The holidays are upon us. With the impending frenzy it may be easy to let some tasks slip. But one thing that you shouldn’t let fall by the wayside is social media — one of your most important marketing channels this time of year. Luckily, it’s possible to stay on top of it with minimal effort.
Here are some holiday social media marketing tips for small businesses:
Get your channels in the holiday spirit.
One free and simple way to get your followers’ attention is to update your avatars and header photos across all your social channels. A new, festive photo can help your business stand out in your customers’ feeds and in their minds. Your channels are also a great place to promote timely or holiday-specific products or services.
Schedule (and share, share, share).
Facebook and Twitter both allow you to schedule content in advance. Making sure you have a constant stream of social content helps you grow your online presence and keeps your business on people’s radars. Fill your channels with exclusive offers, coupons, giveaways, and news. And don’t be shy about posting pictures and video. Eighty-seven percent of all Facebook Page interactions happen on posts that contain photos. Something else to keep in mind: Your social content is more likely to rank high in web searches if it’s recent, so, whatever you do, don’t let your account sit dormant for too long.
Talk to your customers.
Social media is a place to connect and engage with your customers directly. Listen to conversations, insert your business where it makes sense, monitor mentions of your company, and be ready to help, respond and comment. Social media is also a key place to hear directly from your customers. In fact, one-third of social media users would rather reach out to a brand that way than through traditional customer service channels. Most people are pleasantly surprised to know that there is an actual person listening to their questions, comments and concerns.
Promote content for best results.
Your reachable audience on Facebook is in decline due to its algorithm, which is the complex equation the platform uses to decide what to show you in your news feed. This can mean that engagement levels on posts are relatively low and fans of your page are only occasionally seeing your content.
To help increase your reach, consider putting aside a small budget to use for highly targeted Facebook ads (or even an email marketing service). For a relatively small price, you can reach thousands of people on Facebook in and around your local area, showing them special offers that will drive them to your business. You can target ads by postcode, language, gender, marital status and many other filters. If you have a local toy store that wants to promote a visit from Santa, for instance, you can target parents within a certain radius with a Facebook post announcing the event.
Keep at it.
Abandoned social channels make your business look out of touch, which is a definite turnoff to potential customers. When you enter the social media fray, imagine that you’re building a relationship with your digital customers, and make sure you’re not leaving them hanging. Keep them up to date on what you’re doing and be there for them. You might also want to follow Square on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. We provide a ton of information for our sellers and love to feature them and their businesses.
Do you have holiday social media tips that have worked for your business? Share them with us on Twitter.