Christmas is such a time of joy and excitement for all of us, but if you happen to be in charge of social media, it can also be a bit of a challenging time. This can especially be true if you are looking to boost sales using social media during the holiday period. This is why we are jumping in to help, with our top ten Christmas social media marketing tips to get you through Christmas and beyond.
Top Tip 1: Engage, engage and engage again
Engaging with your followers is key to ensuring the success of your posts – whether helping you boost your social media posts by engaging before and after their publication, to simply starting a conversation, engagement is a must.
Top Tip 2: Get with the theme of the season
Close your eyes and imagine Christmas – already certain colours, styles of posts, snowflakes and mistletoe may be flooding your mind, and for good reason. The Christmas theme can not only help people identify what your campaign is all about, but get them in the mood to buy your products. If you are consistent in your style and branding, you can strengthen your message and help to build your brand.
Top Tip 3: Zero in on key dates
To help you to build up engagement and followers, focusing on key dates that relate to your business can help you ramp up ready for the holiday season. Researching social media dates featuring particular hashtags and building posts around them. For example, if you are a local coffee shop, you would benefit from #cocoa day, featuring your hot chocolate products.
Top Tip 4: Gather user-generated content
User-generated content is content that your followers have shared relating to your product or service. For example, if a hairdresser’s client posted a photo of their new hairstyle and tagged the hairdresser, this is user-generated content. A great way to gather this is to have a competition for images – with the winner getting a worthy prize. Not only does it give you bags of content to showcase your work, but the posts and comments can broadcast your proven appeal to a wider audience.
Top Tip 5: Partner with others
Many business to business companies would argue that other businesses, especially ones that aren’t in direct competition but with a similar audience are the basis of how they promote their work. This can also be true for any other kind of business, especially on social media. Partnering with others can not only make you as a business look like a team player but also get your name out there to mutual benefit.
Top Tip 6: Showcase a charity
Tis’ the season for giving after all, and showcasing the charity work you are doing or charities you are supporting can be hugely beneficial for both parties. This is true especially as the charity you are supporting is promoting you too, which can result in increased engagement and exposure to a larger audience. It can also humanise your business and give people a reason to identify with your businesses’ ethics and values.
Top Tip 7: Tell a Christmas story
Stories are a great way to engage audiences, and what better time than in the festive season to spread the good news, successes or more personal stories about your business on social media. Pick something heartwarming for that extra holiday spirit.
Top Tip 8: Solve a Christmas problem
It can be argued that at the heart of every sale, is a customer’s pain point. If you can identify a difficulty your customer is experiencing during the festive period, and you are able to solve it for them, this means you are able to sell your product or service to them. Do they struggle to get their hands on your product before Christmas? Perhaps you should offer express delivery and publicise that on social media. This demonstrates how in touch with your customers you are, and this can help them feel truly appreciated and catered to.
Top Tip 9: Try a paid campaign
If you haven’t yet delved into the world of paid social media, it is certainly something to consider if Christmas is an important time to promote your business. Paid advertising campaigns can focus on different goals depending on your marketing strategy, and you can choose to increase brand awareness, website visits, leads and more.
Top Tip 10: Run a promotion, competition or giveaway
During the festive period, it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd, but why not try and do just that with a unique giveaway, promotion, incentive or competition? A beauty company for example could offer 10% off treatments booked off before Christmas, a charity could run a special Christmas competition or a contractor could do a fun Christmas countdown. The more interesting and related to your business it is, the more engagement you are likely to receive.
Bonus tip: Even if you can’t send a Christmas card to all of your customers, at least wish them a Merry Christmas with a special social media post or digital Christmas card. This way, you seem more human as a business and can make your customers feel more appreciated.
There are lots of ways to promote your business on social media to drive your marketing strategy and generate the results you are looking for.
If you would like some help with your social media marketing, please don’t hesitate to get in touch on 01452 729 953 or visit our contact page.
