Stores are starting to fill up with Christmas decorations, special promotions, and even our emails are starting to be full of special offers.
Even if you are spending more time at home, one simple visit to your social media channels and it’s as full of holiday cheer as the stores outside your door.
Christmas posts, latest deals, this season’s best decorations…well it’s the most wonderful time of the year! Or is it? That depends if your company is ready to be on a digital market, where the shoppers are one click away to buy something from you…or your competitors.
If you work in marketing, you’ll understand that by now your social media channels should “start to feel like Christmas” both in organic posts and paid campaigns. To know all about setting up your holiday campaigns just click here (but read this one first).
So the question is: What can you do to light up your social media channels and get them ready for the holidays? What are the best practices to follow? Let’s delve in:
How important is social media for Christmas sales?
It’s really simple: Consumers go crazy over Christmas and especially in the last 3 years, online shopping has increased, becoming the 1st consumers preference. At this time, everyone’s already at their computers looking for the perfect gifts, with their credit card numbers memorized, and looking for something that will make them feel Christmas joy.
It’s up to you to make sure they notice your business, not only the products or service but also your brand’s values and what sets you apart from millions of other companies.
What to take into account when planning Christmas posts?
All you want for Christmas is…a plan!
You can have great ideas for your holiday communication but without a plan, there is no good strategy. There are 5 main points you should consider when planning your Christmas tactics:
Big Ideas: make a list of your ideas for this season’s communications and share it with your team. This includes posts, blog articles, campaigns, giveaways, and any other ideas you may have.
Audience: defining your target audience is one of the most important things you need to do. Who will be interested in your content or special offers? What are their interests? Where are they? Once you have your target audience defined, you’ll know what kind of content to plan.
Competitors: Do some market research, find out what your competitors are doing, what works, what doesn’t work, and most importantly, what can you do to be one step ahead and stand out.
Channels: Choose your social media channels wisely. First, you need to ask yourself “where is my audience?” and then choose your channels based on that. Second, it’s important to understand in what channels the type of content your planning will bring the best results. Facebook and Instagram are very popular to promote holiday content.
Content Calendar: Finally, you need to prepare your content calendar, this is crucial to visualize what your content strategy will look like over a period of time and stay organized across platforms. Some of the key elements to have in there are the date and hour of publishing, the theme of your posts, their format (story, image post, vídeo post…) the copy and image idea, and the status of each post.
Festive Social Media Wrapping
Just like wrapped gifts, your social media channels should be wrapped up for the occasion, so you can give your audience that holiday vibe. Whether it’s creating a new cover image for your social media pages, change your profile picture, or adding a holiday spin to your product packaging, this is important to set the mood for the holidays and all of the content you’ll be publishing.
You don’t need a Christmas product, just a story
The holidays have that magical glow that consumers love so much and want to maintain it, so maybe hard-selling them Christmas gifts or making them feel guilty for not spending more is not the path you want to follow.
Even if you have a special Christmas product, you’ll need an even more important thing: a good story. For example, a big brand like Coca Cola usually captures its audience’s hearts and minds with storytelling videos. This kind of idea may not drive direct sales, but it will drive brand loyalty, engagement, and a positive relationship with your audience.
So get into the holiday spirit and start working on some ideas! If you’re not sure where to start, we might be able to help.
