Have you ever wondered how you can continue with the implementation of your social media marketing strategy while having time to enjoy the holiday season? Read this post to find out more.
The holidays bring out the shopaholic in all of us whether we’re buying a gift for the kids or picking up groceries for Christmas dinner. In fact, statistics show that US retail sales in November and December alone totaled $789.4 billion. This tells you that consumers are spending a lot of money during the holidays. So, where exactly does this leave you as a small business owner? It's clear that consumers are willing to spend during the holidays, and it's up to you to market your products or services effectively so that these consumers choose to patronize your business over all the others.
But here’s the downside, creating an effective social media marketing strategy takes a lot of time and precise planning. So does this mean it’s too late to start planning a holiday marketing campaign? Yes, it may be, however; our team has put together a list of tips to help you pull off the last-minute holiday campaign.
What’s a holiday social media marketing plan/campaign anyway?
You might not know what a holiday social media marketing campaign is if you're unfamiliar with marketing jargon. The holidays are a good and bad time for marketers universally, competition is through the roof, discounts & giveaways are rampant, and businesses are all fighting for attention. During the holidays, people want to shop, but how can you make sure they choose your business? That's the challenge.
A holiday social media marketing campaign is a plan or effort to boost sales during the holidays, build and sustain a relationship with your customers, and of course spread that festive cheer. Usually, you’ll have a regular social media campaign during the year for everything from product launches to special offers but the holidays require a more unique approach. That’s why you need to have a campaign or plan in place so that you can position your brand in front of your target audience and see a return on investment. (ROI).
Now that you’re up to speed on what a holiday campaign is, let's get into the nitty-gritty of how it’s done. It is not advised that you create campaigns last minute, but as a small business owner you may not have the time or budget, so here are 7 clever last-minute holiday social media marketing tips for small businesses:
Repurpose Last Year’s Campaign
Planning a last-minute campaign means you’re probably running on a time crunch so why not just use last year’s campaign? No, we don’t recommend you copy last year’s campaign, we’re advising you to repurpose it instead. Repurposing an old holiday campaign requires you to look through your monthly social media reports, identify what posts had the most success based on your KPIs (key performance indicators: the metrics you used to determine campaign success) e.g click-through rates and conversions.
In some cases, you could also look at posts that had great engagement rates to identify sentiment. Once you’ve done this you should just repurpose what worked based on the blueprint of last year’s campaign.
2. Add Festive Themes
This tip may not necessarily help you close sales but it’s an easy way to get your business and audience in the festive spirit. The social profiles of your business are like your home or physical store, so why not decorate them? For example, add Christmas templates for your posts, use emojis, use holiday hashtags, etc. It’ll keep your brand looking festive and your audience excited for the holidays.
3. Emphasize Family
The holiday for most people is about biological and even found families so why not let your social media marketing campaign reflect that. Brands like Disney love to emphasize different types of families in their campaigns. Their 2021 holiday campaign From Our Family To Yours features a young girl who was raised by her grandmother. This campaign brought so much warmth to Disney fans all over and reflected a non-conventional family dynamic.
Your small business may not have Disney’s budget but you can utilize images and videos of families in your strategy.
4. Batch and Schedule Your Content
The holidays are an amazing time of year for most people to relax but for small business owners, they are also the busiest time of year. You’re likely going to be packaging tons of orders, trying to market your offer all at the same time and managing other business activities. If that sounds like you then you should consider batching your holiday campaign content.
Pick a day, days, or even a week to come up with holiday content ideas and then write it all out. Then pick another day to actually produce the content, are you going to post Tik Toks? Then record numerous videos in one day etc. It takes a lot of discipline to batch content but the reward is more time on your hands to handle other business activities or to spend time with family.
Once you’re done batching your social media content utilize scheduling tools like Preview, Later and Planoly to have your posts automatically go out on specific days at a specific time. This means you don’t have to manually post from the native apps. However; you should note that these tools come with a monthly fee but we assure you that they’re affordable and worth it.
5. Evoke Emotion
Humans feel a varying range of emotions around the holidays, in fact, research shows that humans experience 27 different emotions. The takeaway is that your campaigns should evoke those emotions. Put a smile on your audience’s face with your festive carousel post or bring up that warm fuzzy feeling with your festive reel.
You can also do this by getting a bit personal, it’s social media and people love seeing what others have got planned for the holidays. Share that with your audience and encourage them to share as well.
6. Align With Your Company's Values
Your holiday social marketing campaign should represent your brand values. Take Airbnb’s holiday campaign, Made Possibly By Hosts. This campaign works because it features a series of videos of Airbnb hosts from around the globe. Airbnb is a global accommodation service, the accommodation hosted on Airbnb’s sites is usually privately owned and is rented out nightly, weekly, etc.
This is why the decision to feature hosts in their campaign is perfect as it strongly ties into who they are and also celebrates the individuals who opened up their homes to Airbnb guests from around the world. Consider your business values before you create a campaign and ask yourself questions like: are you a family-oriented business? Showcase that in your campaign strategy.
Are you a socially conscious business? Showcase that in your campaign. Don’t hop on trends just because, do your research and make sure it truly aligns with your business and audience. Use images, copy, and designs that align with your business throughout the holidays.
7. Have Fun/Enjoy Yourself
Implementing a holiday social media marketing campaign is a lot of hard work and that’s why you should ensure that you enjoy every moment. Don’t create a piece of content that doesn’t spark joy, for your businesses. Always make sure you’re having fun while creating deliverables that fit your campaign. Do what you know, what you love, and what your audience loves too. When you create a campaign that reflects your interests your audience can tell and it’s just more authentic.
Conclusion
Leaving your holiday social media marketing campaign isn’t advisable, however; if you ever find that you’re running out of time these tips are sure to guide you in the right direction. One of the key takeaways from this is to always keep track of the insights from your older holiday campaigns. Having social media reports handy means that you get a better look at what worked last year and you can just recycle that.
Remember buyers are willing and ready to shop during the holidays so it’s your job to show them why they should patronize your business also make sure to evoke emotions, align your campaign with your company’s values, get festive and have fun doing it too. Good luck with your holiday marketing plan.
If you found this helpful, you should check out these related posts: How To Use The 80/20 Rule To Boost Your Social Media Marketing & 21 Social Media Tools For An Effective Marketing Execution
About The Author
Daniella Haastrup graduated with a degree in Mass Communication and currently works as a Social Media Manager. Her expertise lies in social media marketing and content marketing/copywriting. When she’s not working towards representing a brand on social media you’ll find her buried in a book or listening to showtunes. You can contact her via LinkedIn, Instagram, or Twitter
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