Tis the Season…for all of the holiday social media posts to invade our devices like a blizzard of lights, “cheer,” and incessant advertising.
25 Days of Posting: Tips for Creating Seasonal Content
January 14, 2020
25 Days of Posting: Tips for Creating Seasonal Content That Won’t Get Lost in the Mix
’Tis the Season…for all of the holiday social media posts to invade our devices like a blizzard of lights, “cheer,” and incessant advertising. Of course, your business HAS to acknowledge the holidays in your social media strategies, but how do you make sure your consumers don’t simply scroll past all of your content because it’s “just another” Christmas-y post?
Because let’s be honest: holiday puns—as fantastic as they are—just don’t cut it. To give you a leg up, we’ve put together 4 simple tips for creating quality seasonal content for your brand. Mix these in with your regular ad content and you just may have yourself a merry little Christmas (OR a happy Hanukkah, whichever you celebrate, but we didn’t have a song for that).
Get Engaged
The ultimate goal of social media may be engagement. This is no more relevant than during this holiday season. Try content that isn’t just for looking and reading, but content that encourages customers to respond with comments, likes, and shares. Take a poll on favorite food or ask folks to comment on their best-wrapped gift of the year (bonus if it is relevant to what you sell, but it DOES NOT have to be!).
Make sure to respond to as many comments as possible, and comment on any shares (if you’re a small business, respond to EVERY one). If there is ANY time that it is permissible for your social pages to post something not directly about your business, this would be that time. Loosen up, have some fun, and get involved with your followers! Note, this kind of content isn’t for every day, especially as you’ll have things to announce and sales to advertise, but can help you enrich the overall content library and make it all more enjoyable.
Post the Party
There’s a high likelihood that your business is participating in some kind of holiday event, or even several (if it’s not, that’s something you’ll definitely want to try to do in the future). Post about it! Make a Facebook event, post information, get some hype, and possibly run a special deal or contest around it if you can.
Some people stop there; once the event starts, it’s silent on social. Don’t do that! Take LOTS of pictures, even if you have to assign someone to do this. If it’s a one-day event, post a pic right at the beginning to encourage more people to come and express excitement that “It’s finally here.”
If your event lasts for several days, continue posting pictures, updates, and behind-the-scenes info to encourage people to come. In either scenario, once the event is complete, upload all your (decent) pictures, send out a thank you to customers/participants, and tell everyone what a great time it was.
Give a Gift
The holiday season is a time of giving, and it’s a REALLY good idea for your business to give something in that spirit! Of course, the size and nature of your business will determine what you can give. It can be a free product, a free or even discounted service, or access to an experience with your business. A commonly effective means is to require people to like your business page, and then either share or comment on your post to enter for a chance to win, but you can get creative with how you run it! Be sure to follow your social media platforms’ giveaway rules. The key is to require engagement on social media to win. This will drive up awareness, as well as increase positive connection between your customers and your business.
Show Yourself
There is one strategy that is infallible when it comes to making sure your content is unique in the holiday season: post about you! People like and engage with content that features people more than anything else, and your customers want more than anything to connect with you. You can post pictures of your office decorated for Christmas, pictures of an employee holiday party, or updates on your personal family holiday exploits. Do a series featuring the office Elf and update your social platforms where he appears next. You can also have followers guess what’s in a mystery present box. Get creative, and get people involved, not just with your business, but with you and the people in your business!
It’s ok to have a generic Merry Christmas post once in a while, and you don’t have to make EVERY social post incredible, unique, and life changing. What you do need to do is mix it up, get a little creative, get your customers involved with you, and express yourself and your business authentically within the context of the holiday season. We wish you a Merry Content Creating, and a Happy New Year!
Part of the FAM:
Part of the FAM: Anna Catherine Brown is the Social Guru for Flint Avenue. She specializes in social media content, scheduling and current trends. She is currently attending Christian ministry school in north Cali, but is a native West Texas girl.
Contact Anna today at: social@flintavenue.com