4 Tips for Holiday Marketing

The Starbucks red cups are out and the Christmas music is played loud and clear at Macy’s, and that can only mean one thing—the holidays are here. In order to yield a successful holiday campaign, you need to plan in advance so your product or idea is ready to start well before the Black Friday rush. Read on for more helpful holiday tips and platforms:

1.     Utilize Social Media

Facebook is THE social media platform to focus your campaign on. According to PR Daily, use your Facebook page to run holiday-themed contests on the Timeline to engage your fans. Ask for shares and “likes” and create a specific hashtag to keep the message trending so it is likely to be seen by people outside your audience.  Change your Facebook page cover photo to reflect the upcoming holiday season, post appropriate-themed status updates, highlight popular products or ideas. Businesses should also consider using Instagram or Pinterest for a board or photo-sharing campaign. 

2.     Repeat Often

Set goals as to what your business is looking to accomplish; holiday promotions can be a great lead-in for future campaigns. Whether it is through a subscriber e-newsletter, social media or direct mail, advertise your offers multiple times throughout the next two months to get the word out about upcoming launches and events and boost your sales. However, make sure to space them out so not to stress out your customer. Consider sending out one message to customers two to three weeks out, a second message the week of the event, and a third message thanking customers and making sure they connect with your business via social media.

3.     Figure Out What Makes You Unique

What is it about your business or product that is different from the major marketers? This is especially important for local businesses to consider marketing outside of the major holidays, including Small Business Saturday (usually held after Black Friday) and Cyber Monday. Cater to your audience with special deals and promotions, making sure you emphasize the specific entities about your products (quality, service, etc.) throughout the season.  

4.     Consider Add-On Incentives

Whether it is a gift card to use for a specific amount spent, a refer-a-friend discount, coupon codes or free shipping for online retailers, incentives are an easy way to bring in sales and encourage future purchases. For example, “Spend $50 and receive a $10 gift card off your next purchase”, or “Refer a friend and you both get 20% off your next purchase.” Businesses need to shift their focus to their customers, and by giving the customer a specific amount of time to purchase the product, your business will encourage customers to utilize the offer now.

How to Create A Successful Media Campaign

One of the most effective ways to target an audience is through social media. Whether for a product, an event, or an idea, utilizing this medium can lead to an engaged audience, which can then increase the number of followers and likes to the business’ social media pages. This can then turn your social media fans into loyal customers who can help influence future brand awareness for the company. But where do you start?

1.     Figure out what your goal is

While it is important to provide customers and followers with relevant information, establishing a goal can provide a clear pathway to how you will lead the campaign. Is it to gain more exposure for your brand? Is it to promote a new product or service? Define how your social media outreach will provide the most value to your customers.

2.     Determine which social media platform(s) you will use

Facebook and Twitter are the most obvious choices, but depending on what your goal is and who your audience is, you don’t need to utilize every single account you have. It may also be helpful to start the campaign on a blogging platform, where you will have more room to explain the campaign, and then link to your social media pages. This increases a company’s web presence, which can in turn increase your social media presence.

3.     Figure out who your target audience will be

This is especially key for small and medium-sized companies. By targeting to a smaller group (plus-size fashion bloggers, for example), companies can monitor keywords and phrases of the brand or idea and customize the content to that audience.

4.     Analyze how you will measure the campaign mentions

Entrepreneur.com names Mention, a program that lets users track mentions of their brand across Facebook, Twitter, RSS and the web, and Tagboard, which monitors hashtags on the above platforms as well as Instagram, Vine and Google+, as two software programs that monitor social media engagement. Google Analytics is also a fairly easy program to use for website traffic and SEO.

5.     Start with a contest or special offer

One of the easiest ways to gain new customers is to start with a special offer or discount. If a business is announcing a new product or service (for example, a free eyebrow wax for a new spa), consider announcing the contest on one platform and having a customer “like” the brand’s Facebook page or follow on Twitter in order to secure an entry. This not only drives traffic to your social media sites, but also engages fans and followers along the way.

6.     Vary the content on each social media page

The most important thing for a successful social media campaign is the content itself. Finding and sharing content with followers is an easy way to build interest in a brand or business. However, it is important to tailor the content based on the audience and the social media platform you use in order for them to understand the message you are going for. Be sure to stagger your posts consistently throughout the day, as your customers likely check their social media pages at different times of the day. 

7.     Analyze your content as a conversation

Social media allows clients and consumers to have a conversation. If customers provide a positive mention to a brand on social media, brand advocates should acknowledge this and build on the relationship. It lets customers know you are listening and value their business. Ask questions and encourage responders to reply with a specific hashtag to keep the conversation flowing and track the brand mentions. 

Let us know how you are using these channels to communicate with your brand audience. 

We offer Social Media Management, contact us-
www.CChicLLC.com

8 Great Social Media Platforms for Business

In today’s ever-changing world, an online presence is strongly encouraged for any business. Taking that one step further is the usage of social media platforms to reach a desired audience. While some businesses, whether large or small, may feel the need to be on every social media site, finding the site where they can best market their message can yield customer response.

Facebook

Facebook is one of the main social media platforms and has evolved as a popular tool for business marketing. In an article from Social Media Today, creating a business page allows your followers to be updated via a myriad of content, including articles, photos and videos, and status updates. It is also useful in driving website traffic and customer engagement. Facebook also gives page administrators access to page insights, which allows you to see how many people are interacting with each post, and then decide the most effective ways to engage your fans.

Twitter

Twitter is another popular social media platform, but since users are limited to 140 characters per tweet, the content is crucial. Re-tweeting content from followers and businesses in similar fields allows your business to share useful information based on your customers’ needs. 

Google+

Like Facebook, any type of content works on Google+. It is one of the most efficient platforms for improving search-engine optimization, as it allows businesses to customize the content by grouping different circles and marketing to those circles directly.

Instagram

Instagram is image-centric, and companies can choose a variety of filters to make their products more appealing. Utilizing hashtags is directly correlated to the success of the content. Businesses can also upload a 15-second video to enhance the type of content within the platform and reach more followers.  

Pinterest

Another image-based platform, businesses can create pinboards to promote products, news and ideas that are central to the companies’ interests. Pinterest recently gained prospect in serving as inspiration boards during New York Fashion Week, and fashion brands are utilizing the platform to launch new products. In fact, we revealed a clients AW 13 Collection initially through via Pinterest. 

YouTube

As the second largest search engine (behind Google), YouTube is also useful for SEO. Utilizing videos can yield a higher response rate; in a 2012 Mashable.com article, regularly posting videos can help your site receive 200% to 300% more viewers.

Vimeo

Another video marketing tool, Vimeo is similar to YouTube in providing visual content to consumers. The main differences, according to a 2013 Mashable article, is that the smaller audience allows for a more engaged community, and the content pages are clean and relevant to your business.

Tumblr

As a blogging platform, in addition to posting relevant content, Tumblr allows companies to provide a more visual-based side of the brands they represent to their audience. In a 2013 Sprout Social article, having the ability to create a brand story and a niche environment on Tumblr can yield success for small brands. Tumblr also caters to a much younger demographic, has built-in tagging and sharing capabilities, which helps with SEO.

Let us know how you are using these channels to communicate with your brand audience. 

We offer Social Media Management -
www.CChicLLC.com