4 Things to Consider When Planning a Holiday Social Campaign

As we head into the back half of October, we approach a time of year that is integral for so many brands’ bottom lines – the holiday season. While we’re still a few weeks out from full-on holiday cheer in every storefront, the time to plan your holiday social campaign is now. Need some help getting started? Read on for all your essential social holiday planning needs.

1. Review Audience-First Insights

This should go without saying, but the first step in developing your holiday campaign for social media should be to consider what will motivate your fans to take specific action(s). To get started answering this question, take a deep dive into your target audience data, look for key trends in user behavior, and begin to develop insights around when, where, and how your fan base will interact with your social content during the holidays. If you ran some sort of holiday campaign in 2018, dig up the recap report to see what worked and what could be optimized. From here, you can begin to develop an outline for how you will engage these users during this time of year.

2. Choose the Right Channel(s)

After analyzing audience behavior and outlining clear campaign objectives, choosing the proper channel(s) on which to reach and engage your audience should become clearer. Depending on your audience and holiday campaign objectives, there may be one or two channels that are better equipped to deliver results. For example, while Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are more likely to influence females’ buying decisions, YouTube and Twitter are more likely to influence males’ decisions to make a purchase.

Again, refreshing yourself on your brand’s latest social media reporting can help identify which channels your particular audience is most likely to take action. Review previous months’ analytics to find what content drove valuable actions. Keep in mind, this may not always be the channel with the largest following.

3. Consider Running a Promotion

One third of holiday shoppers report holiday weekend purchases were driven by promotions. This isn’t that surprising given the heavy spike in competition for consumer attention around this time of year. By including a promotional element to your holiday campaign, you may appeal to users who are looking for something in return for their holiday shopping efforts.

Some examples of promotions include:

  • Sweepstakes for a chance to win exclusive deals, coupons, or other offers
  • Limited-time digital coupons promoted via social content
  • Surprise & delight campaigns

 

4. Prepare Your Website

Website traffic for ecommerce brands sees a significant uptick during the holidays, so it’s essential that you make sure your website is ready for all of the clicks that you’ll be sending from social media. This is especially important if Pinterest is one of your primary social media channels, as landing page experience can affect campaign success on this platform. So, before you launch your campaign on social, huddle up with your brand’s website team to ensure your fans will have the best possible experience when clicking through.

Ready to get started with your brand’s social holiday campaign? Let’s chat.



Ignite Social Media