Why Stoney Businesses Need Social Media
Long gone are the days where a person could simply put a flier out on the street and have people read the message.
These are the days of instant information and the magazine has been replaced by the scroll button, as the internet begins to eat away at the business of cannabis. Some businesses have jumped on the social media bandwagon, dedicating specific positions to people who run social media accounts that span Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, and more.
People live off of their phones these days. Google makes getting information immediate, with no need to wait for a paper to print it, no need to purchase a magazine at the corner store. Anything you need to know can be found on your phone, right now. So with that, dispensaries (as well as other 420 friendly businesses) should be transferring whatever paper print they have in to the digital world, creating websites, building a following on the web, and using social media more like a tool to gain popularity for the business rather than popularity for the individual, something that most people end up using social media for.
What businesses also need to be aware of is the dreaded Yelp. Honestly, I think that this site was created in order to get people fired, written up, or just plain yelled at. And while most people in the industries know that Yelp as well as the companies it works with actually pays for negative reviews to be on top, driving people to competitors that have higher prices, less quality, and are just plain sneaky. But some businesses aren’t aware that sites like Yelp exist and are left wondering why there’s no customers coming through the doors. At least this awful app still gives business owners the option to defend themselves by replying. Unfortunately for businesses, the internet is basically a wasteland where people love to complain about the dumbest stuff, from a single missing trichome to a budtender that seemed a bit distant.
The internet can make or break a business. Location in the geographical sense doesn’t matter but social standing among apps does. If you don’t have a large following on social media, people may overlook your business. That’s how important the world of the internet has become. One follower too few, one Yelp review gone wrong, and your entire company can crumble and close. To those in the marijuana industry, get savvy with the social media and if you don’t want to do it, pay someone to do it for you because it is definitely important in this day and age. Welcome to the social media takeover.