Ever wondered how some are able to advertise and you can't? Perhaps you've even had your social media account permanently disabled because of it. Here is how to advertise your cannabis, CBD, or hemp products on any platform you like! This blog post will get a HUGE update shortly so check back for more info!
We’ve got good news and bad news, so we’ll give you the good first: Yes, CBD and cannabis brands can get their advertisements approved on Facebook, Instagram, AND Google in 2023 - however it requires some effort from your business, and there’s still no way for approval to be fully guaranteed (although if you follow this guide correctly, it is something even new CBD & cannabis brands can accomplish fairly easily!
A research conducted in mid-2023 discovered that 49% of adults aged 18-30 had used CBD at some point in the past or were current users.
It was also shown that 22% of those aged 60 and older had tried or were currently using CBD.
This suggests that on average, 23 million Britons have tried or are now taking CBD.
Women own 76% of the firms that offer CBD.
Furthermore, 45% of Brits are interested in trying CBD.
With figures like this, it's no surprise that businesses are getting in on the action. However, when it comes to MARKETING CBD, things become (much) more complicated.
It comes as no surprise that the BEST place to promote CBD products is online. 1) Because the majority of consumers spend the majority of their time online, and 2) it's the ideal platform for getting in front of your buyers in the most eye-catching way imaginable. Literal magic. 🔮
The truth is, even though the internet is the dominant CBD sales channel, with over 60% of the total market being online, CBD business owners like you have a million hoops to jump through when it comes to CBD advertising on Facebook and Instagram.
Let's get your CBD advertisements going!
The problem? It's simple: if you advertise cannabis-related products, the platform disables you - if they haven't yet, they eventually will. They get everyone... or DO they?
What is Facebook Native Advertising?
In a nutshell, Facebook native advertisements are ads that blend in with and reflect the information around them.
Native advertisements can be found in the news feeds of Facebook and Twitter, as well as a few other websites and apps.
Yes, Native advertisements are sometimes chastised as a medium for social paid advertising since they might give the impression that the network or advertisers are purposefully misleading consumers into believing that the paid advertising placements are genuinely organic content.
However, with a few exceptions, customers are actually quite comfortable with both the practise and the concept:
They must be from reputable manufacturers.
They must be pertinent.
Because CBD advertising benefit from being sandwiched between other health and medicinal posts, getting words and imagery approved for use on the Facebook platform can be tough.
The problem with selling cannabis/CBD on Google, Facebook and social media platforms:
Cannabis and CBD-related products are not allowed to be advertised on social media platforms - whether it's legal where you live it matters not - the most famous for this is Facebook and Tiktok which come down hard and fast with the ban hammer and with no real way to appeal, however, it also applies to Twitter, Instagram, and almost any popular platform.
The automated algorithm designed to detect selling has become advanced - even if your post doesn't directly sell anything, they can work out what you are posting about just by the comments from your followers.
Somebody reports you - believe it or not, this is VERY common - and believe it or not it's usually a competitor operating in the same space as you. They will use 'alternate' or fake accounts to report you whilst simultaneously adding your followers as friends to invite them to their own venture. It's not right, but that happens.
Lastly, hashtags and words MATTER. For example, the word 'cannabis' is 100% restricted on Facebook - but 'canna' isn't! Go to Facebook search, and type 'Cannabis. and you will receive zero results. Type 'Canna' and you will find an assortment of cannabis-related businesses and communities. Pay attention to which words are banned and which are safe - we will write about that soon so subscribe to stay up-to-date.
Millions of cannabis-related businesses have had years of hard work undone overnight - social media pages being given zero distribution via a shadow ban or simply deleted and unpublished with no way to appeal. Even websites that don't sell cannabis-related products can get banned. Nobody is hidden from 'the eye in the sky'.
But there is a way. It's so simple it hurts, yet there are companies charging thousands to get in 'the know'. Lucky you - I'm gonna tell you for free. If it works, how about dropping us some love with a sexy little backlink to this article? Not a huge ask for game-changing info, I'm sure yo agree!
Guide To Selling Cannabis | CBD | Hemp
- On Social Media
All you need to do is set up a sales funnel - with the landing page not mentioning cannabis or CBD at all except by clicking a link within your page.
Let's say you're selling CBD oil. Set up your advertisement via a fresh website page based on symptoms that CBD helps treat. For example, you create a blog post named "Seven Methods To Fight Anxiety" - and write your article around that.
You include however, a banner within your article that reads "Shop Anxiety Products Now" for example.
Essentially, what you are doing is creating a landing page that social media are happy to allow - but with an advertisement, within your advertisement, to funnel customers directly to your product on a different web page. Social media will find nothing wrong with your ad - as long as the wording on the landing page fits the bill - and you are then getting all the customers that are clicking your banner. Can I advertise cannabis via paid ads?
YES! You can absolutely use this method to advertise cannabis and CBD, and it applies to both organic wall posts and paid advertising.
