CASE STUDY / CBDISTILLERY
CBDistillery
Cannabis, CBD & THC | Social Media
In 2016, CBDistillery(tm), the flagship brand of Balanced Health Botanicals, launched with a major Black Friday Instagram sale. In less than 24 hours, thousands of orders had been placed. Today, CBDistillery has served over 2 million people in the U.S. and continues to invest in product testing and infrastructure with a mission of helping people take back control of their health and wellness. 5W set out to reinvigorate the brand's social media presence by leveraging its creative and original social content within media outreach to engage new and existing consumers on social.
5W found that earned video content shared by media publications on their social channels leaned heavily toward non-branded lifestyle content like DIYs and recipes. The team leveraged CBDistillery's original CBD recipes to offer social media editors custom and exclusive social content that consumers could create at home. CBDistillery offered self-care and food and beverage recipe ideas, creating content unique to each publication's social parameters - securing earned content that organically highlighted the brand through visual imagery and caption crediting that tagged the brand's social account.
STRATEGY
RESULTS
- 12.9M+ social media impressions
- 10 unique social media placements
- Coverage on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok channels of Byrdie, THE/THIRTY, Thrillist, Her Campus, Spoon University, and others
- Earned social coverage at no cost
FAQ
What is earned social media coverage—
Earned social media coverage is when a publisher's owned social channels (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook) feature a brand without paid placement. It typically requires offering publishers original content - like the CBD recipe content 5W created for CBDistillery - that fits each channel's voice and tagging conventions.
How does 5W support CBD and cannabis brands—
5W combines social-first content strategy, lifestyle media relations, recipe and DIY content development, and influencer partnerships to drive earned coverage for CBD and cannabis brands within strict regulatory and platform guidelines.
What types of content drive lifestyle publisher social channels—
Lifestyle publishers' social channels favor non-branded recipe and DIY content, self-care moments, and visually distinctive how-tos. The most effective brand content offers clear value to the publisher's audience while organically featuring the brand.
What outlets cover CBD and cannabis lifestyle—
Top outlets include Byrdie, THE/THIRTY, Thrillist, Her Campus, Spoon University, Refinery29, and Bustle - particularly through their social-first verticals.
How do you measure social PR—
Social PR is measured through total social impressions, unique placements, engagement rates, brand tag counts, and click-through to brand-owned channels.
