Last-Minute Holiday Social Media Marketing Ideas

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This time of year, it’s fairly common around here to hear someone or other proclaim, “I can’t believe it’s already the holidays!” There’s really no reason for the season to sneak up on us like that. Traditionally, the holiday season runs from late November to early January and encompasses many popular religious and secular holidays that occur during the time.  

However, we’d like to point out that what’s considered “the holidays” really are getting earlier and earlier each year. Within the last several years, holiday creep (as the phenomenon is termed) has had the first holiday items and ads appearing as soon as the day after Halloween—and Black Friday shopping events beginning even earlier in October. The fact of the matter is, if your business hasn’t made a holiday social media marketing move by now, you’re likely a little behind the game. 

Last-Minute Social Media Strategies

Whether you’re reading this pre-Black Friday or within the last run-up to the big day itself, don’t worry! We’ve got you covered with some last-minute holiday social media marketing ideas sure to get your audience in the holiday mood, boost your brand awareness—and help you bolster your performance in the process:

1. Add a social media-exclusive discount. This relatively simple solution could have the dual benefit of increasing your revenue while boosting your social media following. Best of all, your audience will feel as if they’ve received a special gift just for following your brand and purchasing your product. Consider discounts like free shipping, a percentage price reduction, or even a gift item with the use of a social media exclusive code.

2. Host a contest. If you sell a tangible product, hosting a contest is one of the best ways to promote a holiday theme and garner page follows, likes, and shares of your products simultaneously. Signature products can be used to inspire a holiday photo contest in which users take a photo of themselves creatively using your product—encourage sharing to promote audience votes for each photo. Similarly, food products can inspire a holiday recipe contest, home decor items can generate a holiday decor contest, and so on—get creative.

3. Promote a customer appreciation giveaway. The holiday season is the perfect time to promote giving and engage in one final customer appreciation event for the year. Without much planning, you can craft a creative giveaway that identifies and rewards your most active social media followers. Alternatively, create a post or series of posts, ask followers to like and share, and choose a random winner from those who complete the task.

4. Create a social media countdown or Advent calendar. Advent calendars are fun because they reveal a new item with each passing day leading up to the big day. You can reveal a new holiday sale, discount code, fun video, or another piece of content each day—or mix it up to keep users guessing. Pair with another strategy, and you’ll have a nearly unlimited source of countdown content to engage your audience.

5. Develop a quiz. Another take on building your social media following involves developing a holiday-themed personality quiz and sharing it on your brand’s social media. Many tools exist that allow you to center a quiz theme around your most popular products, ask your users a few questions about their preferences, and then enter an email address to register for a prize. If you encourage social media sharing of quiz results, you’ll have the two-in-one benefit of qualified leads and increased brand visibility.

6. Conduct a year-end roundup. There’s a reason newspapers and media outlets perform a year-end roundup—they’re interesting for the audience, and they allow the organization to re-use some of their most popular and talked-about content. For brands on social media, they garner high engagement numbers and have the potential to produce highly shareable, easily consumable content. You might consider sharing industry highlights over the past year, a timeline of significant events if it’s been a big year in your business, or developing shareable infographics or videos with critical bits of information.

7. Partner with an influencer. Depending on your industry, you may be able to bolster the effects of your holiday marketing techniques with an influencer’s help. Consider tactics like a holiday social media account takeover day or a hosted giveaway. Or, team up with your influencer to craft a custom event to get your brand name out to a wider audience.
   

Get Started ASAP

While these relatively simple holiday social media marketing ideas are doable at a late date, it’s best to get your campaign underway as soon as possible. To learn more about social media marketing tactics you can use year-round, you can rely on the team at Vizion Interactive for more tips and tricks. Contact us today for more information.