Social media marketing campaigns consist of announcements posted on social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Tik Tok, to name the most important. They can be particularly useful for companies wishing to increase their brand awareness and brand reputation, reach new customers, increase conversions and the number of sales. Some campaigns may also focus on building brand sentiments to influence users' perceptions of a specific brand.
By now it is clear that social channels represent a tactical tool for interacting with consumers, especially the younger ones, because it is the place where they spend most of their free time.
Holidays in general are favorable times to use social media to increase the level of engagement with your followers and increase your sales.
Christmas is the most magical period of the year, but it also represents one of the most significant periods for sellers in many sectors and therefore one of the best times to further attract new customers and to involve and retain those already present.
For some years now, social Christmas campaigns have been alongside the classic television advertisements to make us experience the magic of the holidays, thrilling us and having fun through ad hoc storytelling that reminds us of the importance of family and loved ones.
In this period the competition between the brands of the various sectors is at the highest level as everyone tries to invest resources, time and energy to create the best Christmas campaign.
For Christmas social media marketing campaigns to work, it is important to keep in mind some points to follow during the strategy planning and campaign creation phase.
The starting point is to plan early. It is recommended to design the campaign several months before Christmas. Waiting for the last minute could be counterproductive since developing creative and different ideas takes time and commitment.
It is also important to create specific and diversified contents based on the social platform for which they are intended. In fact, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn have users of different ages and interests, so it is necessary to create specific content for the target audience.
Another element to pay attention to is the content of the message. The message of the social media campaign should be emotional rather than informative: values such as kindness, a sense of unity and the family, elements that characterize the Christmas holidays. Furthermore, the contents should also reflect the Christmas mood in the aesthetics: graphics, music and colors must recall those of Christmas.
Social campaigns should actively involve users: giveaways, contests and gift cards are certainly winning actions to encourage public participation.
Furthermore, it must be considered that users increasingly appreciate content that shows the "human" side of the company. Christmas therefore proves to be the perfect time to share photos and video greetings made by employees, but also to communicate and highlight the company's social responsibility.
In fact, during this period of the year we are generally more attentive to good deeds, and it is therefore a good time to inform customers about the social projects in which we are involved in order to strengthen our brand reputation. In this period, giving space to corporate values rather than individual products could help to increase consumer loyalty.
Observing what competitors are doing and what they have done in previous years is extremely useful to get ideas, but above all to differentiate from them. In general, studying competitors is always recommended when designing social content and campaigns. The competition is high, and you need to attract attention to increase the user engagement rate.
Including contests, promotions and freebies in your Christmas campaign can prove to be a winning choice. The offers during the Christmas period could prove to be a strategic choice to make loyal customers feel important, provide ideas for Christmas gifts, and therefore encourage purchases. In fact, during the holidays, with many gifts to give, people are always on the lookout for discounts and freebies and therefore offering the opportunity to win prizes or receive promotions can help attract new customers and increase their engagement.
Every year the big brands try to amaze and excite their followers with increasingly creative and original Christmas campaigns. Here are some examples of social media marketing campaigns that have been successful in the past few years.
In 2017 Starbucks, the well-known American coffee chain, launched the "Project Give Good", a contest with gift cards to be won, aimed at increasing the involvement of its customers. The contest required consumers to paint all-white Starbucks cups to their liking, and then post the photo on social media using the hashtag #GiveGood.
Even Ceres, a beer brand, has decided to involve its followers with a contest in which it offered the chance to win a bottle. To try to get the prize, consumers had to submit a photo of their "ugly-jumper", i.e. an ugly sweater, which they would wear for Christmas.
Nutella instead involved its followers by asking them to show on social networks how they could transform the glass jars into Christmas decorations.
Finally, when it comes to Christmas social campaigns, one cannot help but think of Coca Cola. In fact, for over 100 years, the American multinational has been making exciting advertisements that celebrate this magical time of year and that often make history. In 2015 the brand, for the first time in Italy, used the Twitter Autoreply service to encourage the exchange of Christmas greetings among users.
"Make a friend happy" was the slogan of the campaign: users had to send a tweet to Coca Cola Italia containing the hashtag #VorreiFarFelice and the account of the friend; in this way the brand elaborated a personalized message that the recipient received via notification.
If you want to increase your brand with a Christmas social media marketing campaign, contact Us at Ekeria, a Digital Marketing agency. Contact us for a free consultation!