8 Tips for Holiday Social Media Posts
All holidays have their own unique identities, and it’s essential to keep those in mind when you’re creating your social media posts around them. For example, in the United States, St. Patrick’s Day is commonly associated with green beer and corned beef and cabbage. At the same time, Mother’s Day conjures up images of flowers, chocolates, and brunch with mom at her favorite diner or restaurant. With these images in mind, you can better come up with content tailored to each holiday that your business celebrates or observes. Here are seven other tips to consider when making holiday posts for your social media profiles.
1) Pay Attention to What Others Are Doing
Sometimes it can be helpful to take a peek at what your competitors are doing on social media. Look at their holiday posts and see how you can make your business stand out even more than theirs. Here’s a tip: Don’t just look at general trends (such as #holidayfun or #holidayschedule), but drill down deeper into specific trends related to your niche. For example, if you own an online candy store specializing in unique gifts, don’t just look at holidays but instead look at #Candy, #Sweets, etc. You’ll get tons of great information about other businesses trying to attract customers during periods when they usually have less traffic coming into their store--such as around Valentine’s Day—and then you’ll know exactly how to increase social media engagement using those same kinds of tactics.
2) Post Something Fun
There’s nothing wrong with using your social channels to sell, but you shouldn’t rely solely on that. You should post something fun and lighthearted on every channel once in a while. For example, if you have an e-commerce site with an app, consider sharing a funny story or picture from someone who recently bought your product or service. Just make sure it still serves your primary goals. The holidays are a perfect time to do so—no one is going to fault you for having a little extra holiday cheer during December, right? Facebook gets into the spirit by adding a new Santa icon whenever users type Merry Christmas. It doesn’t matter what social platform you use; try to occasionally inject some fun into your updates!
3) Post at the Right Time
If you want to reach an audience during a holiday, you need to post at times when they’re online. A high-traffic time is Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in terms of holidays. During those days (and any others), make sure you put some thought into posts that include photos and videos so you can boost engagement. And never underestimate humor: A joke will probably always elicit more likes and comments than just asking someone to check out your Instagram profile or business website. That could very well be because it leaves people feeling happy instead of guilt-tripped, but humor does what any content should: creates an emotional response. Everyone loves to laugh! Even if no one else decides to follow a link because of it, keeping up a positive tone ensures people associate your brand with positivity instead of irritation.
4) Don’t Forget About Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories are a great place to share moments from your holiday celebrations. Take it one step further, and don’t forget to add holiday theme gifs to your stories to give it that extra pop of holiday cheer.
5) Engage With Other Users
Set up a plan before you jump into holiday posts. It’s easy to get caught up in what’s happening around you and run through your whole posting schedule in a day, but that’s not very engaging for your audience. Try interacting with them by asking questions, getting feedback on past posts or their favorite upcoming TV shows, or inviting them to play along with contests and activities—anything that gets people interested in what you have to say is good content! This way, they can experience some of your brands and make new connections, so creating opportunities where they can learn more about your business is invaluable.
6) Use Hashtags Appropriately
Be sure to use appropriate hashtags when sharing holiday photos. For example, don’t use a hashtag like #christmascookies if you’re sharing pictures of your nieces or nephews on Christmas Day. Instead, something more general like #holidayvacation will suffice. When using a hashtag, try to keep it short but meaningful so that people looking at your post can understand what they see immediately. Don’t forget to spellcheck before posting! Don’t rely on social media platforms’ autocorrect features.
7) Consider Re-Posting Old Content
If you’re brainstorming ideas for holiday social media posts, you may be wondering if people will even be paying attention to your account. The truth is that many people won’t bother—but then again, many of them will. With so much competition in just about every industry, how will you get your fans’ attention? Consider re-posting content from previous holidays. If a post about Halloween engagement photos got a lot of engagement last year, it likely will again now (but with a different engagement). And don’t forget non-holiday posts: Maybe an older post about developing a successful content strategy would make sense as part of your overall holiday-themed social media plan.
8) Have fun with emojis
Finally, never miss an opportunity to use emojis! Emojis can be used in place of words and make any message more visually appealing and fun. Plus, most people find them easier to digest than text-only posts – especially when accompanied by cute little heart-eyes and smiley faces! Since emoji usage is increasing among social media users worldwide, there’s no reason not to give them a shot during your next marketing campaign!