Turkeys, Christmas trees, menorahs and wrapping paper are all things we will be needing very soon. That's because we are now preparing to enter the busiest time of the year for many retail and eCommerce companies. That's right, the holidays are upon us all and now is the time to begin your annual holiday marketing campaigns.
During this time of the year, shoppers tend to rush from one store to the next, checking off boxes on their gift list. With all this craziness, how do you capture their attention for a moment and fill them in on the fantastic opportunities they are missing out on at your place of business? The secret is all in your social media marketing strategy. Here are some you will want to pull out of your Santa hat this season.
Show me the Money
Don't forget that you may have a completely different target market than the people who are actually buying your products for the holidays. Think about who is actually shelling out the cash for your stuff. Is it the teenage kid who loves your products or is it their mom? Chances are the latter fits the bill in this instance.
So, what do you need to do? You need to focus your marketing efforts on the people with the money. The kids already know that they love your products. Now, you need to convince their parents to buy them for their kids. Don't get me wrong, you still want to be marketing to the kids, but you also want to set up some target ads for their parents. This is something you can easily do on Facebook and other social media sites.
Likewise, don't forget to give people the bright ideas for gifts. Many times men (and I'm speaking from experience) have no idea what to buy their significant others. By running social campaigns that inform them that your products are the hottest thing for their sweethearts, you'll save them a ton of stress and give them an incentive to buy.
Show off your Style
Nothing will help get you in the spirit faster than seeing some great holiday themed photos and logos. Start the holidays out right by adding a few of these things to your own website and social media pages. This can help get your customers in the mood for shopping a little earlier than normal. In the end, you may find that this is something that will help you beat out the competition when it comes to increasing your profits over the holidays.
Of course, you don't want to just stop there. There are other things you can do when it comes to the things you share on social media and on your website. You will also want to gear some of your blog posts and social media entries around the holidays. For example, sharing special recipes for the holidays that your customers may find fun and exciting is a great idea. However, make sure the things you share actually correlate with your business. Your content doesn't have to directly promote your products or services, but it should at least engage with your target audience.
Have a Contest
Most companies are more worried about their sales numbers through the holiday season instead of focusing on customer engagement. But, doing so could bring in some extra business. One of the things you can do on social media is offer a contest for a certain period of time. For example, you can give away a gift for the 12 days of Christmas or the 8 nights of Hunukkah. To win, your customers must share a post or take some sort of action to become part of the drawing. By ensuring that your posts get shared organically on social channels, you'll gain exposure well beyond your usual reach. This is a great way to get your business in front of people who may not have seen you otherwise.
You can also take this time to show a fun side of your brand. Create some funny videos or ads to go along with your contest and share them on social media. Some of the most memorable ads have been created when a business decides to have fun with their brand for a while.
Look for the Trends
With social media, there is always something going on that is more popular than other things. This is definitely something marketers needs to keep in mind when they are going about the holiday marketing. To start with, look for popular hashtags and conversations taking place regarding the holidays. Then you can use this information in your posts and on your website. This will help you to become part of the conversations that are taking place the most.
As I suggested with the tip on contests, be sure to encourage your customers to share and like your posts on social media. To encourage them to do so, you may even want to offer a small discount for those customers who do share your information.
Love the Holidays
Finally, be sure to remember that there are lots of holidays going on this time of year. Most prefer to focus on the Christmas holiday, but you should also consider some of the others that are taking place during the end of the year. For example, Kwanza and Hanukkah are also popular holidays that bring lots of shoppers to stores. And let us not forget "Festivus for the rest of us"!
It's always best to never forget about the shoppers who may not celebrate the mainstream holiday that most others do. For this reason, make sure you accommodate those shoppers and make sure they are able to find the popular gifts for their specific holiday.
And there you have it! If you're armed with these social media strategies, you can ensure that you avoid being a sales Grinch and really take advantage of the biggest sales cycle of the year.
