activity include posts having a wide reach and increasing engagement on a regular basis. It turned out that most of the posts depicted the use of vaporizers, often with accompanying text promoting the benefits and features of the products.
Moreover, posts included several common themes, such as health and wellness, socializing and adventure. The authors suggest that the prevalence of use-oriented posts in the surveyed sample of Instagram accounts may reflect attempts by brands to normalize and, above all, remove the stigmatization of cannabis use.
In addition, researchers also highlight the importance of understanding how these brands use social media to promote their products. There is need to check the potential of social media to influence health behaviors and attitudes among increasingly younger generations. Marketers have to constantly monitor such young markets around the world, knowing the impact of social media on consumer behavior.