Don’t be a Scrooge on Social This Christmas

Christmas is a time for us all to get caught up in the festivities, let our hair down and for many people, a chance to have a clean break before coming back ready to tackle a brand-new year—or, in this year’s case, a brand-new decade!

Whilst all this sounds fantastic, and we’re sure it will be – one key mistake brands tend to make during this period is to treat their social media campaigns in the same way they treat their personal lives, opting to take a break from posting altogether. Whilst on the surface level this might seem like a reasonable tactic—”Who” needs my services during Christmas anyway?” we hear you say—stopping social activity at this critical time can prove hugely detrimental to business for a variety of reasons:

Loss of momentum

So, you’ve been serving up high quality, original content to your admiring audience all year, wowing them with each new innovation along the way. It’s now time to capitalise on the positive sentiment you’ve worked so hard to build with some *fire emoji* festive content… and now you’ve stopped posting…

Simply put, pausing activity over the holidays can be a major momentum killer.

Your competition

You’ve decided to take a Christmas break from posting – guess whose Christmases all just came at once? Your competitors have been waiting for an opportunity for a clear run at your market and now you’ve just presented it to them, hand-wrapped with a nice bow on top. As a business you never want to lose ground on your biggest rivals, isn’t that one of the reasons you began your social and digital marketing efforts in the first place?

Being current

The Christmas period always brings some of the most innovative advertising campaigns of any year (IKEA’s Christmas ad, anyone?), but we’re also guaranteed lift-off on a variety of festive viral trends. Keeping active during December and New Year can really give brands an opportunity to show their personality and wit, due to the reactive nature of many trends at this time of year. This is something that won’t go unnoticed by your audience, believe us.

Good customer service

There’s never a great time to desert your customers when they have queries regarding products, returns, exchange policies and anything else that may come up for a retailer – but at the height of consumerism season? You can see why a social media blackout might pose at least a few problems.

Now that we’ve (hopefully) persuaded you on the importance of your seasonal social efforts, what should you be posting about exactly?

• Storytelling – People love a brand they can relate to on an emotional level. Brands like John Lewis and Tesco have nailed this art down to a tee, generating mass amounts of positive sentiment
  towards their brand through cleverly relevant advertisements. Think about the story behind your brand and how you can make that engaging for the consumer during the holiday period. If your target audience are moved by your content, there’s a much higher chance of them remembering your brand!
• Offers/sales – People love a bargain, and nowadays many people opt for the online route for Boxing Day sales as opposed to braving the cold and effort of in-store retail shopping. Get your discount
  right this Christmas and you’ll be laughing your way into the ‘20s.

If you’d like to discuss your social media efforts this holiday season, or simply discuss with us in general how social can benefit your business, please don’t hesitate to get in touch today.