Jingle All the Way: 7 Essential Tips for Christmas-Ready Social Media
We need to talk about Christmas. I know you don’t want to hear it but Christmas is only five months away. The Christmas countdown has started and the business savvy amongst us are already putting plans in place to maximise every possible opportunity in the lead-up to Christmas.
We have spent years in Marketing and PR organising Christmas campaigns in June and July. So take our word for it, now is the best time to start planning for Christmas. Summer is the best time to start taking action because once the clocks strike midnight on Halloween, BAM! Christmas is everywhere.
Here are a few things you need to start thinking about now to help you stand out from your competitors this festive season:
🎄 Plan your Christmas offering
Think about what products you will offer as Christmas gifts. Take a look at your data and look at what worked well last Christmas and consider what your current top-performing products are as well. It is always a good idea to group some products together to offer as a beautiful gift set.
🎄 Collaborate with other small businesses
Now is a good time to approach some small businesses you love who offer complimentary products. Can you collaborate to sell each other’s products in your gift bundles? You have time to organise this now.
🎄 Get your product images ready
Need to hire a photographer to do some shots? Get them booked now! Are you doing the photos yourself - do it now before you get too busy. Buy yourself some Christmas props (or dig through the Christmas box hiding away in the attic) and start photographing your Christmas products.
🎄 Website
If you are planning to offer these products through your website, start writing the product descriptions now and if you hire someone to help load your website content, book them in now. Think about the customer journey. Instagram is just the start of the funnel. Get your mobile out and click through the customer journey from Instagram to sale on your phone. Is it seamless and easy? I know I have given up purchasing gifts that I have seen on Instagram as the actual shopping experience was so clunky that I just got cranky and gave up. I know I am not the only one who just wants to get things ticked off their list in the lead-up to Christmas and doesn’t have time to fanny around with clunky shopping experiences. Make it easy to buy from you.
🎄 Key Dates
Don’t focus on Black Friday - it is really hard to stand out with all the noise of Black Friday - think more creatively about key dates in November and December. Small Business Saturday is the 4th December this year. What are you going to do to make this special for your customers? Have a look through other key dates and see if your business can tap into these. For example, Make a Gift Day is December 3rd - this could be a great date to tap into if it resonates with your business. Think about the period after that leading up to Christmas and ALSO the time after Christmas for those who got money for Christmas and are looking to spend it on Boxing Day. It is worth mapping out the entire festive season and giving the same amount of effort to all the different parts of the season.
🎄 Create your Content for Social Media
Organise your content into a scheduling tool – your future self will thank you for this. This also applies to your blogs and newsletters – get them done now!
🎄 Social Media Ads
If you want to do some paid advertising in the lead-up to the busy season, start planning it now. Think about the image and copy and how you are going to build the audiences on Ads Manager. If you need help with your ads, we can help but we need to start planning the campaigns now.
Hopefully, you now have lots of ideas to go away with. But if you need more help pulling together your Christmas campaign, book in some time with us and we can brainstorm and map out your campaign together. We can also help deliver your Christmas campaign. We love Christmas!
It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas……. 🎶