Many San Diego businesses already have some kind of social media strategy in place, but the holidays are a special time and often require a different approach to really get your community buzzing!
No matter your industry, product, or service, festive new campaigns and promotions may require you to reevaluate, refresh, or spice up your strategic plan. Check out our top five tips for concocting a fruitful social media marketing strategy this holiday season.
Identify your holiday goals.
The first step for creating any social media strategy is to identify your goals; what do you hope to achieve on social media this holiday season, and what additions (or subtractions) need to be made to your current strategy to reflect those holiday goals?
Typically, business goals for social media marketing include brand awareness, engagement, building trust and loyalty, lead generation, or increasing sales and conversion rates. Initially, try setting two or three major goals and mapping out a few milestone key performance indicators (KPIs) for each. By hitting your milestones along the way, you can make sure you’re on track to harvesting the fruits of your labor at the end of the holiday season.
And don’t forget- holiday campaigns are fun, but paid social media marketing can require you to spend a sizable amount of your overall marketing budget; make sure your goals for the holiday season support and align with your quarterly and year-end business goals.
Identify your target audience.
What characterizes your ideal audience? You need to get specific with visualizing your target customer. Ask yourself and your team questions like:
- Who they are?
- Where do they live?
- On which platforms they are active?
- What days/times are they most active on social media?
- How old are they?
- Are they male/female?
- What are they interested in?
- What don’t they like?
- What trends are they following?
From there, build three specific characters or audience segments that you want to reach with your holiday social media marketing. These may be different from the audience personas you target at non-holiday times depending on the holiday products, services, or promotions you are offering.
Identify the social media channels your business should utilize.
The questions you asked to identify your target audience can also help you determine which platforms your investment of time and money will be best spent on. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Tik Tok, and many others are popular among users for different reasons, and the platforms you choose to support your holiday initiatives should reflect where your audience spends their time and what each platform best showcases.
Create content that appeals to the spirit of the holidays.
After you’ve identified your goals, target audiences, and the social platforms you’ll be utilizing, you have all the tools you need to deck the halls with the right kind of content for your holiday strategy.
But how do you write and plan content that resonates with your audience so that they want to connect, engage, or make a purchase in the crowded holiday advertising space?
Your brand’s voice and personality should shine through in all the content you produce, from simple copy to photos, infographics, videos, gifs, interactive content, and more. During the holiday season, there are several different angles from which you can approach your content, but the creative direction you go in needs to reflect your goals, audience, and brand. Pro tip: if it fits your brand, don’t shy away from utilizing common holiday phrases, puns, stories, and traditions! Advertisers tend to step up their game during the holiday season, and without a memorable touch, you can be easily out-advertised by your competitors.
Identify the tactics you want to use.
Will you use paid or organic social media marketing? Will video be your keystone content? What about a new IGTV series, influencer marketing, interactive content, a new highlight reel, giveaway, or contest?
Identifying the tactics you want to use means doing a deep dive on your social media insights and analytics to see what’s worked and what hasn’t, what new features are out there, what your competitors are up to, and more! The important thing to remember is that whatever tactics you use, make sure you’ve done your research and monitor, analyze, and continually optimize the data on your campaigns.
54% of social media users use social to research products.
We develop a fully customized strategy based on your unique needs, and then we execute your social media marketing strategy on a daily basis. You run your business; we run your social media.
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