Leveraging Social Media for Holiday Marketing Success
We’re a few days shy of the first day of fall and September is nearly over, so before you know it, the holiday season will be here. And it’s no secret that it’s a major time in terms of marketing and of course, shopping.
First, you should make sure you’re starting things off on the right foot, especially if this is your first time marketing during the holidays or if you feel truly unprepared. Take a look at our previous blogs to help you get started, here are two you that can begin with:
Now, let’s take a look at a few ways you can leverage social media for holiday marketing success - through Thanksgiving, Black Friday shopping, Christmas, and more.
Engage
If you want to leverage social media for marketing success during the holidays (or otherwise) you need to engage with your audience and community online. Reply to comments, story replies, and direct messages. Like comments. And don’t forget to comment and like posts from others as well! Engaging is so important for success because it helps you build a relationship with your audience, which leads to loyalty, memorability, purchasing, and more.
Host a giveaway
The holidays are always a great time to launch a fun giveaway! Hosting a giveaway on social media can help boost your engagement, your followers, and your visibility.
Create reminders
Do you have a really awesome product launching for the holidays? Maybe a sale or an event coming up? Don’t forget to create reminders! Instagram Stories has a sticker feature that allows you to create a countdown, which means you can select the exact day and time that you need and share it with your audience! Users can then click your countdown and have the option to receive a reminder about it. This will help those who are interested keep track of all your exciting upcoming launches, sales, and events. Learn more Instagram countdowns here.
Share Behind-the-scenes content
Sharing behind-the-scenes content is a great way to get your audience ready and excited for the holidays. There are plenty of ways you can share BTS content through Reels, Stories, TikTok, and more, so don’t be afraid to get creative. For example, you can share sneak peeks of upcoming launches and how the team is getting ready for the holidays (yes, even if it’s just yourself creating products at your home). If you’re having a product launch or a sale, you can share “pack an order” style videos like this one.
Give back/get involved
Aside from gift giving, the holidays are also a time of giving back and getting involved in your community. Is there a cause that’s really close to your heart, or really important to your team, community, or business? Tap into that!
There are so many ways you can give back, but let’s take a look at some of the ways you can do that with the help of social media.
For one, you can use the Donate sticker in Instagram Stories to create a fundraiser that you can share with your audience, find in-depth steps for creating a donation sticker on Instagram here. You can also use social media to share upcoming fundraisers such as specific fundraising events (like an food or toy drive).
Giving back is a great way to make an impact in your community, can increase employee morale, and it can help strengthen the connection between you, your team, your business, and your community/customers. More and more, consumers are gravitating towards businesses that share their morals and values and that stand behind important causes.
Whatever your holiday social marketing plans, it’s important you start thinking about them and planning now. If you need some more guidance, check out our blog!
Tip: Click the search box and enter “holiday” to pull up holiday specific guides!
If you’d like more personalized advice tailored to your business, start by booking a free 20 minute consultation with us!