Driving sales using social media is something that brands and businesses have been doing for years and with all main social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram providing an easy and free platform to do so, you would be crazy if you weren’t utilising them.
Almost all sectors can take a change in season and use it to their advantage when it comes to advertising, particularly on social media, but the festive period is by far the most popular when it comes to creating engaging campaigns to drive sales.
To make the most out of social media at Christmas, we have put together some of our top tips! After all, tis’ the season to get creative!
Get festive with your branding (and prepare well in advance)
Whether this means adding some snowflakes to your Twitter header, popping a branded festive message on your Facebook cover photo or going that extra mile and tweaking your logo to add some festive artwork, this is an easy way to show your customers that you’re getting into the Christmas!
We all know that the moment Halloween and Bonfire Night are over, the festive period begins to creep in, so you need to have all seasonal artwork ready to launch well in advance.
Stay engaged, stay current
Although keeping engagement across social media platforms is something that applies all year round, it is something that is even easier to do at this time of year.
The festive period consists of two significant days that both online and offline retailers can take advantage of – Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Both days see online and offline retailers offering their products at discounted prices and providing some one-off offers. Jumping on the bandwagon and promoting your offers on social media will help to build brand awareness while driving sales.
Another way you can get your name seen is to look for topics and trends that are circulating online, an example of this would be the Christmas advert hype that consumes social media every year. Jumping on hashtags and using them to your advantage not only gets your company seen but shows that you are human.
Earlier this month, Pizza Hut did just this when I tweeted about my disappointment with the John Lewis advert. Pizza Hut promptly jumped onto Twitter and began engaging with multiple users. They used a current topic, created engagement and cleverly planted their brand at the forefront of potential consumers’ minds, throwing #GrumpSanta in there for good measure.
Offer perks to say thank you
This applies to all online retailers, if your customers are spending a considerable amount of money with you then the last thing they want to do is pay £4.50 p&p!
Give them free delivery over a certain amount to show them you appreciate their custom. Or even better, give them free next day delivery and 20% discount for orders over £50? On top of this, a lot of online fashion retailers use the new season trends to offer introductory discount codes. Missguided is a great example of this.
Make sure your offering is clear
Shout about it! If you’ve got a fantastic new product in, next seasons boots, the latest gadget… shout it from the rooftops (but don’t be a pest).
How you do this and the tone you take is dependent on the brand but your main priority should be being the first brand that comes to mind when a consumer realises they only have 4 weeks until Christmas and they still haven’t bought their other half the gadget they wanted!
Use more than one social network
Tying in nicely with shouting it from the rooftops, make sure to utilise as many suitable social media platforms available to you! Whilst some networks may not be appropriate for the brand, it is wise to sit down and look at your target demographics and where those people may be focusing most of their time.
Sometimes Facebook and Twitter is not enough! Snapchat has overtaken Twitter in daily usage and has over 6 billion videos views per day. And the best thing about it… it’s completely free and extremely diverse.
Shares, likes, retweets, comments, views; they are what can project your single post to millions of people across the world, generating awareness and ultimately driving those all-important sales. The possibilities are endless, so get on board and get your brand seen this winter!
Proof is in the pudding
Over the years we have seen some great examples of social media increasing sales and brand awareness for both companies and charities.
One particular example of the power of social media was the ‘no make-up selfie’ that begun in aid of awareness for Cancer Research. Using the hashtag #nomakeupselfie, women (and some men) began uploading their photos along with encouragement to donate. Within one week, an astonishing eight-million pounds was raised!
When Air Asia launched their ‘Friendsy’ competition campaign they saw their flights increase double and their social media fan base grew by 30%. Up against some stiff competition, Air Asia had to offer something in order to get people talking about who they were. What better than offering to fly a plane full of your friends from Australia to Malaysia for FREE? This provided engagement with 2,300,000 people on Facebook and received 12,500 registrations for the contest overall.
Social media marketing has quickly become a key stage to factor into your marketing strategy and the benefits that social media can bring are invaluable. Just a small output across social media can create high levels of engagement, ultimately having a positive effect on other aspects of a brand, company or charity, whether that be sales or general awareness. So image what can be done when you put in that extra mile.