5 Great Holiday Season Social Media Ideas

‘Tis the season for holiday parties, shopping, delicious food, and closing out on those final business goals of the year. With all that, it’s hard to find the time to create your own holiday season social media ideas.

The holiday season is often an exciting – and busy – time for businesses across the country. But unfortunately, it can sneak up on many, and suddenly, you’re met with a flurry of final approvals, events, and checklist items that can leave anyone feeling a little overwhelmed. 

The time between Halloween and the new year is considered the most significant period for online sales. With Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Post-Christmas Sales, and New Year’s, the holiday season is a time when big increases in spending are seen across industries. In fact, up to 30% of all US retail sales occur during the last two months of the year. 

With over 3.6 billion social media users spending increased time online with their wallets close by, it’s essential to have your social media plans and campaigns prepared ahead of time to get the most out of the spending frenzy. 

If you’re looking to separate your brand from the competition while capturing the festive holiday spirit on your social media pages, here are a few holiday seasons social media ideas for you.

Social Media

Create Genuine Holiday Messages

This may seem like a no-brainer, but this step is one that many businesses skip when it comes to their holiday social media plans. While the holidays are a time for promoting products and services, we cannot stress enough the importance of including genuine, authentic-feeling holiday messages that don’t include any sales pitch at all. A few ideas include:

  • Well-wishes for a peaceful and memorable holiday season
  • Asking your audience what they’re doing for the upcoming holidays
  • Thanking your customers for their loyalty

Just because a post doesn’t include CTAs or sales pitches doesn’t mean they don’t offer value. These types of authentic posts can yield engagement in a way that sales pitch posts don’t. Even more importantly, they go a long way in improving how your followers see your brand and their own relationship with it.

Run A Festive Poll

This suggestion bounces off the idea above regarding authentic messaging. Polls are a great tool and also a fun way to learn more about your customers and what they prioritize and want out of life and from your businesses. In addition, polls are a fun and festive way to glean practical, valuable results. It’s a true win-win!

There are many ways to utilize polls, such as:

  • Compare a few holiday-relevant products or services against each other 
  • Ask your followers their opinions on holiday traditions
  • Compare different visuals and ask which one is your followers’ favorite

There truly is no limit to how to structure polls for your specific business/industry/followers. Try out a few this holiday season!

Visuals, Visuals, Visuals

Think about it. When the holiday season rolls around, a massive element of it lies within visuals. The holiday table spread of visually delicious foods is laid out on Thanksgiving Day, digital ads are out in full force for online shopping sales and new product drops, and holiday decorations are strung and placed to add a more magical feeling to your home and business. 

The same concept goes for social media. When crafting social media campaigns and posts for the holiday season, prioritizing visuals is a must. Add images to your posts that reflect the magic and feel of the season, and tie in this theme with the content you’re producing throughout the season.

And don’t forget to optimize the chosen visual media for each social media platform to ensure optimal performance.

Holiday Party

Show Off Your Business’ Holiday Spirit And Personality

For many small-to-medium-sized businesses, their online presence is usually managed by a single account manager or on a single page, which doesn’t offer your customers many opportunities to really know more about you beyond what they can read on the About page of your website. 

The holidays are the perfect time to show your business’ personality to your customers. Introduce the people behind the business and showcase your team’s holiday cheer. 

A few ways you could do this are:

  • Create a virtual company holiday card to post on your social sites and even send to your email list
  • Post team pictures from internal holiday parties (in-person or virtual)
  • Consider using Facebook or Instagram Live to show team events/parties or some behind-the-scenes holiday preparations

While stepping out from behind the camera can sometimes feel uncomfortable, showing the faces and names of those behind your business can go a long way in strengthening customer trust and engagement.

Share Feel-Good Stories From The Year

Whether these stories occurred directly with your business or team – or they are outside stories that are just full of sweetness and holiday spirit, share them on your social pages. After all, it is the season of joy and thankfulness – so why not share inspiring stories to encourage your followers to reflect on the human spirit and how they are thankful for the people in their lives? 

Sharing feel-good stories is also a great way to practice the art of storytelling. You can do this by writing a blog, showcasing an interview feature, through a series of images, or even a recorded video. Whatever medium you choose, the key is to include brand cohesion and structure that invites your followers into the story. 

Holiday social media marketing doesn’t have to be overwhelming or complicated. Even the simplest posts wishing your followers a happy holiday season can deliver significant benefits to your business.

Connect with Your Target Audience This Holiday Season

The most wonderful time of the year is also a wonderful time to connect with your followers and create growth opportunities. So, rather than trying to implement every single idea you can think of, turn your attention and energy onto a few select holiday season social media ideas and watch as the results speak for themselves.

Need help creating a memorable social media content calendar or cute holiday graphics for your Instagram page? Let SharedTEAMS help – click here to learn more about how our services work.