The path from “never heard of it” to “add to cart” for a new cannabis strain is rarely linear. In 2025, that journey is shaped by a tight weave of pricing and promotions, creator content, social search, retail merchandising, and third-party validation like strain rankings. The common thread: consumers want convenience, credible cues, and a reason to believe—preferably delivered where they already scroll.

Price, Convenience, and the First Nudge

Before clever content even enters the chat, basics still rule. BDSA’s Consumer Insights (Spring 2024 update) show price and convenience are the top decision drivers for where people shop, with 36% choosing the lowest prices and 34% prioritizing location. Those levers set the stage for trial when a new cultivar is discounted or prominently placed.

Deep discounts are now a feature, not a bug. Headset’s retail data—summarized by Flowhub—shows recreational discounts have roughly doubled over five years, conditioning shoppers to sample what’s on promo and helping unfamiliar strain names cross the trust gap.

Creators as “Pre-Budtenders”

Influencers increasingly act like pre-budtenders: they translate flavor notes, effects, and brand stories into short, repeatable narratives. Morning Consult’s influencer tracking finds trust in influencers among Gen Z and millennials climbed 10 points from 2019 to 2023, signaling that creator recommendations can legitimately sway trial for new products.

That influence converts. Sprout Social’s 2024 report says 49% of consumers make purchases daily, weekly, or monthly because of influencer posts, and 30% say they trust influencers more than six months prior—numbers that reinforce why even highly regulated categories like cannabis lean into creator education over overt advertising.

The mechanics matter: social commerce is increasingly normal. eMarketer reports nearly 40% of U.S. social users made a purchase from a creator or influencer-founded brand in the prior year, a figure that jumps to about two-thirds for Gen Z and millennials. Cannabis transactions often conclude off-platform due to policy, but the discovery and persuasion still start in-feed.

Authenticity > Hype

Kantar’s Media Reactions work points to a broader advertising truth: people reward ads and channels that feel “natural,” punishing intrusive or inauthentic placements. For cannabis, that means nano- and micro-influencers who speak the language of terpenes, onset, and dose often outperform celebrity blasts at driving consideration for a new strain.

The creator economy’s tilt toward smaller, higher-engagement voices supports this. Trade coverage of the creator space notes brand spend is rising, with micro-creators winning because their audiences perceive them as real and relatable—an alignment that maps neatly to strain discovery where sensory descriptors and lived-experience reviews carry weight.

Platforms That Normalize the Category

Discovery also depends on platforms that organize the chaos. Weedmaps’ scale underscores how consumers encounter menus, reviews, and ads in one place; a JAMA Network Open paper cites Weedmaps’ estimated 16.4 million monthly active users in 2022, illustrating the reach of marketplace content that can boost a strain from niche to known.

Leafly’s annual strain rankings and best-seller lists similarly act as social proof. When a cultivar appears in a best-selling roundup or as a runner-up for Strain of the Year, retailers tend to feature it, and consumers become more willing to sample it—evidence of the reinforcing loop between media visibility and shelf presence.

Loyalty, Brand Stories, and the “Why Now?”

Influence does not end at the click. Brand loyalty in cannabis remains variable across demographics and markets; Headset’s case studies (e.g., on Cookies) show how loyalty can fluctuate and why consistent storytelling paired with data-led targeting is essential to retention once trial happens. For a new strain, that “why now?” story—genetics, effects, sustainability, limited drop—needs to be crisp and repeated across channels to convert a promo-driven first purchase into a second.

Dosage clarity and occasion-fit content also reduce friction. BDSA notes that 42% of edible consumers in adult-use states prefer 10 mg THC or less per occasion, with 2.5–5 mg the single most-preferred dose range—guidance that savvy creators incorporate when recommending first-time or daytime strains and formats. Translating that same “fit” logic to flower or vapes—terpenes, onset, potency—helps hesitant shoppers try something new with confidence.

Guardrails and the Youth Factor

None of this happens in a vacuum. Research links youth social media exposure to later cannabis vaping initiation, a reminder that brand and creator strategies must respect platform rules and responsible marketing standards to avoid harm and reputational risk.

More broadly, even as some social channels struggle with illicit sales and drug content, platform enforcement and policy changes keep pushing marketers toward education-first approaches, tight age-gating, and off-platform conversion paths. The compliance environment shapes how influence can be used—nudging brands toward transparency, lab data, and sober claims over hype.

What Works Now

Across markets, four tactics consistently move consumers from intrigue to intake with new strains:

• Educate, don’t inflate. Creators who explain lineage, terpene drivers of flavor/effect, and ideal occasions outperform those who just “rate” a strain. This aligns with Kantar’s preference for “natural” ad experiences.
• Anchor with proof. Third-party badges (rankings, awards, verified reviews) and marketplace visibility accelerate trust and trial.
• Meet them where they scroll, convert where you can. Social is for discovery; retail, marketplace, or brand sites are for conversion and age verification—mirroring social commerce patterns.
• Close the loop with pricing and loyalty. A compelling intro offer plus a loyalty follow-up turns one-time curiosity into repeat behavior.

Marketing and influencers do not replace product quality or budtender trust; they set the context in which both can be discovered. In a crowded field of similar genetics and names, the winners are the brands that make the trial decision feel informed, safe, and timely—right when the consumer is ready to try something new.