Where Are All The Cannabis Stores Going?

Did your favorite cannabis store disappear?

If you follow your favorite cannabis stores on social media you may have noticed that one day they’re there and the next they’re not. In today’s world of Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat your business needs to be out there on these platforms to be noticed.

The problem with this is some of these social platforms are standing on the wrong side of the future and it’s hurting small business owners. They say we are breaking the rules because of the type of business we are. Cannabis is not federally legal which leads to many social pages being shut down whenever they see fit, even though many states have made recreational and medical sales legal.

We stopped posting pictures of “WEED” on facebook to play by the rules, the first time we were shut down. After getting our Facebook back we (HWY420) post no prices and never show anyone smoking, eating, or dabbing. When our page was shut down on Instagram we had to start over. Two years of connecting with our customers and all the wonderful moments we captured in an image… gone. Unretrievable.

This makes our job very difficult, imagine if your Facebook was shut down, all the time invested in building connections and all the work you put into building your brand on that network. Lost.

Without the ability to use many of the traditional advertising platforms such as television and radio, cannabis business owners like us depend on social media to communicate with our customers.

Many businesses count on social media as their leading communication platform for generating new business and connecting with their customers. Imagine how difficult it would be to build a business without the ability to communicate online.

We make our sites for 21+ only, we play by the rules that are set but it’s a daily battle. Now as a mom of teens that are online all the time I am not worried about them seeing cannabis or liquor on these sites. We talk regularly and openly about these topics.

The violence, bullying, nudity (of minors), sale of illegal weapons and other criminal acts that are openly shared on all of the leading social networks are of much greater concern to me as a parent.

Is it just me because I am in the Cannabis business or do the rules seem to be a little off the mark?