In a year where the holidays will look and feel different, there is no stopping them from coming. Most people are still excited to deck the halls and celebrate, even if some of those celebrations will be virtual. As your brand or clients look to create social media content around the holidays, here are some tips to sound authentic and still get the engagement you want.
- Acknowledge the reality.
While it could be easier to gloss over this year’s challenges at holiday time, your audience wants you to acknowledge it’s been a tough one. Social media audiences crave authenticity, especially with the rise of platforms like TikTok and Snapchat, as well as the continued popularity of Instagram.
Things like “in a year this tough, the holiday spirit can lift us all” or “while’s it’s been a hard year, it can’t damper our holiday cheer” will resonate. By acknowledging the collective ringer everyone has been through and not putting the typical holiday rose-colored glasses on, you’ll show your audience you understand them and make them more likely to engage.
- Show how the holidays look different.
Images and video work best for catching people’s attention. We won’t be having our typical office holiday parties or volunteer outings (often some the most fun events of the year and great content creators), but there are still ways to generate engaging content when we aren’t in person!
Whether it’s a zoom screenshot, employee submitted photos or eye-catching graphics with holiday-themed lists, the content opportunities we have remain rich, they just require a little extra creativity. By putting on display how the holidays look different for your brand or client, you are showing your audience they are not alone in adjusting their plans to deal with the realities of a pandemic. This shows another level of authenticity and will sow positive feelings with the brand down the line.
- Cross-promote and put the engagement work in.
To get a higher level of engagement, it’s always helpful to utilize cross-promotion to draw more attention to your social posts. This could be sharing a new Instagram post on your Instagram stories or screenshotting a tweet and linking to it on Facebook. You have to be tactful in cross-promotion, but when done correctly it can really boost those likes and comments.
Reminding your network to share your content also helps increase your engagement. This could be adding a quick “Share now!” at the end of the post or even emailing your coworkers asking them to share with their networks. While we like to think all engagement happens organically, often a lot of work has to be put in to get shares, likes and comments up. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want, but make sure the content is worthy of such an ask.
Just remember when your writing your holiday social media posts what your audience wants: something that is authentic to your brand and the world around us, and worth engaging with. As long as you keep these points in mind, your holiday social posts will hit it out of the park in a year that has been full of trial and error for everyone. And we all need that holiday cheer!
Amber Garnett is a senior digital associate in Stratacomm’s D.C. office. She works on a variety of transportation and infrastructure clients, heavily focusing on social media, digital strategies and reporting. Wondering how to visualize your social media analytics? Check out Amber’s “Four Benefits of Using Google Data Studio for PR and Digital Marketing.