The holiday shopping season is a busy one for businesses and shoppers alike! How can you put yourself above the fray and connect to your audience? We recently shared some BtoC content marketing tips with you – now we’re offering some last minute social media marketing tips and some unique ways to put your business out there with last minute deals, holiday specials and promotions, and even some creative gift-giving of your own!
Build Excitement
- Plan a “deal of the day” for now until the 24th
- “There’s still time…” – create urgency and immediate interest by letting those last-minute shoppers know you have a solution
Get Visual…Very Visual
Pictures are worth a thousand words!
- Change your Facebook profile and Twitter background to something with a festive and fun design!
- Create a YouTube video of you or your staff doing something holiday-related, whether it’s trimming a tree, donating your time or creating a live holiday greeting.
Solve a problem
Helping your customers solve a problem is a marketing strategy that goes into hyper-mode during the holidays!
- Offer tips for everything from how to string popcorn and cranberries to choosing the right mobile phone for grandparents, to what to buy for a last-minute gift.
- Suggestions for budget-friendly gift giving
- Give last minute shoppers some hope for finding an awesome gift – well – last minute!
Exclusivity Sells
Contests and promotions were made for holiday marketing!
- Still time for holiday giveaways! Local winners? If you are presenting the winner in person, capture the moment with a photo and share it with your fans that entered the contest!
- Shhh…. Create a ‘whisper code’ promotion for special discounts at the register!
- Don’t forget the “after effects” – many people are still shopping after the holiday (you know who you are!). Get a jump-start on that business with hints about post-holiday sales
- Use Twitter hashtags to help you connect to a holiday audience: #lastminutegifts, #Christmas, etc.
- Create a Pinterest topic board for your products…Gift Ideas, Wish Lists, Last Minute Gifts, etc.
- Create a Community Pin Board and invite fellow Pinners to share their favorite holiday gifts relevant to your brand or industry (BONUS: this typically requires that participants feature the community Pin Board on their Pinterest page, providing more exposure to your community Pin Board!)
Give new meaning to the word “Sharing”
- Share photos of your holiday decorations, the first snowfall of the season, your favorite clients or customers shopping at your store (with their permission, of course!)
- Give directions (with images or – better yet – video!) on how to use your products, or how to wrap them if they are odd shaped or oversized.
- Giving back a percentage of your sales to charity during a certain time period is a win-win for everyone.
Don’t oversell
People are inundated with sales promotions – ease up on the hard sell and set yourself apart. Have some fun, share some joy, and give your social media connections a reason to keep coming back.
