There is no escaping them. The holidays are here. So whether you love ‘em or hate ‘em, you’ll have to deal with them. This year, make sure your social media profiles are also keeping up with the holidays. It’s not just about shopping malls and holiday cheer. Social media is an absolute must this holiday season. With our virtual world taking up a lot of our attention, you should not ignore the holidays, but rather embrace them. Here are a few tips to help you make the best of this particular time of year. Whether you are looking for holiday hotel hashtags to entice leisure travelers or enjoy spreading the holiday cheer, this article will give you a few ideas about how social media can play a big part in your holiday campaigns.
The first tip is to post on big holidays and the days leading up to them. By posting a simple message about the holiday, you can show that your brand is in touch with the world and is not just some robot putting out monotonous and boring content. You can make these posts line up with your brand so that you are displaying yourselves the way you want to be seen while acknowledging the holidays.
Second, give your audience something to be grateful about. If you can, come up with a special deal or holiday discount. For example, a hotel might propose an agreement for anyone staying over three nights during the week of Christmas to obtain a free Christmas dinner. It all depends on what is feasible for your brand to do. If you can’t give out a special deal, at least provide something of value to your audiences like holiday tips on surviving airports or special holiday celebrations happening around town, depending on what aligns with the rest of your brand and social media efforts.
Ride the wave of trending content. You know the posts are coming, the “happy holiday” the “Merry Christmas,” so take advantage of them and use these posts to leverage your brand. Use popular hashtags like #MerryChristmas and #HappyNewYear to reach a general audience that you might not have otherwise have had the opportunity to achieve. Even if you don’t think you have something to share with your audience, the chances are that you do. Show off the holiday decor around your office or post photos of your staff enjoying themselves at a company holiday party, there is always a way to make your post tasteful and in line with your brand during the holiday season. You might have to get creative, but you’ll want to take advantage of this surge in holiday posts because after all, it’s not all year long that you can celebrate the holidays. From updating your company graphics with holiday themes or incorporating your products in a holiday-themed shoot, it’s all helpful to this cause.
Another way to take advantage of social media this holiday season is to invite your followers to participate in sharing their content. Use particular holiday hashtags for your brand or ask them to tag you in the photos they upload that are related to you. If you are a restaurant and have a special apple cinnamon waffles during Christmas time or pumpkin-spiced treat or apple cider at an event or around the office, show it off on social media and invite your guests to join in on the fun by share their images with hashtags and so on. If you decide to share the photos you are tagged in on your official channels, make sure you choose wisely what you want to share so that it is in line with the rest of your holiday campaign.
It’s also important to remember the real reason for the holidays, so make it personal. Your social media post can be heartfelt and still align with your brand. For example, if you are a shoe company, you can share a testimonial about how running shoes gave a boy the tools to follow his drive to play soccer. A testimonial shows a select reason why the holidays are essential for you and how your brand is making a difference in a big way, no matter how small it may seem.
Holidays are all about giving back, so if you can, you should. This might be through a special promotion or a giveaway, but whatever you do, your brand can share in the holiday spirit by giving. Even if there is no special holiday promotion your brand can offer, you might be able to incorporate a charity function at your physical location or some other type of outreach. You can participate with and promote a charity with a toy drive or can drive in your area. This shows that you are in touch with the world and that you care enough to give back. Not only is this good to do as people who make this world a better place by being involved in charitable acts, but your audience will also hopefully see you as more trustworthy and might even want to join your selected cause.
There are many ways to spread holiday cheer this year, so make sure to take advantage of how documenting these can help you out with your social media campaign.