As we already know, the festive season is fast approaching, meaning one thing. You need to be ready for the hustle and bustle of the Christmas rush.
We have already seen a major increase in online sales and online interactions on social media due to the pandemic; so it is more important than ever that your online presence is ready for candy cane season.
We have devised a 12 Days of Christmas Marketing Schedule to help you and your businesses get ready for this busy time.
Day 1 – Deck the halls
Who doesn’t love decorating at Christmas? Many people in the UK put their trees up during November, and why not?! Don’t forget about bringing the Christmas cheer to your online presence.
This means decorating your social media profiles. You can do this by updating your profile picture and banners or using of Christmas themed emojis in your bio on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.
Day 2 – Give Something back this Christmas
We all know this year has been a tough year for everybody. This is an ideal opportunity to give something back, which you can do with a Christmas giveaway. Christmas is not just about presents; it is about showing you care. A giveaway not only celebrates giving something back, but it also increases brand awareness and encourages more engagement on your social media profiles. Using Instagram, you can create stories promoting your giveaway, you could build up suspense and add these to a highlight. Or how about decorating your social media grid and using a countdown to the giveaway date. This not only celebrates the season of Christmas giving but builds up excitement for your products too.
Day 3 – Think Outside the Gift Box
Christmas is not all about the usual expected presents. Why not mix it up this year? Consider giving gifts to your customers; how about supplying free shipping for all orders placed through your site? Offer gift wrapping or digital vouchers? Or even adding a free gift with every purchase? There are multiple ways be creative and create a relationship with your customers rather than simply offering the products that you are selling on your eCommerce site.
Day 4 – #AHollyJollyHashtag
Hashtags are a perfect way to get you and your brand out there and noticed more. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all rate hashtags highly in their algorithms. You can also implement these into your email marketing, they really are universal. Why not create your own hashtag, for example:
#SleighMyName
#CDAPresentsChristmas
The opportunities are endless! You can have some fun with this and get your followers and your customers engaged in the fun.
Day 5 – The Grinch has a Heart
The famous quote from the Grinch “I guess I could use a little social interaction” could not be truer. Engaging with your customers and your followers is a vital way to build up that relationship.
The comments sections on both Facebook and Instagram are ideal places to start conversations and build relationships with your followers. Not only will this develop your relationships; but it also means your page will get more engagement as it increases the chances of your post being seen by more people.
Day 6 – Create a Holiday Gift Guide
If you are an eCommerce business, create a holiday gifting guide. Highlight ‘top picks’ for your customers; these can be best sellers, new products or seasonal products that you want to build excitement about.
If you are a service-based business and you use social media to raise awareness of your business, you can highlight your top picks from stores you love, or be creative about how you showcase your business and turn them into ‘gifts’ for businesses.
You can promote your gift guide through your blog or news section, by creating a show real of images for a social media post and could even put budget behind your guide with social media advertisements.
Day 7 – What about the Scrooge?
Don’t forget there are people who do not celebrate Christmas. This means you also need to create ‘un-festive’ content that targets your usual, year-round audience. All your posts and stories do not have to be Christmas themed so keep this in mind when devising your Christmas marketing strategy.
Day 8 – Don’t Be Late for Christmas
Everyone does it, there is always that last minute rush before Christmas getting the last little bits and bobs. Allowing your customers to purchase gift cards or offering next day delivery is an excellent way to increase your sales around Christmas.
You can promote this through your social media channels and reach your engaged customers through email marketing. Use this as an opportunity to promote your last delivery date so your customers are aware of the final guaranteed delivery day before Christmas and are not disappointed.
Running and promoting a last-minute sale on seasonal products, or products that are going to be discontinued in the new year is also a great way to target the late shoppers.
Day 9 – Christmas Tweet
Use Twitter to connect with your followers and increase engagement. Running paid advertising campaigns are a way to reach your market through in-depth targeting on demographics such as age, location and interests.
You can also run polls through Twitter. Polls are a perfect way to promote the products or services that you offer but in a fun and engaging way that will get your audience involved.
Day 10 – Faraway Family
As a result of Covid-19, a lot of families are going to be unable to travel to see their loved ones. Keeping in touch and sharing that love during the Christmas period is a perfect way to spread Christmas cheer. There are many ways to appreciate your customers.
E-cards are a way to show appreciation electronically. If you are a B2B company, a virtual card with a personalised message will bring a smile to your customers’ faces and shows your appreciation for your business relationship, giving them well wishes for the Christmas Period.
If you are a B2C company, show your customers some love by sending them different deals and offers, such as free delivery, gift wrapping, direct delivery to a recipient, discount codes or a Christmas sale. This makes it easier for your customers, in this difficult time, to send a surprise gift and show love even if they cannot be present.
Day 11 – Cracking Campaigns
Utilise social media advertising. No matter what your preferred platform is – Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Snapchat are integrated with the ability to run targeted ad campaigns. Creating eye catching social media adverts will entice your current audience and draw in new customers.
Use a variety of media types to increase engagement with your social media ads. GIFS, 30 second videos and eye-catching images will stand out to your audience and increase traffic to your social profiles and ultimately your site.
Day 12 – Next Christmas, I give you…
Once you have got your Christmas marketing plan out of the way it is time to get prepared for next year. Not sure what the future will hold? Watch our webinar on The New DNA of Tomorrow’s Companies for an insight into how you can prepare for 2021.
The best way to have a wonderful Christmas is to be prepared. If you would like any help or advice with creating and executing a festive marketing strategy our experts are ready to help. Get in touch with our team for more information.