For online business owners, it’s never too soon to work on your winter holiday social media campaigns.
After all, 40% of shoppers start their seasonal sprees before November each year. But what if you’ve cut things a little too close and now you’re scrambling to create a holiday social marketing plan for your business? Don’t panic.
We’ve pulled together a few ideas you can put into play fast, to help you drive traffic from social channels to your website and earn as many holiday sales as possible. Ready? Let’s get to work.
Try These Holiday Social Media Campaigns to Drive Sales
Everyone loves a bargain. In 2018, Deloitte found that 67% of holiday shoppers who made $50,000/year or less were more likely to buy gifts from whichever retailer offered the best price. But 60% of holiday shoppers with incomes of $100K and more said they also shop for the best price.
Whoever your target customers are, show up in their social feeds with some price breaks this holiday season.
Check out the most popular categories in the NRF survey from the 2018 holiday season below. You can use them to prioritize your social media promos if you’re trying to beat the calendar.
For example, based on popularity, gift cards should be your top priority. To make gift cards a deal and not simply a convenience, you might offer a bundle deal that gives shoppers one free gift card for buying five (or whatever quantity makes sense for your business) at the regular price.
1. The gift card campaign
If there’s anything most people love more than getting a gift, it’s getting a gift that lets us treat ourselves. Gift cards are the most sought-after gift option during the holidays, with 60% of consumers saying that’s what they want. Make sure your followers know you offer them.
Dress up your gift card or gift certificate images with some holiday flair so they’ll catch shoppers’ attention on social media. Talk about how convenient to buy and easy to give your gift cards are, whether shoppers are buying ahead of time or slamming through their gift list at the last minute.
Hashtag ideas: #holidaygiftcards #lastminutegifts #giftcards
2. Deals on your most popular gift categories
Does your online shop sell fashion accessories and jewelry? Maybe roll out holiday deals for your accessories first and then for jewelry if you have time. Do you sell electronics and tools? Focus on electronics promos first, then tools.
Hashtag ideas: Base them on the products you’re offering, like #giftcarddeals plus some seasonal tags like #christmasdeals
3. Special offers on your bestsellers
Even if your business doesn’t sell anything in the top retail gift categories, the holidays are a good time to offer deals on your bestselling items. And if you do sell products in the popular gift categories, it’s a great time to offer deals on your top-selling items. Just make sure you have enough inventory available to meet the demand your promo may generate.
Or, like specialty food retailer Harry & David, you can simply remind customers that the holidays are a good time to order their favorite items.
Hashtag ideas: #bestsellers #[yourbrand]favorites
4. Exclusive offers for holiday shoppers
Do you have products no one else has? Deals that no one else can beat? Promote them as exclusives to appeal to shoppers who are on the lookout for one-of-a-kind gifts and the best prices.
Hashtag ideas: #exclusiveoffer #exclusivedeal
5. Sweet deals on seasonal items
A lot of Christmas shoppers are looking for Christmas-themed gear, in addition to everything else on their lists. If you have holiday-themed sweaters, socks, jewelry or tableware, start promoting it on social now so your customers can get what they need for their holiday parties.
Hashtag ideas: #[holiday][yourproduct] like #diwalidecorations #chanukahcookies #christmassocks
6. Treat-yourself deals
Remember that most people want to treat themselves, too. Fifty-one percent of last year’s holiday shoppers told Deloitte they were picking up a few things for themselves. Food and liquor was the most popular treat-yourself category.
Pick a few products that you know customers like to buy for themselves and share them as self-gifting options for the holidays.
Hashtag ideas: #treatyourself #selfgifting
7. Holiday flash sales
Want to boost sales on a typically slow day during the holiday season? Run a flash sale, like this cycle shop did on Dec. 25.
Just make sure you’ve got someone available to monitor orders and customer service during your flash sale, even if it’s on a holiday.
Hashtag ideas: #christmasoffers #flashsale
8. The holiday-themed content campaign
Like deals campaigns, a holiday-themed content campaign can take several forms. All you need is a holiday blog post and some time to promote the things you talk about in that post. Here are a few examples of ways you can turn a holiday post into a social campaign.
- Gift guides. Make a post about each of the products in your latest holiday gift guide. Hashtag ideas: #giftguide2019 #giftguideforkids #christmasgiftguide
- Holiday style trends. Break down your holiday fashion, beauty, food and décor tips into posts. Hashtag ideas: #holidayfashions #holidaydecor #holidayfood
- Holiday recipes. This is a great fit for shops that sell food, tableware, kitchen items and other housewares. Hashtag ideas: #holidaytreats #holidayrecipes
9. The best-of campaign
Like holiday-themed blog post social campaigns, you can create best-of campaigns that draw on your top-selling or top-reviewed products. For example:
- This year’s top-selling tech. Pick your top 5 or 10 bestselling tech items and feature each one in a social post explaining why they’re so popular. Hashtag ideas: #besttech #bestsellers #techgifts
- Best tools of 2019. If you sell tools, craft supplies, kitchen items or hobby gear, check your customers reviews to see which products got the most love. Then feature each item in a social post. Hashtag idea: #besttools
Best Practices for Last-Minute Holiday Social Campaigns
Whichever campaigns you run with, remember to research your hashtags and make your offer terms (like purchase limits and expiration dates) clear. Include Shop Now buttons or product page links where you can so that busy shoppers can move from social browsing to buying in the moment. Finally, make sure your checkout, fraud screening, fulfillment and hosting service are all ready to handle your holiday shopping traffic.
Need to upgrade your hosting plan for the holidays? Talk to the experts at HostGator today!
Casey Kelly-Barton is an Austin-based freelance B2B content marketing writer. Her specialty areas include SMB marketing and growth, data security, IoT, and fraud prevention