The dependency of businesses and brands on the internet has rapidly increased with time. As a result, some businesses even completely run from online marketing strategies. It only makes sense as, more often than not, most of us live a parallel social life in the virtual world.
Well, the vape industry is no stranger to online marketing tactics. A healthy replacement for traditional cigarettes, especially for addicts, the vape industry has been positively growing, with newer brands and options being introduced every other day.
With the growing number of vape users, it’s obvious that they need the internet’s assistance in reaching out to more people. So, what all needs to be done to set up and promote an online vape shop? Well, keep reading this blog to learn how online advertising can be helpful for this industry.
Look out for the restrictions
The internet is not the friendliest to the vape industry. There are many restrictions on what you can and cannot market, be it on search engines, online business platforms, or social media.
Google Ads, Twitter, Facebook, and the biggest online advertisement place, Instagram, all have stringent policies against the marketing of tobacco products.
You will first need to get your vape shop FDA-approved to set it up online. Following that, you can only go around these restrictions to market your product and achieve your goals.
Social Media – Is it useful for the vape industry?
Despite many restrictions on advertising vape stores, social media sites are not completely off the cards. You can still set up accounts, collaborate with others, and promote your product.
Instagram is your best option here, as its heavy algorithm-based networking allows for a greater connection with your target customer group.
Although extremely efficient, convenient, and accessible, the business account feature still does not cater to products like vape mods. But you can still set up an account, gear it up with links to your shop, and put your products on display. Vape4ever is one such store that has followed this tactic and established a great social media presence, leveraging its growth.
Besides, tagging restrictions are loose on these sites, so don’t forget to use them generously for your future customers!
In the era of influencers, you never have to start from square zero on Instagram or any other social media. Instead, you can collaborate with their already popular account on various social networking sites and gain from their huge number of followers.
They can market your vaping products through the content they post. For example, Instagram models can post well-taken pictures with their new vape product or do a review of some of their favorite flavors.
This can also be done through YouTube, which is one of the few audio-visual content sites that still deals with more elaborate and detailed content. Product reviewers can do an extended review of a range of your vape products or a kit.
Besides these, many popular vape tricksters can also assist you in paid promotions through their videos and photos.
Search Engine Optimization – A subtle but effective way
SEO or Search Engine Optimization uses the power of words and the internet to help you kick off your online marketing journey. It is a process through which you can direct more people to your vape-based website.
Search engines like Google, Firefox, and Bing rank websites on their SERPs according to their reliability in terms of the content and how well the website works. If your website is full of bugs, runs slow, and is not designed to be user-friendly, it will hardly reach the first page of a Google search.
So, to avoid that from happening, you will need to keep a few things in mind. ‘Keywords’ are the key to Search Engine Optimization.
To make it more relevant, the words and phrases that are most likely to be used by internet users for looking up content related to your site must be included in your webpage. This process is called keyword research.
Search engines prioritize your page over others, as yours is the closest to what the user is looking for.
This can also be done by providing blog content through your website. Simply enter a page in which you post blogs based on your vape product and include keywords in all of them. It will add to the utility of your website, and even the users seeking general information will be diverted to your site.
An increase in traffic automatically makes your website a popular choice for search engines.
Vape shop directories – From the bottom to the top
Directories are still relevant even though they do not exist in the form of a thick yellow book. Being a part of a popular and huge domain can attract traffic to your website and eventually increase the number of your customers.
This will be both local and global as directories tend to be accessed for the overall information. Also, an adoption by a directory adds to the validity of your website, leveling up the ranking for search engines. All in all, you can gain a lot by just being part of an online vape shop directory.
Collaboration with events and festivals
The most fun and influential way of marketing your vape product is probably sponsoring an event or festival that is going to host thousands. It might be a general marketing tactic but combined with social media; this method can prove to be highly effective.
Many of these events specifically have themes surrounding vaping, or at least a part of the event is dedicated to tobacco products.
Merchandising your products at these events and promoting them on social media with specific hashtags can be a fun activity for the festival-goers. It will also be on the premise of your target customers, making reaching the larger vape community easy.
Final Words
Fighting through the restrictions of marketing regulation still leaves out many ways in which you can make your vape product be seen by potential buyers.
Social media is limitless and will flow however you want it to if you know how to handle it most optimally. So, being regularly present on these sites and following the above advertising suggestions can give you surprising results.
