Supermarket aisles are full of baubles, lights and small figurines of Santa Claus. The shopping spree is definitely getting there and it is hard not to feel Christmassy – the same goes for social media.
Marketers and e-commerce managers need to come up with Christmas marketing ideas and implement them quickly, otherwise, their competitors will do it, stealing their clients. What’s more – Christmas is not the only thing they need to take care of in terms of marketing.
The Black Week is coming and e-commerce owners have to think about deals of the year for then, but the year is coming to an end, too, so making some summaries would not hurt either. How to not go crazy during such a busy period?
What to do to shine bright (like a Christmas candle) on social media? What are the most common mistakes, but also practices to follow? How to bundle up your social media strategy before Christmas with some great Christmas posts?
So many questions, not too many answers, so let us provide you with some of them. Below, you’ll find some social media strategies examples that you can follow, as well as more inspiration and Christmas marketing ideas you can use as your social media strategy plan example.
The statistics speak for themselves. Consumers go crazy over Christmas and are more often heading to social media for some advice, shopping impulses and actual purchases. According to Wordstream statistics, 68% of shoppers visit YouTube on their smartphones to determine what to buy. NRF reports that 55% of Christmas shopping will take place online.
Social media plays a crucial role in Christmas marketing. With wide audiences waiting for new offers and communication on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest, marketers have easy access to many potential clients.
It does not come as a surprise, then, that social media teams plan their activities so far in advance. Some of them start as early as… when the previous Christmas period comes to an end. You’ll see such examples later on.
Christmas marketing ideas are great, but after all, they are only ideas that won’t mean much without proper execution. You need to implement them using e.g. social media posts. What should you consider when publishing them?
There is no good strategy without a plan! It is not a bad idea to actually start all over again and create some Christmas-exclusive tactics. This social media marketing strategy template we published earlier in the year can be really helpful for you.
You should definitely start your activities from SWOT analysis. What are your strong points regarding your strategy? What are the weaknesses you should be aware of? Where could be your big chance during that busy Christmas period, and what should you consider as a threat? The sooner, and more comprehensive, you make it, the better for you.
We guess that you know it already, but you can always get to know it better. Find out what kind of communication they like the most and try to wear it like some Christmas jumpers. What do they like? What makes them sad? What makes their hearts melt? Get to know them as if they would be your BFF.
In your social media marketing strategy template, you should recognize who your personas are and how willing they are to purchase anything from your store or interact with your communication.
Many social media managers completely miss this point here. They do not check what their competitors are doing, or they only check a few sites and that is all. You need to check their Christmas posts and other Christmas marketing ideas in order not to copy… or to get inspired. No copy-paste here, you’ll be spotted in seconds!
What should be the main motto of your campaign? What is the password to your clients’ hearts? You’ll see some great examples below.
What channels should you choose? It is better to conquer two or three instead of trying to be everywhere, especially when your resources are limited. Choose lines for your Christmas marketing ideas and start making them true!
However, remember that social media marketing plan examples are not going to be sufficient during this time without proper research. As the clock is ticking, you don’t have a lot of time for testing.
Checklist – what should you do before you launch your Christmas communication / campaign?
While brands are not particularly willing to share their thoroughly planned social media strategy plan examples, you can take a look at their efforts anyway and try to figure out whether you can transfer any of these insights to your social media marketing strategy template for Christmas. Below, you’ll find a few Christmas marketing ideas implemented by brands all over the world.
Our first social media marketing strategy example had a really simple mechanism – every time someone either shared a special video or took a selfie, and published it with the #SeeMyWish hashtag on social media, BVLGARI donated $1 for children in need to a leading charity organization Save the Children. The campaign quickly reached their $250,000 goal with shared Christmas posts, but the brand decided to double the donation, giving a jaw-dropping $500,000 for this beautiful purpose.
Key learning: you can use a simple mechanism for making things viral. Even if you are not able to follow BVLGARI’s steps, you can make it on a smaller scale.
We all know that Sephora loves spicing up the marketing game, so it does not come as a surprise that we chose it as one of our social media strategies examples.
In their Christmas campaign called Reach out and gift, Sephora decided to involve their employees in holiday communication and implement their Christmas marketing ideas with some of their crew.
