In need of holiday social media content? With celebrations just getting underway, now is the perfect time to build a winning strategy for getting the most out of your posts before we ring in the new year.

While the winter months are often big opportunities for retailers, this season is a great time of the year for marketing across other industries, too, including healthcare and B2B.

With the right messaging, timely posts, and relevant resources, here are ideas on how your company can get creative with holiday social media that followers in your target audiences will love.

1

Create a content calendar

Depending on your industry and target audience, the holidays may be a busy time. Use a content calendar to map out your messaging early. This can help relieve stress during the actual rush of the season, so you don’t have to prepare holiday social media posts in real-time.

Think about what you need to communicate to your audience and what your audience will most want to hear. Your holiday social media posts might include:

  • Sharing when your office(s) will be closed
  • Describing any specific resources your company offers in the winter months
  • Reminding that the year-end is approaching if your industry operates annually and resets on January 1
  • Providing updates if there are delays in shipping, etc.

Your holiday content plan doesn’t have to be intricate. In fact, one of our best holiday social media marketing tips is to selectively share valuable information that is timely and relevant to your audience. Using the authentic voice for your brand and company goes a long way.

Pro-tip: Organizing your calendar can be simple, such as a Google Doc or spreadsheet, as long as you can easily access it and share it with other team members if needed. Put in the dates when you plan to post and then the topic or theme for that day’s post.

Mapping out messaging a few weeks early can help relieve added stress during the actual rush of the season. This is especially true if you have multiple team members taking time off or your office closes altogether over certain days.

Learn how to create a comprehensive marketing plan
2

Schedule posts in advance

This tip goes hand-in-hand with the advice above–schedule your holiday social posts in advance. With this method, you’ll block time for setting up and preparing posts for upcoming weeks and months in a single session. This way, the holiday social media post about your modified office hours will automatically publish while you put the turkey in the oven on Christmas morning.

Take the headache out of managing your posts by utilizing scheduling tools, like:

3

Leverage hashtags

Help your content get discovered by utilizing hashtags. Hashtags are one of the easiest ways to find relevant and trending topics on the majority of social media platforms, and—with the right hashtag—your content will be sure to pop.

Hashtags are also a great tool to get your content to reach a wider audience. Be sure to choose relevant tags to see the most impact on your goals. Rather than using broad phrases like #Christmas, try digging to find something that will match user expectations if they click through to your content. Often enough, there are holiday hashtags tailored to most industries that will help boost your social reach.

Pro-tip: Twitter advises to use no more than two hashtags per tweet, calling it a “best practice.” While you can use more hashtags per post, being thoughtful and intentional is recommended.

4

Keep messaging on brand

No matter the holiday, it is essential that your holiday social media content continues to match the tone and style of your other marketing. Stay true to your brand voice, whether it’s playful or helpful. Resist the urge to throw your hard-earned brand credibility out the window by deviating too far from your norm or trying something random on your social media channels.

When your content is too different or doesn’t fit with what your followers expect from you, the result can be confusing or potentially even off-putting to your target audiences and stakeholders.

Here are some noteworthy stats about the importance of brand recognition:

  • Brand consistency substantially contributes to revenue growth by 33% (Lucidpress)
  • Using a signature brand color can increase brand recognition by 80% (Reboot)
  • Being consistent across platforms increases revenue by up to 23% (Forbes)
5

Engage with your audience when they reach out

While we recommend mapping out a content plan and scheduling your posts, that doesn’t replace organic engagement on holiday social media. In the holiday season, this might include sharing inspirational or uplifting content from your followers and responding to comments and questions.

One critical reminder for holiday social media marketing is that many users now see these channels as an extension of your customer service team.

Leads and customers may take to your social media channels to ask about shipping timelines, sizing questions, setting up consultations, etc. This is true for a variety of industries, not just retail. A plan to respond to positive feedback, negative reviews, and questions can help your company stand out, particularly as the new year approaches.

Keep these holiday social media marketing tips in mind when spreading some cheer to your target audiences from Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and beyond!