Social Media gears up for the holiday season - Konnect Insights - Social Listening and Analytics Tools

December 22, 2017 by admin

As we approach another holiday shopping season, marketers everywhere are gearing up for their annual social media marketing strategy.

Given the growth and evolution of social media – and in particular, the accelerating role of social influencers in driving brand perception and purchasing decisions – there is a growing awareness of the need to find new ways of reaching skeptical consumers this holiday season.

According to a study done by Deloitte, the average American will purchase 15 gifts during the holidays with the months of November and December generating 30 percent more revenue than non-holiday months. With all the gift giving and celebration, a stellar online presence, particularly on social media, is key to businesses having a shining season. Keeping customers engaged and informed of specials, events, and general happenings in the behind-the-scenes aspect of the business build trust but also can build sales. In 2015, 75 percent of shoppers used the internet to research which gifts to purchase.

The festive season is a time for sharing and giving, and creating social campaigns that bundle all this up in a warm, fuzzy way is how brands connect with their audiences at this time of year.

Usually, there’s a heavy dose of lightheartedness associated with the holidays and social promotion during this time – partly because platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook are all places to find inspiration for gifts, decor, and party ideas.

Here’s a look at the biggest digital marketing trends, brands are paying attention to during the 2017 holiday season.

Video Marketing

Video marketing is a major trend for marketers to exploit. With 50% of consumers who look for a video of the product before visiting the online store, a video is an extremely effective method of drawing action out of the viewer. Brands make use of this content format to guide followers towards an action that will (hopefully) lead to a sale.

Consumers expect content to be available in video form. Studies show that a visitor is 25% more likely to lose interest in your content if it isn’t in video format. 51.9% of marketers say that video offers the best ROI (return on investment) and that consumers themselves much prefer video content to any other type.

Personalized advertising

Humans are predictable. The more their desires are played upon, the better the results achieved. Some personalized advertising methods are –

Retargeting

Did the visitor leave off on a certain page? The next step is to send them images of the item that they really wanted, reminding them of how great life would be with it. Even better would be to give them a discount.

Creating a custom audience of existing buyer base

The trick is to show them ads that complement/upsell the products they’ve already bought. For example – is their t-shirt threadbare by now? Maybe they need a new one. Or perhaps since it’s getting colder, they’d be interested in a hoodie or hat with a complementing design.

Taking advantage of geographical locations

Most marketing platforms allow segmentation of audience – from Facebook to email marketing, brands can choose to convey different messages to different groups of followers.

Mobile first approach

As the world shifts to an ever more mobile-centric internet user experience, cell phones have also become the most common means of consuming social media.

Vertical video and images – no wasting space with horizontal content

Vertical is the next big thing – the amount of vertical videos has grown from 5% in 2011 to 30% in 2016. This is thanks to the rise of consuming (and creating) videos in a vertical format, that’s helped along by platforms like Vine, Snapchat, and Instagram.

Video content with text should be subtitled

Recent studies show that 85% of Facebook video content is watched without sound.

Standing in the shoes of your buyers

The general rule of thumb of social media marketing this holiday season is simply to keep buyer in mind. As long as the brand can think like they do, is on the platforms they use, and produce content the way that people want to these days, it’s going to do great.

Brands that will be able to leverage social platforms through personalization and video will be the flat out winners of the season.