Matt Press writes … Are you planning on doing any marketing at Christmas? We’ve reached November already, which means one thing: the countdown to Christmas has begun. While December 25th may seem like a long way off, it will be here before you know it.
Do you have your festive social media strategy nailed down? If not, you need to get a ‘cracker’ on, as a well thought out social media plan can be the difference between your tills merrily ringing out, or a nasty case of ‘Bah Humbug’.
Here are a few ideas to get you started on marketing at Christmas. Graphics by Shutterstock.
Your guide to #marketing at Christmas… https://t.co/CMmT6ok5hk
— Hotcow (@Hotcow) November 2, 2015
1. Social Advent Calendar
Everyone loves advent calendars, and with social media you have the added bonus of users not being able to open all of the doors on day one! Instead of chocolate behind the doors, each day you can unveil a competition, giveaway, discount code or other incentive.
If you don’t want to give stuff away every day, you can upload informative content, a relevant quote, or piece of advice to drive engagement.
Take the Museum of Liverpool. In 2013, they created this eye catching advent calendar that was not only beautifully animated, but right on brand. Behind each door was an exclusive artefact, with a relevant piece of historical information attached.
2. Use social media to expand your offline campaigns
Exactly how you treat marketing at Christmas will depend on your budget.
If you have the budget for TV, radio, or print campaigns, you can use the power of social media to add details that won’t fit into the restricted advert slots. You can create extended, or alternate, versions of an advert, or invite your community to come up with their own twist on the advert.
For example, John Lewis ran a campaign on YouTube alongside a TV advert that invited musicians to upload their own version of the song used in the advert. The winner had their song used in a prime time TV slot, but the campaign generated so many great social entries that they decided to make a mash-up video of their favourites. Every one of the videos submitted reminded viewers of the main advert, achieving a valuable viral awareness effect for the John Lewis brand.
3. Collect customer’s Christmas Lists
Great brands know the importance of marketing at Christmas.
Instead of writing wishlists to Santa this year, how about getting people to write their wishlists directly to you? Topshop did this with their #DearTopshop campaign on Pinterest that offered participants the chance to win shopping sprees in store.
The campaign got people talking about the brand and positioned them squarely in the conversation about gift shopping. It also showed the desirability of their products.
Hotcow is a non-traditional creative agency that specialises in experiential marketing that goes viral. Our campaigns generate buzz through crowd participation, PR and content sharing. Contact us on 0207 5030442