The holidays are something that bring people together. While retail stores take full advantage of the holiday shopping season, other businesses use the holidays for marketing purposes in other ways. View the recording for this presentation here: https://www.bigmarker.com/illinois_business_community/room57 In this presentation, we look at a few tactics businesses can use to harness the hyper-awareness consumers have during this time of the year toward branding, and how to take advantage of the season.

1. 5 Tips For Business
Promotion During The
Holidays.

2. • My name is Rebecca and I am a community manager at BigMarker.
• You can contact me at rebecca.mccarthy@bigmarker.com

3. It’s not too late:
• In 2012, 36% of Americans hadn’t started their holiday shopping with
just three weeks to go.

4. 5 Tips For Business Promotion During The
Holidays:
Inject holiday spirit into cover photos.
Feature Employees.
Track mentions, ask questions/engage.
Run a competition or provide a free holiday themed gift.
Consider your audience and forum and tweak to suit.

5. Organize:
• Think of different campaign images: Hanukah, Thanksgiving, New
Year’s Eve.
• Schedule with Facebook advance dates in one day.
• Avail of Tweetdeck for scheduling tweets.
• Watch and respond quickly to comments/questions.
• Facebook: Look at insights dashboard what works?
• If post gets some momentum, consider “boosting”.

6. Twitter truths:
• 52% of people expect to get information directly from a brand on
Twitter.
• 37% use Twitter to determine what store to visit.
• 49% of people tweet about their purchases.
• 52% say Twitter helps them learn about new products.
• 47% have purchased based on what they have read on Twitter.
• 55% say they are likely to purchase from a brand they follow.

7. Even Oprah!

8. 1.Add some holiday cheer to your profile.
• Fun and easy way to connect.
• Humanizes your brand and strengthens your client relationship.
• Include logo.
• Don’t forget promotional holiday information.
• Keep it short (shorter posts get 23% more interaction)
- Less than 250 characters= 60% more engagement.
- Less than 80 characters= 66% more engagement.

9. Macy’s has a great holiday cover photo:

10. 2.Feature your employees:
• People like to put a face to their business and interact.
• Daily employee holiday feature.
• E.g. what they enjoy about your business during the holidays.
• Friends and family will share and like, creates more exposure.
• Works especially well over the holidays.

11. Keep it simple:
• Photo posts get 39% more interaction, 53% more likes, 104% more
comments. (Self-explanatory do best)
• Facebook posts with emoticons get liked 57% more and shared 33%
more.
• Pick your posting time: Engagement rates on Thursday and Friday are
18% higher.
• Question posts get 100% more comments.
• Coupon based campaigns receive the highest engagement rates.
• Posts below 250 characters=60% more engagement.
• Below 80 characters =66% more engagement.

12. Tweet / post about products relevant to
the Holidays:

13. 3.Track Mentions, Ask
Questions, Engage:
• If someone mentions something you stock, tell them.
• Have a ‘share on Twitter’ tab.-Allows people to retweet you.
• If you’re in a close knit community, tweet/post about other
businesses.
• Consider posting about other businesses.
• Encourage people to share holiday tips.
• Think what phrasing will help with engagement.

14. Engagement Equation:
1 x Post, Submit, Like, Tell us.
+
Holiday Topic.
=
Increased Engagement.
e.g. “Tell us what is your favorite holiday movie?”
*Measure success, do more of what works and less of what isn’t.

15. Examples of Encouraging Engagement:

16. 4.Run a contest or Holiday Themed Give
Away:
• Holiday season is a perfect time to connect with and reward
followers.
• Capture customer info as a precondition of entry.
• Using a third party app will allow you to collect data in organized
manner.
• Consider the goal of the contest.
• A gift certificate for your business-allows winner to test your
product/services.
• 35% of Facebook fans like a page to enter contests.

17. Consider Including a Daily Themed Free
Gift Prize Draw:

18. The Holidays are a great time to reward
existing followers and attract new ones.

19. Hide a Holiday image.
• Direct with an email campaign/newsletter.
• Give hints on your Social Media pages and remind customers.
• Send people to Facebook via app/custom landing page.
• Require email address.
• Pick a random winner.
• Result=people have spent time engaging with your content.

20. Best Buy show how easy it is to
incorporate Holiday images:

21. Potential Twitter Marketing Campaign:
• Monday: Ask followers what holiday product/service they’d like to
see more of? (Engaging)
• Tuesday: Countdown.
• Wednesday: Share photos of giving back.
• Thursday: Consider making videos to reveal new products.
• Friday: Promote an offer valid for the weekend.

22. Instagram:
• Embed into website.
• ‘Instagram for Business’ (blog by Instagram).
• Juxtapose filtered and non-filtered pictures.
• Use Holiday related hashtags.
• Showcase videos of your employees participating in holiday activities.
• Expose something new.
• Leverage Holiday themed photo contests with Facebook.

23. Don’t Underestimate Social Media As A
Promotional Tool:

24. 5. Consider your audience.
• Different demographics use different platforms.
• Consider who you are targeting before you post.
• Adjust for each individual platform.
• Tailor campaign to suit audience: Twitter- potentially more
technologically savvy. Facebook-ask questions.
• Try different things and adjust for each platform.

25. Remember:
Inject holiday spirit into cover photos.
Feature Employees.
Track mentions, ask questions/engage.
Run a competition or provide a free holiday themed gift.
Consider your audience and forum and tweak to suit.

26. Contact Info:
• rebecca.mccarthy@bigmarker.com