The holidays are a very social time—office parties, family gatherings, visiting friends. The spirit of connecting and sharing is all around us. Not surprisingly, social media usage typically spikes during the holidays (by as much as 26%), as people post videos and pictures of festivities, foods, and other seasonal favorites. Savvy social marketers tap into this spirit to help their brands make meaningful connections with consumers…connections that can lead to stellar sales figures in retail’s all-important Q4. As you prepare to put your holiday social marketing plans into action, make sure you’re using these four strategies for best results:
- Use social to boost awareness—We’ve known for some time that paid search audience segments exposed to social advertising can generate a much higher return on advertising spend (ROAS) than those that are not. The surge in social media usage during this time of year makes this strategy particularly useful for holiday social marketing campaigns. Social media marketing can help you generate awareness, which can then drive more traffic to your branded search marketing terms, so be sure your social and search strategies are aligned for consistency of message, images, and offers, to help you move consumers down the purchase path.
- Step up your video game—Gift givers are looking for inspiration, especially early in the run-up to the holidays. Video is a great way to introduce your product to buyers and show it in action, particularly if your brand is part of a product category that is less familiar. Now is the time to make sure you have holiday-themed product demos and showcase videos, and social media is the perfect distribution platform for these assets.
- Invest in multi-image formats—Social media offers engaging ad units that allow you to present multiple images, which can deepen consumer engagement. If you present a compelling image, and the user is curious enough to scroll to the next one, and the next, and so on, you’ve likely got yourself a very engaged prospect there. A progressive reveal can help you showcase multiple uses of your product or several products for a particular type of person, giving you more opportunities to entice that click-through to your site and close the sale.
- Drive sales with shopping-specific ad formats—Facebook offers Dynamic Product Ads, which promote your products to people who’ve visited your site or app, or have expressed interest in other ways online. Pinterest features Buyable Pins, which let consumers purchase your products without ever leaving the Pinterest environment. Both are excellent tools for holiday social marketing campaigns, helping you target customers, present compelling offers, and translate time spent on social into valuable sales opportunities.
Bonus tip: Remember it’s the gift giver and not the end user that is doing the buying, so be sure to set your targeting accordingly. This is the time when men will be looking at women’s fashions and women will be scouring for the perfect golf accessories.
Think your holiday social marketing campaigns could benefit from some of these strategies? Call your Skai rep today to discuss an action plan, or contact us now for a demo of our social marketing platform.