The biggest shopping season of the year is in full force. And, there's still time to implement your holiday social media marketing campaign.
The good news is we’ve outlined four successful holiday social media campaigns to generate some ideas for you.
Host Contests On Various Social Platforms
Holding a social media contest is a great way to bring in the holiday cheer while engaging with your followers. It generates exposure and buzz around to your brand, helps increase reach to your audience, and presents the chance to build a vault of user-generated content you can leverage during the holidays and for Q1 campaigns.
There are different creative holiday contests you can employ for your social campaigns. Here are a couple of ideas to get you started:
- Sweepstakes – perhaps the easiest to execute, make it simple for followers to enter by providing their email or using a branded hashtag. Ensure the giveaway prize is enticing based on your buyer personas and create visuals that promote the contest. Increase the possibility of winning by offering multiple prizes.
- Holiday photo contest - Ideal to gain some user-generated content, use highly visual platforms like Instagram that encourages followers to share images related to your holiday theme. To enter, have your followers post a photo or a video to Instagram with a specific hashtag. Share how winners will be chosen either through the most social votes (preferred for increased engagement) or a voting panel from your team.
Take followers Behind The Scenes To Your Holiday Events
With so many festivities and events being held during this time, why not invite your audience in on the fun? Leveraging live-streaming video platforms like Instagram Stories (or the new Instagram Live Videos), Periscope, and Facebook Live is a great way to give your followers transparent and authentic experiences of your brand. This may include your annual Christmas party, the office celebration and décor, awards ceremony, or a volunteer event.
Each event offers a chance to generate content for your online marketing. Take full advantage by posting images, videos and using live-streaming to involve your networks. Sharing this type of content also humanizes your brand, making you more credible and bringing more awareness to your business.
Share Holiday Tips & Tricks
Offer helpful holiday tips to consumers this holiday season by publishing content giving them and advantage. Depending on your niche, you could extend your expertise on how to save money amid the holiday rush, ways to stay healthy during the holidays, even legal advice that applies during this time. Making these tips relevant to your brand messaging is a plus, yet sharing useful information helps separate your brand and position you as a go-to source.
Don’t have time to publish consistent blog articles for your followers? No worries. Content curation, or the process of gathering, organizing, and sharing the best content pieces that resonates with your audience, is highly effective for “filling in the gaps” of your content strategy.
Support A Charitable Organization
People connect the holidays to a time for giving. Hold a social media campaign that promotes and supports your favorite charity. Use your branded andtheir branded hashtag to increase exposure and bring awareness to the cause.
Additionally, encourage your networks to volunteer or donate to their respective organizations. By using your brand name and messaging to bring attention to issues reveals that you care and have a desire to create positive change in the world.
Final Key Tips
Here are some final tips to executing successful social media campaigns that help create your desired results (i.e. REVENUE).
- Hashtags are king on social media! Leverage them appropriately to maximize exposure, foster new followers and generate engagement around your campaigns.
- Consider giving your site a festive feel by including a holiday-themed background image. Such changes appeal to consumer emotions, keeping them in the holiday, buying spirit
- Remember to have fun… it’s the holidays, a joyous time of the year. Much success!
Is your social media marketing ready for the holidays? Reach out to us here and discover how we can bolster your campaigns and help you achieve your goals this year and next!
