Holiday Posting :
Is it worth your precious time?

The holidays present new opportunities to reach and engage your audiences. But are holiday-themed posts just a bunch of humbug, or can you leverage these holidays to drive growth and engagement? The short answer - yes! Many may view holiday posts as unrelated content or ‘fluff’ but these posts can be an essential part of your marketing plan. The recipe for great engagement doesn’t have to be complicated. Holiday shopping is here and the data shows that consumers will be engaging and spending relatively early. Time to show off your company's festive spirit! Know your audience, understand their online behaviors, then offer content that speaks to their interests. Below we answer a few common questions on leveraging holiday social media posts to your advantage and when to skip them.

Is the Holiday Relevant to Your Business?

Does the holiday reflect your company values, line up with a current promotion, or speak to your audience? Would it make sense for a custom gifting company to launch their holiday line and spread the word on their social media channels? Absolutely, in fact, we’ve worked on their website recently. However, if you’re a dental firm that wants to post on National Candy Day – skip that! Relevancy is not a requirement, but it could be the difference between great engagement or virtual crickets.

How Much is Too Much?

Is your marketing team running in circles trying to keep up with every single holiday or celebration? It may be worthwhile for your team to post on Thanksgiving Day. However, if you miss a minor holiday here and there - don’t sweat it. Posting holiday content too frequently could be a bad thing. Why? If every post on your social media platforms is about a holiday and doesn’t relate back to your business, you could be causing holiday fatigue or turning your audience off. An effective content strategy accounts for different categories of niche content that speaks to your audience and drives engagement and growth. Therefore, stop letting Labor Day stress you out and focus on the holidays that can make an impact on your company’s goals.

Stay True to Your Brand

Speaking of authenticity, your social media marketing campaign should aim to be more than a place to collect those coveted little red hearts. When companies promote their people, commit to important causes, and show gratitude to their customers they foster a sense of community and forge connections. If you can identify one to two things a month outside of your typical services or products, and create rich material around that topic, you’ll enjoy a steady flow of traffic and interest repeatedly. Holiday posts serve as a great opportunity to make people feel good. They connect to your brand and message and encourage people to like and share within their own online communities. In other words, they create emotional touchpoints! Maybe your audience has been on the fence about purchasing or engaging with your brand. When you can relate to them on a personal level you are providing them with that added bit of comfort and trust.

Make it Timely

There are many challenges facing social media managers and marketers. Does the content have meaningful context? Is it being delivered to the right person- or on the right platform in the correct format? Is all of that happening at the exact time of day to achieve optimum views and engagement? According to The Ascent, posting on Instagram has become more competitive in content this year than in 2021. So, what happens if the holiday falls outside of the desired window? Here are a few suggestions:

• Tease ’Em: Running a holiday sale or special offer? Publish a few teaser posts leading up to when the sale or offer goes live. Even something as simple as a countdown clock can generate added excitement.
• Deck the Halls: Re-theme content on your page all week leading up to the event to attract additional engagement.
• Get Ahead of the Game: On major holidays social media feeds will be flooded with the same type of content. Set yourself apart and post one or two days ahead of time.
• Forget and Regret: Did you completely forget to post for a major holiday and now you’re regretting the missed opportunity? There is still time to turn it around. For example, post a recap of the fun things your team was up to during that time or run a flash sale.

Now that you have the trends in mind, you can use them to inform your digital marketing strategy for the entire holiday season. If you’d like help determining where to start or which trends make sense for your business, request a free digital marketing consultation with our team!