Can I advertise cannabis on any platform?
YES! This works 99% of the time on ANY PLATFORM - Including Facebook and Google
100% guaranteed CBD advertising, then?
Yes and no. If you mess up and include information related to something they don't like, you'll get a big NO from the platform. The same goes for those of you that have been red-flagged - if that's the case, just run your paid ad from a fresh account. If you get turned down? Try again, and have a good think as to EXACTLY why your CBD paid ad was declined. You probably did something super obvious that can be fixed easily.
You want to build your brand, nurture new leads, and ensure that your customers are aware of your fantastic new products. However, CBD oil firms may struggle to overcome the stigma that has sadly (and unjustly) been linked to them as a result of their association with marijuana. This creates certain unique issues not encountered in other industries, particularly in marketing.
Social media can be an extremely effective marketing tool, and one of the most effective ways to use it is through Facebook Ads. These ads appear in the home feeds of targeted Facebook users, showing your copy, image, and videos in a prominent location. But, before you begin creating your ideal Facebook advertising, you must first determine whether you are permitted to advertise on the site in the first place.
How to Promote CBD Oil with Facebook Ads
While both Google Adwords and Facebook Ads consider promoting CBD Oil to be against their terms and conditions, it appears that advertising CBD Oil on Facebook is possible. Several brands have recently began to surface on my Facebook wall. Pure Sport CBD, OTO, and Naturecan are the most prevalent CBD brands that openly advertise on Facebook Ads.
I propose visiting one of these websites and then keeping an eye out for one of their retargeting advertisements the next time you're on Facebook or Instagram. When you see one of their advertisements, click on it and make a note of the website that it leads you to. Pure Sport CBD is a great example, and they are doing a fantastic job with their social media advertising campaign.
To get around Facebook's refusal to accept CBD websites, some companies are developing a second website with little to no mention of CBD. Pure Sport CBD, for example; if you click on their Facebook Ad, you are brought to a second website, puresportoil.com, rather than their main website, puresportcbd.com. Not only has the phrase "CBD" been deleted from their domain name, but the written material on this landing page also makes no reference of the term.
Pure Sport CBD is an exception, as the links to the products on this landing page do, in fact, redirect to their parent website, which mentions CBD. With over 1000 Trust Pilot reviews, I assume Pure Sport has grown to be a really substantial brand. To begin testing this strategy of creating a second website, I would highly advise against linking back to your parent page, which mentions CBD oil.
We tested the similar strategy; our parent website is thecbdsupplier.co.uk, thus the domain name is a major impediment. We have now launched a second website with only a few products and no mention of the term CBD anywhere on the site.
The following are the key points: * We do not link to any CBD websites; * None of the images have the phrase CBD in their filenames; and * We have not used the term CBD in any of the Alt tags that describe the photographs.
Once you've launched your second website, it's time to build your first Facebook ad. While your website should be safe for Facebook advertising, you will still need to be innovative. Ads using CBD imagery or references are frequently flagged, and the ad is not allowed.
One white-label brand I saw advertised, for example, replaced the letter 'B' in the term 'CBD' with an emoji of a honeybee.
Is it possible to advertise CBD oil using Google Adwords?
While Facebook Ads may be feasible with further effort, Google Adwords is more challenging. I've seen a few CBD brands promote via Google Adwords on occasion, but this is quite infrequent and nothing near as consistent as Facebook Ads.
The major method for accomplishing this is identical to how Pure Sport accomplished it with Facebook Ads. Instead of deleting any mention of CBD in the advertisement, the key difference is that items are sold and renamed as hemp seed oil. This is slightly misleading, as hemp seed oil and CBD oil are not the same thing.
The ad's links then go to a creative landing page in its phrasing, frequently referencing to hemp seed oil.
Such a tactic does not endure long, and Google will quickly remove your advertising within a few weeks. You face the danger of having your account or card details banned, making it difficult to create a fresh Adwords account for future advertisements.
While I've seen this method in the last year, I haven't seen it recently. It takes a significant amount of time and effort to develop an ad only to have it removed in a matter of weeks. This time, in my opinion, would be better spent building a social media community around your CBD brand or developing interesting content for your website, which will generate traffic indefinitely.
As a result, I would not advocate attempting to increase visitors using Google Adwords; however, I believe Facebook Ads is unquestionably worth a go; several other firms are constantly promoting and having some success.
Alternative Methods of Promoting Your CBD Oil Website
You may not be allowed to market CBD goods using Google AdWords, but it doesn't mean you can't take advantage of the internet. High Committee is a specialised digital marketing agency that has helped CBD oil brands increase traffic and lead growth online. We understand both the options available to you and the constraints on CBD oil marketing, so you can be confident that you're taking a legal and effective strategy with us. Please contact us to learn more about how we can assist you.
If you have any questions, drop it in the comments - I will respond and am even happy to coach you through the process of how to advertise CBD on Google, Facebook and Tiktok.