Add a Dash of Sugar and Spice in Your Social Media Marketing this Holiday Season

I love this time of the year! Fall is an exciting time – the trees are putting on a majestic show for us, Halloween is right around the corner, followed by Thanksgiving, and the Holidays! That’s a lot of excitement packed in just a few weeks. For marketers and small business owners, this excitement is ten-fold – we’re only a few weeks away from Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and planning can make a huge difference on our year-end bottom line.

So buckle down, take a sip of your pumpkin spice coffee, and let’s get creative with your social media marketing campaign this holiday season!

Here are 10 tips to help you rock this season:

1. Develop an editorial calendar. Considering that this is the busiest time of the year for retailers, chances are you’ll forget to post, or even worse, have writer’s block and post whatever just to keep up with the competition. That’s a very bad practice! Take some time to develop a bank of posts and schedule as many as you can ahead of time. Make each message unique, and include images and videos along the way. But please, don’t set it and forget it.

2. Make your customers feel important. Social media platforms are open 24/7 and the expectation from your customers is to get a quick response from your brand. Make sure to set all your social media pages to send you alerts whenever your brand is mentioned or when you receive a message. Treat your social media presence as you would treat your customer service desk or your business phone. Nobody likes to wait, especially during the holidays, but it’s also important to remember to maintain your brand’s voice and do it well. A rushed and short response may be perceived as rude and may do more damage than good to your brand, so double check what you write and your tone before you post it.

3. Decorate for the holidays. Follow Google’s footsteps and make your logo more festive. Make sure that your website is updated with your promotions and has a similar look and feel as your social media posts. Think of your customers moving from one social media platform to another to your website as how they would feel walking through a department store – it should look and feel like the same place (brand).

4. Spend some money on Facebook advertising. According to Social Media Today, 43% of consumers started their shopping around Halloween last year. If you have to choose which platform to invest your social media budget on, choose Facebook, as it is the largest with the best advertisement program available at this time. Plan a big spending push behind Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but spread your budget all the way to December 24^th to account for those last minute shoppers.

5. Open on Black Friday? So is Twitter! Have someone live Tweet promotions throughout the night and during the day. Make sure to check your brand mentions and respond on a timely fashion. While you’re at it, offer them coupons to be shared with family and friends.

6. Make it fun and personal. Show the personal side of your brand with fun photos and images. Make use of Vine to create short, entertaining, and quirky videos about your offers.

7. Engage your customers to share content with you. Ugly holiday sweater? Best fruitcake recipe? Best childhood holiday memory? Make a fun way to communicate with your customers other than a direct sales pitch. Award their participation with an electronic coupon to be shared with family and friends.

8. Offer exclusive deals for followers/fans on different platforms. Make your followers feel special by offering a coupon or a deal exclusively for a specific social media platform – say Facebook fans get an item free with the purchase of x item. On a separate day you can promote a similar campaign on Twitter aimed at your Twitter followers only.

9. Pinterest away! Boards can be more than just wish lists and gift guides. Take a creative spin on the holidays using Pinterest to drive more traffic to your website. Don’t forget to add a Pin It button to every page, and make sure to use Rich Pins to include more information on each pin.

10. ‘Tis the season of giving. Don’t forget that the holiday season is a religious season, and your customers may be interested in buying more from brands that partake in the holiday spirit of helping the less fortunate. There are many ways to help, even if you don’t have a big budget. Update your customer base via social media on your charity program regularly, and share photos and videos of what you’re doing for your community.

Hopefully these tips will help you get going with your social media marketing plan for this holiday season right away. If this seems daunting to you, give us a call. Our marketing team is ready to help you rock this holiday season. As always, your first consultation is free of charge!