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CBD Influencers – 5 Collaboration Tips For CBD Oil Brands
With many regular marketing channels closed to CBD oil brands, it's important to make the most of the channels that are still available. One of the most powerful marketing channels at your disposal is social media.
It is vital to focus on collaborating with CBD influencers. These are people who already have access to your target market.
In this article, we are going to cover five tips for successfully collaborating with the best CBD influencers on Instagram, Facebook, and other sites. These could change your CBD marketing strategy for the better.
1. Encouraging CBD Influencers To Try Your Products
Preparation is key here. Don’t assume you are the only brand reaching out to a CBD influencer at any given time. You’ll be one of many. CBD influencers won’t necessarily agree to collaborate with every brand that knocks at their door.
You need to stand out from the crowd.
Don’t be tempted to send a quick message asking if they will promote your CBD oil. Take the time to consider what you can offer to the CBD influencer and their audience.
Don’t view this as a one-time deal, either. Social media is a huge market with tons of fresh content being posted every second. No one can see it all. Focus on creating as many brand touchpoints as possible by asking CBD influencers to post about your products multiple times.
When you're researching CBD influencers, take a moment to read through each influencer’s posts. Can you spot patterns in the type of products they promote?
Cannabis marketing may well violate social media restrictions, but CBD marketing can be achieved by encouraging individuals to share anecdotal evidence.
You should try to give CBD influencers as much information about your brand as you can. Put together an offer too - perhaps a selection of CBD products that could be interesting to them (and likely to their audience as well). Keep their niche market in mind when considering these strategies.
2. Understanding The Core Audience Of CBD Influencers
It’s easy to view all CBD influencers in the same way. However, even within this niche marketplace, there are sub-niches you should be aware of.
For example, some CBD influencers may focus on skin products and topical products containing cannabidiol. Others may only use oils and tinctures that are taken orally using a dropper included inside the bottle.
CBD influencers fall into various categories:
Those who use pure oils with no THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive compound found in the marijuana plant).
Those who only try skin products for topical use.
Those who experiment with a variety of products containing CBD with no clear preference.
The final group is likely to have a wider audience. You could still gain good results from tapping into that audience, but if you sell a very specific type of CBD product, some people following that influencer are not going to be interested in your offering.
The more you learn about each CBD influencer and how they might fit into your CBD marketing strategy, the easier it will be to select the right people to collaborate with.
By taking the time to read posts and the comments left by followers, you can gain a greater understanding of how you might benefit from tapping into an influencer's audience.
3. Researching The Reach & Engagement Of CBD Influencers
Some CBD influencers get through to more people than others. However, you shouldn’t look at CBD marketing as merely a numbers game.
Regular advertising methods often glean a higher conversion or clickthrough rate when targeting a smaller niche audience than they do for a more general advert that targets a wider audience. The same applies for CBD influencers and their audience. It’s all about targeting the people who matter most.
Reach refers to how many people see a post from a CBD influencer, whether that is on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or another social media site. It’s easy to assume that it’s better to reach an audience of 30,000 compared to just 3,000. However, it depends on who makes up that audience and how responsive they are.
This is where engagement comes in.
Engagement refers to the number of people who engage with a specific post. An engaged follower is someone who either comments or likes the post – or ideally, both. They’ve found it interesting enough to interact with. They might also follow a link to another site recommended by the influencer. That site could be yours.
Once you have a shortlist of influencers you are considering working with, take some time to research each account. You should consider:
The number of followers.
How many likes each post has (Instagram is hiding likes in some countries but not others, but it is worth looking at this if the information is available).
How many comments the average post has.
You might also want to follow each account for a while to monitor their growth.
The number of followers isn’t the most important element. Higher levels of engagement might come from the influencer with 3,000 engaged followers compared to someone with 30,000 followers who engage with the page less often.
Reach is important but engagement is crucial. Tapinfluence put together a report that looked at the various types of influencers based on the size of their audience. Micro-influencers are those that sit between 5,000 and 25,000 followers.
Not a large audience, but arguably one that is easier to reach. They might also be eager to make connections with brands in their area of interest. So, you might find you achieve greater success by catching an influencer who is on the up.
4. Learning How CBD Influencers Communicate
People have different approaches to communicating with their audience. Some CBD influencers only ever use photos with captions, while others might use short videos on Instagram or even full-length videos on YouTube.
The nature of that content can vary as well. For example, two people using videos to reach their audience may take different approaches. The first might have a channel dedicated to reviewing various CBD products. The second might share how they use CBD to improve their overall wellbeing. Rather than reviewing those products, they instead share their experiences of using them.
When photos are used, the captions that compliment them could be anything from a sentence or two to several paragraphs. Discover what each influencer on your shortlist does and think about how that might fit with your ideas.
CBD keywords, or buzzwords, are important and you should always factor these into your CBD marketing efforts. In most cases, you’ll see influencers adding CBD keywords after their post using hashtags. They also often add the name of the CBD brand using the @ command before it. This makes the brand clickable, so readers can follow the link to see your account.
This information is useful to know because it helps you to understand how an individual would approach collaborative posts on their platform. You can then tailor your offering to suit their approach.
For instance, if you are selling edibles online, you should find CBD influencers who use edible products containing CBD. Look at how they share their experiences and make sure that approach fits with your outlook.
When approaching someone to ask about a potential collaboration, you should present them with a clear idea of what exactly is in it for them - beyond payments or free gifts. The best collaborations are those that are of mutual benefit to both parties. If you remember this, you’re likely to enjoy greater success.
5. Outlining Your Objectives & Ambitions To Influencers
Earlier in this article, I mentioned the importance of thinking beyond just a single post. You also need to think about what you want to achieve from your collaboration with each influencer you approach.
This could mean:
Increased sales
More traffic to your website
More signups to your newsletter
The promotion of a new products or range of products
While you don’t want your initial approach to be too detailed, you should give each influencer an idea of your objectives. What do you want to achieve in this partnership? You may simply want to just drive more traffic to your own CBD Instagram account.
Think about how you can encourage an influencer to partner with your brand. Money should not be the sole motivation. What else is in it for them?
If you partner with a CBD influencer, you should write up a formal agreement to set the table. This will reduce the chances of misunderstandings, aligning expectations, and making sure everyone is on the same page.
Final Thoughts on CBD Influencers
You're unlikely to partner up with every CBD influencer that you reach out to. Some collaborations just aren't meant to be. The results that you could get from partnering with even two or three CBD influencers could make a real difference to your business.
You can read our full CBD marketing study here.
If you have any questions about the study or would like to talk with us about CBD content writing for your brand, please email Adam@FreshlySqueezed.Online. You can also view our blog content samples and pricing plans.