Over $700 billion will be spent this holiday season according to the National Retail Foundation, making it the biggest shopping time of the year. It makes sense then that the holiday season is a great time to ramp up marketing efforts for your business, especially across social media channels.
Developing a holiday-centric social media marketing campaign can have a tremendous impact on your business. Keep reading for some tips ahead of this holiday season.
Update Profiles to Highlight the Holidays
Edit your business’ social media bios to include something about the upcoming holiday, like a countdown to Christmas. If you include a website link, make sure it goes to a holiday-specific page about upcoming sales, new products and more.
Get into the spirit by adding posts related to the holidays. It can be as simple as a picture of your team dressed up in holiday sweaters! Such measures will add a human element to your brand while helping you stay connected to users and current events.
Check Out The Industry
Before developing your holiday campaign, do some research on industry trends. What are your competitors doing? What kinds of holiday campaigns are influencers focused on? There are tools to help with this, like Sprout Social to monitor trends and Influence.co to research influencers. Such insight will help you determine what to focus your own marketing efforts on.
Have a Defined Strategy for Video Content
Most social media platforms these days include some sort of component for posting videos. Having a defined video campaign will help your brand stand out above the holiday noise.
Decide how you want to incorporate videos into your social media marketing efforts. This could include posting a new Reel each day to Instagram to highlight a gift idea. Whatever you decide on, make sure to stick to your strategy and focus on the specific goal in mind that you are trying to achieve with the campaign.
It’s also important to choose the right video editing tool to make sure your content is polished and professional. Some good options include Lumen5, Placeit and Magisto.
Engage with the Community
During the holidays, staying engaged with your followers will keep your brand top of mind and potentially make your business the next stop for holiday shopping. Keep up engagement by replying to mentions, re-posting content from followers, liking posts and asking questions, including through polls. Polls can provide great insight into what your followers like and what they want to see more of.
The holiday season is all about giving back, so helping the community in some way aligns perfectly with the spirit of the season. Partner with a local non-profit to host a fundraiser or have sales of a certain product go towards that non-profit. Social media is a great way to spread the word about a worthy cause!
Create a Unique Hashtag
Creating a unique hashtag allows your audience to quickly find your brand’s posts. Choose a hashtag that’s festive and fun but also accurately represents your brand and/or product. It could be related to a holiday-specific campaign or just a general hashtag for the season. A unique hashtag can help your business stand out and reach a bigger audience.
Hold a Contest or Giveaway
A great way to boost social engagement is by holding a giveaway or contest. The holiday season provides plenty of opportunities to do so. It could be something as simple as asking your followers to post a photo of their holiday decorations to be entered for a chance to win a coupon or gift basket. Asking users to follow your business’ page and tag friends as a requirement for entering is a great way to grow your following and expand your reach.
Are you ready to develop and implement your social media marketing strategy this holiday season? Our team is ready to help! Contact the Social Ape team to learn more.
