With less than one month separating Thanksgiving and Christmas, the 2019 holiday shopping crunch is on. The good news for businesses – experts are predicting increased spending across categories. And, while we’re accustomed to seeing crowds lined up to snag Black Friday deals, more shoppers are opting to shop from the comfort of their couch – with more than one-third of purchases anticipated to occur through smartphones.  

Businesses of all sizes and industries can capitalize on holiday shopping to generate critical seasonal sales through a digital-centric holiday marketing program. While it may feel overwhelming – it’s not too late to act and either create or enhance your existing plan that inspires your audience to buy products, book services or donate to your mission.  

Based on our experience working with businesses large and small, we know that time and manpower are common factors holding businesses back from robust social media and digital programming.  

But is your own business on your “gift” list this year? Will enhancing your social campaign this holiday season help move business to the next level, and build momentum for 2020? 

Here are four tips from Approach Marketing to guide your social media strategy and get the most bang for your buck this holiday season.  

Set a goal 
What does a win look like for your business this holiday season? Are you hoping to drive a set number of reservations or appointments? Is it important to sell through seasonal merchandise or gift packages? Set a specific goal for the remainder of 2019, even if it’s new or separate from a broader annual marketing program. In practice:  

• Identify important dates – When must orders be in to meet holiday shipping deadlines? Are you impacted by special days, such as Small Business Saturday (Nov. 30), Cyber Monday (Dec. 2) or Giving Tuesday (Dec. 3)? Build your program around these windows.  

• Key messages – Create holiday-specific messaging that can be applied across channels and platforms. What are the three or four things your audience must know this holiday season? Perhaps it’s that you offer gift cards, you sell items under $50, you serve seasonal cocktails, or that your shop serves as a collection point for items benefiting a local charity.  

• Key audiences – Who would you like to reach over the next month? Your loyal customers who may buy more or a new and untapped audience?  

Plan your content  
After establishing the framework for your holiday program, consider your content. Think about the topics your fans will find entertaining or helpful during this busy time of the year, then determine how you can serve as a resource. Hint – it’s more than just talking about the existence of your business. For example: 

• Compile a gift guide including your product or service – Think about all the ways you can publish and extend the life of your gift guide.  

• Publish the guide on your website or blog  

• Share images of the items in Instagram stories  

• Go “Live” on Instagram or Facebook to reveal your guide and unbox the items  

• Team up with a neighboring business to promote your non-competing lists  

• Use Facebook events to host a shopping night complemented by cookies and hot chocolate  

• Offer advice for holiday get togethers – If your brand has a tie-in to food, home goods or hospitality, build out a tip list for holiday entertaining or share reminders about tipping and gifting etiquette.  

• Highlight sales and special offers with promotional codes – Could you offer a deal for social media followers who see and mention a code at checkout? 

Synergize efforts across channels  
A well-rounded campaign is more likely to drive results. Holiday-themed social media initiatives can complement a bigger program. Evaluate the mix of channels you can use to generate attention and share promotions.   

• E-mail marketing is huge during the holiday season and can be timed with the important dates plotted on your marketing and content calendar.  

• Pitch traditional earned media outlets at the local and national level to try and generate coverage in gift guides. You can then showcase this content online, in e-mails and via social channels.  

• Partner with influencers to curate gift guides and showcase the recommendations on both of your profiles.  

Optimize paid social media efforts 
Unfortunately, social media budgets are not all created equal during the holiday season. The typical CPM (or cost to reach your audience) can jump upwards of 50 percent around critical shopping dates since the competition is so much higher. Don’t let this deter you. It simply means you need to better optimize your paid social media efforts to be seen. How do you do this?  

• Ensure you’re using only the strongest creative assets and messaging. Through test-and-learn, pull poor performing content sooner than usual  

• Test your ad types (such as videos, photo carousels, etc.) to see what drives the most action 

• Narrow your audience targeting and consider retargeting to drive conversions from already warmed leads 

• Be direct and send customers to the specific product, booking or donation page you’re looking to promote. Provide promotion or coupon codes in the ad. The quicker you can get a potential customer to the appropriate content, the more likely they will be to convert.  

Ramp up community engagement and customer service 
One thing is for certain, social media messengers and DMs are critical areas to monitor and engage during the holidays. Surveyed businesses noted a 62 percent increase in social media messages through the season. People often send a message or question when they’re amid a purchase, making it essential for someone to dedicate their attention to inboxes over the next month and a half. Try to respond in real time and consider driving people to inboxes for a personalized customer service touch if they are seeking custom gift ideas. Other best practices include:  

• Troubleshoot issues by inviting customers to send a direct message or directly email the company for questions about order submission, order tracking, billing concerns, or customer complaints. 

• Monitor comments and questions on posts in addition to messengers. Answer questions and provide accurate feedback – it's common for other social media followers to jump in with their own responses. Own the conversation.  

• Follow everyday customer service protocol, such as shifting any negative conversation offline to private channels (messenger, DM or email).  

Are you curious about activating or enhancing social media marketing for your business yet this year? Contact us at hello@approachmarketing.com.  

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