This will be my last blog of 2020 and you’ll be pleased to hear that it’s about social media post ideas for Christmas. Just in time for your post plan for Christmas! We can all agree that this year tested us to the maximum. There’s been so much uncertainty and disruption that no-one escaped its clutches. Never did I think that we would experience a global pandemic in our lifetime.
And there’s been a lot of uncertainty about what to post on social media too. Many of my clients have told me that they have felt uncomfortable about selling their product or sharing good news stories as other business owners have really suffered since the first lockdown back in March.
I understand exactly why you would feel this way – it’s because you are good people and don’t want to cause any further upset! But believe me, what social media needs right now is a surge of positivity as the year comes to an end (thank goodness!).
As always create a good mix of content. 80% of your posts should be about creating engagement, raising awareness, and strengthening your brand – the remaining 20% should focus on selling your product or service. But 100% should reflect the genuine you.
Keep visible over the Christmas period
It’s so important to keep up with your social media presence over the festive period. If you don’t, you can guarantee that your competitors will keep posting, and while your customers may have more time on their hands and are feeling a bit more relaxed, they’re likely to get their custom.
Don’t let that happen to you – don’t delay thinking about your social media content ideas for Christmas.
Also think about the number of people who will be getting new phones, tablets and the like for Christmas – they’ll be spending more time online. Putting some great content out on social media over Christmas is the perfect opportunity to be seen.
Get scheduling your Christmas social media posts
Take time to schedule in your posts. Knowing that you have regular posts going out will give you extra time to put your feet up! Doesn’t that sound good?
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram all have easy to use scheduling features for you to make the most of. Sadly, LinkedIn is yet to have this tool, so for now, you’ll need an external scheduling app to help you with this networking platform – something like Hootsuite will do the job perfectly.
Here are some of my favourite social media marketing ideas for Christmas.
I’m hoping that these ideas for Christmas will help when you’re wondering what to post on social media.
- Find a Theme. One theme that works well is the 12 days of Christmas as this fits in nicely with the time between Christmas and New Year when a lot of business go fairly quiet or just post about sales. When I worked for Nomad Games, I managed the social media post plan for Christmas, it’s something I had a lot of fun with. One year we had a 12 Days Of Christmas initiative where we had a great mix of discounts, top tips and giveaways being posted out every day. Mixing it up keeps everyone’s interest up!
- Run competitions. Your followers may have more time to browse around social media at this time of year and be more open to take part in a competition. But beware, if you don’t abide by the social media platform’s rules, you could end up with your page or account being banned! Read my blog to learn the best practices to running a competition on social media.
- Get creative, think about ways you can get your customers to engage with the competition. Ask them for their best Christmas joke, funniest Christmas story etc. At Nomad Games one year I ran a competition asking followers to build a tower with all their board games, the tallest board game tower would win. One guy built a tower bigger than his house from all his board games! It’s was amazing the images our customers shared on our pages. You know your followers better than anyone else, so think about what they will enjoy doing and make it achievable so they are more likely to enter. Run the competition up until you are back at work – saves you worrying about missing it when you’re relaxing with your family.
- Write about your summary of the year. A lot has changed, and your followers will want to hear about the good things that you have achieved. Talk about how you have adapted your business and how this has benefited your customers. Highlight the best moments – maybe some of the worst ones too if relevant to the story. Always end on a positive note though.
- Be thankful. Openly thank your staff for all of their hard work and commitment over the year and tell them how much they are valued. And don’t forget to thank your customers too – without them businesses wouldn’t have survived. To really get the message across that you value your staff and your customers consider doing a video. There are plenty of apps available depending on the tech you have available. Videos are more likely to be better received as they are more personal than a typed post.
- Wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Don’t forget to schedule in these two really important messages. Choose great images to go with your messages. Why not stage a fun picture of you with your family, pet or staff? Pick something meaningful to your followers and something they can relate to.
- Showcase your values: If you’ve supported a charity, tell your followers what you did and why. Tag the charity in too.
And if you haven’t directly supported a charity but love what they do, promote them to raise awareness. It could be that you plan to take food to the local food bank, you can ask your followers to do the same. Again, tag the organisation in.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be a charity either. You may have done something positive for your community. These real life stories are welcomed on social media – a relief from all the doom and gloom that fills the news.
It’s good practice to continually share your values at all times of the year, not just as part of your Christmas marketing social media post ideas. - Having fun with your staff. We all love to see the people behind the brand. A great excuse to put up a picture of your staff is to have them all wear festive jumpers. But remember to get their permission first, particularly if it’s a zoom picture!
- Your Christmas decorations. Have you decorated your home office? Have you bought a special office tree this year? We are a nosey bunch and love to see behind the scenes! Plus, it’s great fun to do!
- Out and about! If you have staff going out delivering to customers or charities, snap a picture of them. It shows great team spirit and raises awareness of how much goes in to your service.
- What have you achieved this year? Take a moment to reflect on the year, have you created any new innovations? What has gone well behind the scenes of your business? Have you launched a new product or service to meet the changing demands of your customers? It’s okay to repeat what you have mentioned in previous posts and bring them to the front of your customers’ minds once again.
- Give shout outs! Tag a particular supplier or contractor that has gone out of their way to help and support you. It’s always lovely to see businesses supporting others when times are challenging.
- Ask for reviews. There is one simple way we can help small businesses and that is to leave a review. Over the festive period ask your customers for reviews to inform others about your product or service.
- Talk about your best-selling product. What has sold really well over the past 9 months? Talk about why you think it sold well and maybe you’ll catch the interest of a new customer!
- Finish off with a summary of what you have been doing differently. Behind the scenes you will have made a lot of changes, and this has been for the benefit of your customers. This is a really interesting and positive side to how small businesses have managed to survive 2020.
My livestream will be back on the 4th January with another guest speaker, Maeri Howard, talking about how to use social media to support your email marketing strategy. Make sure you subscribe and click on the bell on my YouTube channel so you don’t miss it! Social Media Executive – YouTube
I really hope that this has given you lots of ideas for Christmas to think about for your social media content.
Have a lovely Christmas.
Bye for now,
Becs
Becs Bate, Social Media Executive
