As a result, many people rely on the legality of their advertisements and marketing in order to make money and get food on their table. Starting a head shop isn’t easy and requires marketing like any other business.
Instagram recently hit over 1 billion users and remains a treasure trove for advertising your business, whatever it is.
Yet, while legal weed businesses can technically sell and advertise marijuana on Instagram, the company still enacts many blanket and shadow bans to many weed related accounts which are genuine legal businesses.
Yet, it is clear to all that many head shops do have Instagram accounts that advertise and market their business. So, what are the rules, what affects the rules, and do you have to follow them? This and more has been answered in this article.
Get Familiar With The Federal Law And Instagram Guidelines
Federal law has a huge effect on whether you can advertise, market, and sell marijuana. In Maryland, for instance, weed is legal for medicinal use there, but not legal for public consumption as it is in Colorado.
So in Maryland you flat out can’t sell weed independently anywhere unless you are a medical provider, so you can’t sell weed on Instagram in that situation.
So what do Instagram’s guidelines actually say about selling marijuana, even where it is legal in a federal sense. In Colorado weed is straight up legal, and decriminalized, so long as you are 21 you can buy and sell marijuana as you wish.
The likelihood of the feds getting involved in an Instagram Community Guideline deviation is pretty low, to be honest.
Yet, if you did have a totally legal marijuana business in that state, you still cannot really ‘sell’ it on Instagram. Instagram’s guidelines reveal that “Buying or selling firearms and illegal or prescription drugs (even if it’s legal in your region) is not allowed”.
So, this should clear up most questions. You technically cannot buy or sell cannabis on Instagram in any format, no matter the legality within your state. But is it that cut and dry? Let’s continue.
Why Are There Weed Businesses Still On Instagram?
This is the right question to ask. Of course, there are loads of weed accounts on Instagram which do advertise and market their marijuana businesses. How do these accounts survive while others don’t?
Well, Instagram’s Community Guidelines get a little hazy sometimes. As you can see, the guideline clearly condones the sale of marijuana, but it doesn’t necessarily ward against marketing your business which sells marijuana in person.
Here’s an example of Purple Haze Smoke Shop, a popular head shop or smoke shop that has multiple locations in different states where marijuana is legal. How come their business can operate on Instagram?
Well, they aren’t operating their business over Instagram, rather they are advertising and marketing it through Instagram with links to their websites.
They still get access to this 1 billion user market, but advertise to this market in a clever way which gets around the guidelines like a curved bullet.
Many people do still sell weed on Instagram, breaking community guidelines daily. These guidelines change regularly, so following them is hard enough.
How To Keep Your Account From Being Banned
There are a few ways you can sort of beat Instagram’s banning algorithm while still advertising and marketing your goods. The way to do this is to avoid sales and marketing lingo and be clear that there is nothing for sale on the account.
The account we mentioned in the previous section clearly has ‘21+’, ‘Nothing for sale here’ as well as ‘This product has intoxicating effects and may be habit forming’ within its bio section.
This means that any Instagram mod looking to ban weed business accounts would struggle with this account.
At the same time this account advertises this business to many of those who want to see it and will certainly increase the footfall in the physical stores yet doesn’t actually mention anything about any deals or products on the page.
They can still post pictures of marijuana, so long as it isn’t for sale, as well as getting around certain legal loopholes such as paraphernalia, etc.
The bottom line is that any Instagram account, weed meme page or business, cannot promote the sale of marijuana or market it. But you can still have an Instagram account that gets people into your store.
Here are a few considerations to think about when posting weed related content about your business:
Don’t mention prices, sales, discounts, or deals.
Never publish a menu or discuss inventory
Be careful about directing people to your page if it sells cannabis online
If someone queries about prices or a menu in your DMs or in the comment section, be quick to direct them to your phone number for the dispensary (This isn’t the same as directing them to a link.)
If you really want to get into this world of social media but do own a weed related business, it would be a good idea to hire someone who not only know their way around the internet as well as Instagram and their guidelines, but someone who is dedicated to your account and business and can catch anything that might trigger a ban.
Another good trick is to use public and user generated content. Let’s say a happy customer walks into your local store and has a great experience with your staff and business when buying marijuana from your legal business.
Maybe they have posted a picture of them and your branded packet, or maybe a selfie outside your store.
This content is gold as Instagram can’t really ban it, although they definitely will if they find a reason, but as long as their account is public you can repost this to your page. This is essentially free advertising and is much like reposting a review.
It brings people to your door without you having to type a word or bend a rule.
Responding to content is also a really helpful tool to ‘market’ without breaking community guidelines.
If someone has commented on a post and isn’t talking directly about buying your products, but is just showing their appreciation, you can still interact with them so long as you don’t direct them to purchase cannabis.
This could be as simple as hearting a comment or even talking to your interactors.
These people who interact with posts will be likely to come in and if you interact or even provide a phone number you can pull customers in without marketing against the guidelines.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there is much to consider when thinking about creating an Instagram account for your marijuana business. On the one hand, there is a huge market of people out there to which you could get your word out to.
But there are also a lot of community guidelines to follow, or not.
Let’s be clear, here – there are loads of head shops on Instagram that sell their products without any regard for the guidelines, and more often than not they get away with it.
But you can seriously waste some money on this if you get banned, and being banned for life can be worse for your business than the footfall you are bringing in.
You can find many creative ways to get around this rule, so long as marijuana is legal in your state there isn’t any particular reason why this would be morally wrong.
You can’t legally sell marijuana to anyone below the age of 21, or who isn’t registered in the state anyway, so you aren’t breaking federal law by doing this, only Instagram’s hazy rules.
In conclusion, no you absolutely cannot sell marijuana, direct anyone to buy marijuana, or advertise the sale of marijuana on Instagram, according to their community guidelines.
Nor can your Instagram account for your business be a Business Instagram account.
You can, however, get around many of these strange rules without directly advertising your marijuana or menu.
In any case, simply having an Instagram account for your page is always good for business, you just need to be really careful about your verbiage and how risky you get.
Hello, my name is Tom Bowler and I have been interested in the studies of cannabis for years. My brother and I have been testing out different strains and smoking techniques since we were in our early 20s, so we have some knowledge to impart on anyone willing to listen.
This website is a safe space for people genuinely interested in cannabis to learn in a judgment-free zone. We’ll look at the different ways it can be smoked, rolling techniques, strains, and much more.
So, stay a while and get acquainted with the world of cannabis - it’s not as dark and scary as the rest of the internet would have you believe.