Over a thousand of them had a task to accomplish – to show, in the form of video – what they consider as beauty. 10 of them were lucky winners, chosen for a special photoshoot, which then featured in store windows and social media campaigns.
They became models of the brand, and soon after Sephora revealed that some of them had started working on Sephora’s YouTube channel and other marketing activities.
Key learning: involve your team members or employees in holiday communication and social media marketing plan templates – they may become a great source of unveiled creativity, creating a real bond with your brand.
More social media strategies examples? John Lewis always cracks us up with Christmas adverts, but the one from the year 2014 is one of their best creatives. Even if it all revolves around TV advert, it was surrounded by many social media posts and additional marketing activities, which was crucial for its overall success.
What is the #MontyThePenguin campaign?
It was a massive commercial success – not only did it get astounding millions of views, but it is still considered as the best John Lewis Christmas ad and one of the best Christmas adverts of our times. Needless to say that the cute penguin teddy bear was sold out on Amazon, and it was very likely a record-breaking penguin there being bought for as much as £500!
Well, see yourself what kind of Christmas marketing ideas amazed people back in 2014.
Key learning: if you work in a company that dedicates almost all of its financial resources to TV advertisements, do not forget about social media anyway. It can be a great extension of your current efforts and Christmas marketing ideas that your clients and potential clients will see on TV. John Lewis would not be that successful with the aforementioned campaign if not the fact that they made the most of social media, and made the video go viral.
Who would have thought that you can make a campaign about… a carrot? ALDI in the UK brought one of the most common Christmas vegetables back to life, wrapping them up in a lovely, heartwarming story. They decided to continue this social media marketing strategy example over the following years, thanks to both critical acclaim and client satisfaction. Kevin’s exploits encourage many to follow their lead!
While it was mainly a TV campaign, it had quite a few accompanying posts on social media including cliffhangers and trailers of the campaign. It got to the point where people were guessing what would happen next!
Key learning: If something was a Christmas blockbuster, try to continue the saga – as Aldi UK did. Christmas marketing ideas of… a carrot worked out beautifully for this brand.
Extras: take a look at Aldi UK’s Instagram. Incredibly inspiring and one of only a few to implement a grid so nicely!
This social media marketing strategy example comes from Poland and… we can feel the impact of inspiration from UK campaigns here – some storytelling that makes your heart melt. We are not going to spoil it for you, but you may shed a tear (well, we did).
The campaign was widely shared on social media, and YouTube became the main channel for the broadcasting of this particular advert. While we don’t know what social media strategy plan example they followed in particular, we can say without a doubt that YouTube and Facebook played a crucial role, and relying on trusted insights took them places.
Key learning: Watch insights and Christmas marketing ideas around you. This advert was spot on because it touches the difficult time of Christmas for many (we won’t spoil it!), but also because it learned some lessons from other markets. Following these contributed to the success of this social media marketing strategy example.
KPI & ROI. They are not buzzwords or made-up abbreviations, they are actually indicators of your Christmas performance. Are you snowed in by orders, or instead are your results quite poor?
Track in real time all of the important metrics: sales, CPM, CPC or CPL. Measure reach in your target group. Take a look at engagement and engagement rate too, if your campaign is just to raise brand awareness.
Depending on the goal of the campaign, you may be looking at different things. Your social media marketing plan templates should consist of a set of KPIs that is clear to the whole team responsible for social media.
We hope that our short guide will not only get you right in the Christmas mood, but also inspire you to create amazing social media marketing plan templates and come up with some Christmas marketing ideas to win your customers’ hearts.
You don’t have to be a big fish to make some buzz around your brand in this magical period – just take a look at the competition and your resources, and try to find all of the ingredients for a tasty, heartwarming campaign like one of the great social media marketing strategy examples that we shared above.
It is one hell of a ride during this crazy time, so you better prepare your content in advance and get it approved by all concerned parties before the shopping haul hits. If you decide to get into content optimization and create posts based on some of these social media marketing strategy templates and examples, it’s great to get approval from your clients. With Kontentino, your Christmas strategy planning can be totally hassle-free.
Remember it is not enough to achieve your business goals during this time, you need to keep an eye on community management, customer service and paid advertising as well – but at least, with a bit of help, you can get your Christmas posts sorted. Also, make the most of the social media strategy plan example we published earlier this year on our blog. Just add a bit of Christmas glitter there and you’re good to go!
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