The holiday season sets the tone for celebration and gratitude. And it also offers a good deal of opportunities for business owners and professionals to attract new clients, expand into new markets, strengthen their hold on the existing ones. There is so much competition world-over that the pressure to go out there and capture your audience’s attention is immense.
While you can implement season-based marketing tactics to attract your target audience online, leveraging the holiday season can showcase your personal brand in a good light and reinforce your ties with your existing audience. You can host giveaways and run ads, but you also need ideas across the board to tell the audience why they must choose you. The ideas that follow here from the Digital Nod team will help you make the most out of this holiday and gain traction with your target audience.
#1 Engage in an Instagram live session to interact with users
If your past, current, and prospective audiences are on Instagram, why not leverage the platform that they use to engage them? Holidays are a perfect occasion to give your business partners, customers, and followers tokens of appreciation. Host a live, interactive session on Instagram and ensure keeping it light, humorous, and interactive to drive your prospects to engage with you. Let the holiday spirit shine through. Don’t make the session promotional or business-oriented. Use the live session to understand what your target audience wants from your personal brand and social channels. Announce your live session in advance, and the news of the event will roll out among the rest of your potential audiences.
#2 Create engaging video content
As the holiday season arrives, everyone is in a hurry – planning gatherings, events, finishing up work, and holidays. In this chaos, you cannot expect your prospects to notice you on their own. And an excellent way to do this is through video content. Social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook support and boost video content compared to other formats. Videos also keep followers on your profiles longer, which will help you reach more people organically. As per data, in 2021, the average internet user spent 100 minutes on videos each day. About 90% of online users prefer to watch videos rather than sifting through written or static content. You can create a variety of videos, right from series on TikTok to Instagram reels. An even better way to engage your audience is to verify your personal and your brand’s social media handles through an online PR agency. It helps your fans trust and recognize the original profiles and maintain trust in the brand.
#3 Run a holiday-themed giveaway
Hosting promotional giveaways and contests has proven to boost brand awareness and open doors for new leads. And since gifting is not perceived as a tactic of advertising but a way to express gratitude, your audience is most likely to embrace any form of giveaways. Seeing your loyalty towards your followers and customers will encourage your target audience to trust you. A discount voucher or referral offer for your new audience will do well. When running giveaways during the holiday season, remember the goal is not necessarily to promote your brand but to establish and strengthen relationships.
#4 Latch on to holiday-themed hashtags on social media
No matter which social media platforms you use, run some basic research on hashtags doing the rounds this holiday season. This is probably something you should do throughout the year, but more so during the festive period. Hashtags help your audience find posts they specifically want to see. Use the right ones, and you will successfully grab your target audience’s attention.
#5 Have a solid PR plan for the holiday season
Holiday marketing is a serious affair. If you want to go all out and start imprinting your personal brand on your existing and potential customer’s minds, start soon. Use the holidays to position yourself in a positive light by contributing leadership pieces, publishing press articles and posts, and offering quotes that enable you to jump in the driver’s seat. By staying in the media, you will improve search results and how your audience perceives you. Be sure to offer valuable content that is trending. Professional digital PR agencies know how to take your online holiday initiatives up a notch. Boosting your brand can intensify your chances of finding new clients and gaining traction with your target audience after the holidays have ended. So, make time for PR to forge ahead in 2022 and beyond.
Embrace the festive fever and enhance the personal connection with your target audience
From running holiday polls on Instagram stories to strategizing gamified content like “create your holiday look” or “identify the ingredients of the recipe”, there are numerous ways you can take benefit of the holiday season.
Need help with this? Get in touch with the Digital Nod team. Focus on the holidays. Leave the rest to us!
