The holidays are finally here! This year has definitely felt longer than most, but now that the festive season is upon us, it’s a great chance to build brand awareness with holiday marketing. At this time of year, social media is key to connecting with your audience. Making a splash with genuine and targeted content will do more than spread a little holiday cheer. It will show your customers just how much you care about your community and create a genuine connection that will start the new year on a great note.
It’s time to break from routine and have a little fun. Who’s with us?
Want to add a little festivity to your messaging? Consider us your elves.
Holiday Marketing Essentials
Strategic content marketing is incredibly valuable in the holidays. The main reason for this is because people are relying on social content to inspire their gift shopping! In fact, 48% of U.S. holiday shoppers will be purchasing gifts promoted through social media ads, according to Smartly.io. Thanks to Facebook Ads, boosted social content, email campaign strategies, and other avenues, you can position yourself in the right place at the right time.
Smartly.io also reports that 61% of people look to Facebook or Instagram for relevant holiday ads. This is a great opportunity!
Holiday messaging is a great way to resonate with your audience while attracting new customers, because it shows your customers that they’re your number one priority while showcasing what your brand is really about. To help you spread some festive vibes, we’ve gathered our favorite ways to brighten up holiday marketing (nope, Santa and his reindeers aren’t the only ones prepping for the holidays!).
- Give back to your community
- Showcase your brand and your heart
- Increase engagement across the board
People want to feel like they are spending their hard-earned money with a brand that genuinely cares about them. Letting them get to know you with some fresh and friendlycontent is a great way to increase your engagement into the new year!
Give Back to Your Community
After the rollercoaster of emotions that this year has brought upon everyone, people are searching for more than just a red tag discount or big promotion. People want to know that the brands they love, love them back! What better way to show that love than to support their own local community?
Giving back is a great way to spark a large word of mouth marketing wave. It’s not just about offering donations and services so you can be seen to do good, it’s about sharing your values. When you show support for your local community, your social audience will be eager to share and engage with your holiday posts. Modern consumers are super conscious about who they are supporting online, especially if it means making a larger impact.
According to Unilever, 33% of people choose to give their business to brands that they believe are doing social or environmental good.
Take Odds and Ns, for example. It’s a small family-owned business in Tucson, Arizona, channeling the holiday spirit by delivering Christmas trees and decorations to families stuck at home due to COVID-19. In a local news article, the owner shared how the team was inspired to give back to people in the community any way it could. Through its community support, Odds and Ns is making an impression on future and current consumers who will remember its kindness for a long time to come.
Support a Charitable Cause
2020 has presented many opportunities to give back. If you haven’t had a chance to tie your brand to a charitable cause, this holiday season is a perfect time to pick one. By having a charity or cause dedicated to your brand, you make yourself memorable to your audience, especially among all the holiday noise. Find a cause that speaks to your brand personality, whether it’s giving back to schools, sponsoring soup kitchens, or if you can afford it, donating a product for every product bought.
This is really meaningful in light of your bottom line. Forbes reports that 90% of shoppers said they would make the switch to a product backed by a cause according to Forbes. Meanwhile, 63% of people would rather support a brand that stands for a meaningful purpose and has strong values.
There are lots of great examples of this in action at the moment. Any family with a loved pet will appreciate PetSmart’s holiday ‘Give the Gift of Hope’ social media marketing campaign. Ninety cents of every dollar donated to PetSmart charities goes directly to helping pets across the country. PetSmart’s email marketing strategy used messaging that directly appealed to its pet-loving community, solidifying its customer loyalty and showing how customers could make a difference by shopping with their brand. The company also pushed this message on social media, attracting other animal lovers and allowing them to share on their personal pages or tag their friends and family!
Add a Personal Touch
Gone are the days when brands put out one ad during the holidays and hoped it made its way to the right crowd. This holiday season, we are getting *personal*. Personalizing your holiday marketing is one of the key factors for every successful campaign, according to KEOMarketing. Whether it’s retargeting ads, providing custom holiday products, or bringing your product or services to people’s homes during COVID-19, there is a personalized solution that will work for everyone.
Starbucks, the holy grail of all things coffee and Christmas, has found its golden child of holiday content marketing. The signature red holiday cups are a yearly treat that is awaited by thousands across the country. Not only do they mark the beginning of the holiday season for Starbucks customers; they also promote the November 6th giveaway – a FREE holiday cup with the purchase of any holiday specialty drink. This campaign creates a huge amount of engagement and sparks social sharing throughout their channels in the lead up. It’s unique, it speaks to the company’s brand personality, and it goes a long way to making everyone feel a little more festive.
Zoom is also joining the holiday fun. Probably the savior of 2020, it’s making magic for millions of children across the country by beaming Santa into people’s homes. By providing a Zoom session with Santa Claus, or magical Christmas photos you can do yourself, the company is creating its very own (incredibly personalized) version of holiday cheer. This fun and safe experience also promotes donating to children’s hospitals across the country in order to help Santa visit.
Holiday Marketing in Action
The key to great holiday marketing is to knowing your brand values. This includes your business strategy, your target audience, and clear marketing goals, because these will tie everything together and help you find effective ways to connect with your audience.
Whatever you choose to do to create a strong holiday marketing strategy, your brand personality and values should always remain front and center. Your authenticity will always speak to your audience and create a natural connection, which will shine through all of your messaging and allow you to generate genuine and lasting social media results. In order to refine your messaging, you may want to consider working with a marketing agency, because this can take away some of the guess work and save you some time. After all, it’s time to start focusing on your goals for 2021!
Ready to spread holiday cheer? We’ll start harnessing the reindeer.
