Just because you are taking a well-deserved break this festive season doesn't mean your social media marketing needs to. All you need to remember is plan, plan, plan! And of course, #content. These tips stand for all holiday periods all over the world (Thanksgiving, Channukah, Diwali, you name it!), but we thought that we would share this with you now as we enter the holiday season around much of the world. Keep your marketing activities fresh and effective over this winter break by following these 5 useful tips:
1. Plan Ahead
Create your festive season content calendar NOW. The entire point is to allow yourself to enjoy the holidays without the additional stress of needing to come up with ideas each week for what you will post. By planning all of your content through January or so before the holiday season hits full swing, you'll allow yourself plenty of free time to vacation, visit family and friends, or just take an extended break doing whatever it is you love to do without having to interrupt that time with brainstorming sessions and the subsequent content creation.
Be sure to craft your topics based on whatever festivals your target audience embraces, and don't forget to include special offers for the holidays as well as sending out sentiments concerning the season that aren't promotional in any way.
2. Create Furiously
Take a few days to write all the blog articles you will need over that period. Once your content calendar is full, spend the extra time now to create all of the content you'll need until the end of the season. Remember that most people are on holiday so you can lower the frequency of your content (it may even become annoying to your audience who are looking for some quiet during this time). However, don't compromise on your quality because you're rushing. Take the time to create high-quality content as always, or it will be obvious to your customers.
3. Relate to the Season
Make sure you have a holiday themed promotional offer that has a start and end date and is specifically related to the festivities. Delight your customers. Everyone expects special promotions and discounts during these holidays, so not including at least one may draw some frowns from your audience. Also be sure not to alienate any part of your audience. Always be respectful and mindful of everyone's traditions and beliefs.
4. SCHEDULE!
Schedule your blog posts and your social media marketing campaigns as soon as you've created them. Social media marketing tools like Sendible allow you to schedule all your social media activities in the social calendar to post automatically, so you won't have to remember to post the content you spent so much time planning and creating.
Using other tools can also help in this process, such as Trello for planning and collaborating your editorial calendar. Make use of the technology available to you to maximise your holiday time without leaving your audience and customers out in the cold (no pun intended!).
5. Communicate
Make sure your customers know how you will be supporting them over any holiday period, directly or indirectly. Customers quickly become irate if they think that you are available for support but can't reach you. Be clear about expected response times, when you will be available or away completely, and any other sources they can utilise for support when you aren't available. Make this a main point in your social media messaging so as not to create confusion or false expectations.
And finally, enjoy your time off! You've worked hard all year, and you deserve a little break to be around those you love and celebrate the important things in your life besides work. And if you aren’t interested in celebrating the holiday, use the time off to regenerate, recharge and get your creative juices flowing once more. Thankfully technology has given us the tools needed to do just that, so use them wisely!
