The Final Assignment: Heather Hoffman #PuravidaHealth
Social media can act as a courier for both the good and bad in this life. When people decide to use social media as a positive influencer — it is inevitable that great things can arise. In fact, the internet can act as a means of delivering a message for a product or service that can reach a demographic that otherwise is not reached. Social media also allows for an abundance information to spread at a fast pace to reach users quickly and proficiently. For instance, there has been much controversy of the sales of cannabis. Over the last few years, we have really been able to see the influence that cannabis has had on people struggling with mental illness and other diseases. Different strains of cannabis can be helpful in reducing anxiety, stress, symptoms of a post-traumatic disorder, and more. Furthermore, it is often used in cancer treatments to reduce pain stimuli. Needless to say, this sort of information would not be shared with the public otherwise.
So why all the rambling on cannabis? Bear with me, it will all tie into our course material very shortly. The truth is that social media has an incredible means of reaching the public. Therefore, when users market their products via social media they can reach consumers that may never have heard of their brand prior. Users are able to influence the public by giving customers the potential to create a purchasing decision through (cue lights) — social networking. Influencers are perceived as people with authoritative powers and are credible figures in persuading others to follow their posts (no, I’m not talking about a cult). Now according to some of our data (from class), we know that social media is a major player in the marketing world — for one, “In 2016, marketers received $6.85 in earned media for every $1 spent on influencer marketing” (Hamza 2017). The craziest part — about 92% of customers trust recommendations made by influencers over any brand content (Hamza 2017). Overall, we can all agree that social media users have some sort of control over how their user’s shop.
Now, for what you have all been waiting for. *Drum roll, please.* Heather Hoffman is a public figure on Instagram that refers to herself as a “healer”. She is also the specific person and brand that I will be focusing on for this post. So, let us get to it.
Heather Hoffman is a Co-Founder of the business Puravida Health, an all-natural cannabis product. She is also a certified Holistic Nutritionist and has a degree in natural healing. Heather has over 60 K followers on Instagram and 821 posts on her personal page. Her Puravida Health page is directly linked to her personal Instagram account and has over 14 K Instagram followers with over 800 posts all about the company’s values, product, and services. Heather’s company services to medical marijuana to those who are in need of it. What is medical marijuana? It refers to the treatment of medical illnesses or issues through the use of medical marijuana. Marijuana is produced from Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which carries psychoactive therapies. Marijuana was first used for medicinal purposes in Ancient China to treat serious illnesses and later it was used during psychotherapy in Western societies (WM News 2016).
Heather’s business started when a close friend of hers was diagnosed with stage four cancer. This was her ‘sign’ to start a company where she would have the power to help people struggling with medical illnesses reduce their pain reception. However, an interesting fact about Heather is that she struggled with Epilepsy for most of her life. It was not until she started to use medicinal marijuana that she was able to prevent herself from having seizures. In a recent trip to the neurologist’s office, she was able to discover that her brain had healed completely. Having struggled most of her life with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Epilepsy, medical cannabis provided her with an all-natural solution for a life-time of happiness. Her company’s mandate is to provide people with superfoods to create a healing method to medicating and feeding their bodies. Currently, her business haves 100 retailers, works out of 8 cities, has 9 different delivery services, and 7 flavors. Her business works out of California in the United States of America where weed is legal for production and purchase. Her store locations are based in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Berkeley, Oakland, Richmond, and more.
What makes Heather Hoffman’s company so special? Well, firstly it was able to provide a need to a demographic that was not reached before. Heather’s business is able to reach out to people while educating them about her products. She uses social media as a necessary means to reach out to the public — her consumers. Heather uses platforms like a website, a blog, Twitter, and primarily Instagram to connect with her consumers. For this post, I want to focus closely on her Instagram account to give you an understanding of just how powerful social media can be when it is used for the greater good.
Heather as shared her story via her Instagram page multiple times and through the use of interactive hashtags she was able to share her story with so many others. Heather’s story has shown people that there is hope for those who are born into a life where their mental and physical health struggles immensely. She acts as an influencer for alternative medicine which strays completely away from over-the-counter medications that only act as short-term solutions for mental disorders (I.e. Anti-depressants and Anti-psychotics). Each one of us is different from the next which is why we cannot expect for everyone to be able to handle medication the same way. The truth is that because of such extreme differences in our molecular chemistry we cannot all be medicating in the same way. Hoffman’s business shows the public that they can opt out of over-the-counter products for something more organic.
The power of visual communication is extensive and important to today’s world. As discussed in week seven of RTA902, we already know that about 65% of us are visual learners (Hamza 2017). I know I am! We also know that 90% of all information that is delivered to through the synapse in the brain is visual, and that articles with images are actually able to obtain 94% more views (Hamza 2017). If you think about it, Instagram can act as platform that is similar to an online magazine or blog — it’s just more visual. Which is why it is not surprising that most of Heather’s consumers found her off of Instagram. The visual component to her Instagram is intriguing and aesthetically pleasing to look at. She uses a collection of depth, different angles, different lighting, alternative cropping, landscapes, portraits, and detail in her shots. Most importantly, she captures specific moments that she wants to share about not only her products but also about herself. She uses her Instagram accounts to show the public that she can be trusted and connected with — ultimately, making her a trustworthy salesperson. Her marketing tactics include building upon her existing community, getting the word out about her company’s services through interactive hashtags and word-of-mouth, and contests for the public. Her Instagram serves a very specific perspective to the community that allows for users to comment and connect with her. Her content is also designed to appeal to a very particular demographic — people interested in medical marijuana. Which is why her account is very natural-seeming. Most of her pictures are taken outside in nature, and they usually incorporate a visual component of a sun beam in her self-portraits, as though to reflect unity, serenity, and godliness. Her account is definitely planned, meaning that it has many unique components to the way that it is delivered, it is very personal to Heather and Heather’s cause, it is relevant seeing as many people struggle with her similar struggles, and it is intentional. Her dashboard is ultimately the perfect green dashboard on Instagram.
Conclusively, Heather Hoffman’s small business uses Instagram as an important method of obtaining consumers for their products and services by showing the public who she is. Marketing her small business via Instagram allows her to connect with people she would not have been able to connect with before. It is really easy actually, people are more inclined to purchase products from people that they can trust and connect with. The best part of Instagram as a marketing technique is that it is easy to access and easy to read. Overall, Heather’s company is able to retain so much feedback through the use of interactive hashtags, which are able to connect users who are interested in the same categories online.
References:
Heather Hoffman’s Instagram Account: https://www.instagram.com/headd/?hl=en
The Puravida Health Account: https://www.instagram.com/puravidahealth_/?hl=en
