15 Days to Ramp It Up

#SmallBiz Marketing Checklist for the Holidays

Take Your Business to the Next Level This Holiday Season

Today, and for the next twelve days, we’re challenging you to take our Holiday Marketing Challenge. We’ll help you take your business to the next level this holiday season by giving you new ways to engage customers, promote products and services, and get in the holiday spirit!

Holiday Marketing Challenge Day Three: Festive Conversation on Social Channels

“There’ll be scary ghosts stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago.” We’ve all heard those lines sung in the Christmas song, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” For most of us, the scary ghost stories are left for Halloween. But the glories of Christmases long ago? That’s something everyone loves to share during the holiday season. Have your customers share those stories with you!

Without bogging the reader down with too many technical details, studies have shown that engaging your customers in this way is an excellent means to not only boost sales but also traffic to your site. As a general rule, 50% of what you post to your company’s social channels should be engagement with your customers. What does that mean? Well, a flooring company might ask customers to share a photo of the most beautiful floor in their home for a chance to win a prize. A bakery might ask customers which of two potential products would they like to see on the shelves. The point is: the company is not just repeating ad nauseam “Here’s my stuff. Buy my stuff.” They are sparking conversations between themselves and the customer.

The More the Merrier

As an added bonus: the more shares, comments, or retweets your post has, the more virtual ink you will get. Twitter and Social Media Marketing: Twitter has “trending,” meaning if enough people mention something in a tweet or use a hashtag, it will appear as trending and other twitter uses will be able to see it. Facebook has a complicated algorithm that incorporates many factors, but essentially takes into consideration how many likes, comments, and shares your post has. So, the more customers are engaged with a post, the greater the chance of Facebook allowing your post to be seen by other audiences.

So going back to the holiday memories, have your customers share their experiences and memories with you! People love to share the time someone burned something while cooking or a favorite present Santa brought them. Posting fun, holiday themed conversations will give your business a personal touch. It bridges the gap between the cold, impersonal 1-800 number and the customers. Imagine if you shared your Christmas story on the site of a major corporation and the CEO commented on it!

Share a story about a favorite present Santa brought you as a kid.

Who of Santa’s reindeer was your favorite?

Do you remember the abominable snowman (with a picture)?

Caption the Halls!

If you’re not sure how to engage with your customers, here’s an idea to get you started:

Facebook Marketing:Hold a caption contest on your Facebook! Put your favorite holiday movie in your computer, pause it during your favorite part, and take a screen shot. If you really want to be funny, try to pause the movie when characters are mid-expression. You’ll end up with goofy faces paused halfway between words or blinks. Upload the screenshot to facebook, pick the best comment, and offer a small prize to the winner! If you have an old funny Christmas photo, scan and upload it!

Hold a Holiday Contest on your Facebook Page or on Twitter

Another idea: Have customers upload their ugliest Christmas sweater and pick a winner!

Stay tuned for a new challenge tomorrow! Best of luck with your #HolidayMarketingChallenge. Send us photos of how you rise to the challenge!

Make This Holiday Season Your Businesses Best Holiday Season Ever – Marketing Tips

3V is publishing a series of valuable marketing tips for the holidays called the #HolidayMarketingChallenge, 15 valuable marketing blogs in 15 days! The last day for the holiday marketing challenge will be Friday, November 27th! After that day, 3V will package up all the articles into one easy to download and print holiday marketing tips cheat sheet.

Holiday Marketing Tips Cheat Sheet

Below is the list of published Holiday Marketing Challenge articles, please do take a minute to read, review and share some of our valuable marketing ideas!