Upon seeing the title of Jenn Herman’s blog post, 8 Types of Holiday Content To Boost Your Social Media Strategy, I was ready to read and critique an article that I assumed would be full of holiday gimmicks that companies seem to be so fond of throwing out during this time of year. Instead, I found a well-thought out article with excellent advice. You can click on the link above to access the specific article, but here I want to focus on why this is good advice for companies.
- Jenn focuses on maintaining brand identity
Many companies jump on the holiday bandwagon this time of year, running so far with a holiday theme that they are no longer even on the same continent as their original brand. Jenn makes the point that whatever companies do, they need to make sure that their efforts are consistent with their brand the rest of the year. - Jenn introduces customer engagement during the holidays
The best way to develop your online presence is to create additional value for visitors. There must be a reason for people to engage with your brand; that is, you should be offering a gift in some form. Whether that’s in the form of additional shopping discounts or even ideas for holiday-related projects that relate back to your product, the more value you can gift a site visitor with at this time of year, the better. - Jenn recognizes that content is key
At this time of year, we’re overwhelmed with marketing messages. A simple text ad on your page wishing visitors “Happy Holidays” isn’t enough to even begin to engage the overwhelmed consumers. Statistically, photos receive ~4x as much engagement as text posts, and videos receive ~10x as much engagement. Considering that, the viral success of WestJet’s holiday surprise videos makes sense. This also highlights that the type of content posted is key – WestJet’s videos didn’t become popular because they were giving “awesome deals”. They went viral because they gave viewers those holiday “warm feelings” that we’re all seeking this time of year. Successful brands will not simply focus on selling additional product, but instead on creating those holiday feelings for their online communities.
The Cactus Club simply put an advertisement onto a holiday-themed background. They didn’t even use the same font as the rest of their branding, and as a result received very little engagement with the photo.
Coca-Cola does an excellent job of maintaining their brand identity while still introducing a festive mood.