With Christmas less then two weeks away, social media is a fantastic way to promote your business and engage customers, especially in high-spending times like the run-up to Christmas. We’ve put together five festive tips on how to make the most of social media marketing over the Christmas period.
1. Use multiple Social Media channels
It’s important to remember that customers and potential customers will be using social media over the Christmas period, but the chances are they don’t all use the same social media networks. GlobalWebIndex research found that the average person is signed up to 5 social media accounts and actively uses 3 of these. Make sure you’re using a range of social networks.
Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are currently the most popular Social Media channels in the UK but consider what might be useful or appropriate for your potential customers. Research has found that amongst young customers Instagram is a hugely popular platform.
2. Schedule a Christmas Day message
You may be tempted to think that Christmas Day is a day for giving your social media accounts a rest. However, with so many people receiving smartphones and gadgets, they’ll be logging onto social accounts to wish family and friends season’s greetings, and showing off their new gifts.
Sending out a ‘Merry Christmas’ message from your business is a good way to show customers you care. There are plenty of tools out there that allow you to schedule posts in advance, Hootsuite and Buffer are our personal favourites.
3. Run a fun, festive poll
Twitter’s new poll feature allows you to run a 24-hour poll. This is great chance to engage followers in your business by using relevant Christmas topics. Try to keep it fun and festive by asking questions that are debated this time of year such as ‘What is the best Christmas film?’ Also, try posting a link to your Twitter account on other social networks so you can get as many people involved as possible.
4. Use festive-related hashtags
Twitter and Instagram are where users discover and research all types of products. Last year there were over 282 million tweets from around the world about Christmas shopping. According to Twitter, 52% of users tweet about their Christmas purchases, and 69% are likely to purchase something from a small business that they follow on Twitter.
So, when you’re posting over the Christmas period on Twitter and Instagram feeds, be sure to use appropriate hashtags, like #ChristmasWishlist and #Christmas2015.
5. Provide regular updates
As we’ve already mentioned, Christmas is definitely a popular time for social media use, with everyone checking out photos of friends in their festive jumpers and house decorations. Make sure you take advantage of this by providing regular updates and posts. Think about what will be useful or engaging to your potential customers. Promotions, opening times, return policies, and other useful information whilst remembering to throw in a couple of fun facts to keep it light and in the festive spirit.
It’s always better to plan Christmas social media campaigns in advance, but these simple tips can still get planned and implemented quickly. While you’re implementing your Christmas social media campaigns, don’t forget to track your success!