Holidays are just around the corner.It’s Halloween in couple of days and as a marketer or a business you should be aware that most shoppers start their holiday gift shopping just after Halloween. You know what that means, right? It is time to whip out those social media ornaments and start hanging them.

 Now we all know that the holidays are the most crowded time on Social Media. Most businesses and marketers face the challenge of not being able to stand out and making themselves shine brighter than their competition. This holiday season, we want to make sure that you are geared up and ready to harness the power that is social media marketing, so we are going to share some expert tips on planning ahead and making sure your holiday social media campaigns stand out:

 1. Don’t be a Grinch

Holidays are the most wonderful time of the year, spirits are lifted, people are happy, you notice almost everyone embracing the spirit of holidays but there are always a few brand pages that post a status update saying “Happy holidays everyone!” and think it’s enough. Well, it’s not! Make sure you aren’t one of the those Grinch-like brands. It is important that you show your fans the festive side of you. Holidays give you a great opportunity to show the world your corporate culture. Design festive logos, brand images, and social media pages to go with the spirit of holidays, post pictures of your team from your Christmas Party, or from charity events that you take part in. These tactics will humanize your brand and help you connect with your fans on a deeper level.

 2. A Bit of Research Goes a Long Way

Being a marketer myself, I understand how it’s not always possible to think outside of the box. Many a times, we get stuck at a couple of ideas and are unable to come up with something more creative. It happens! But you know what I do when this happens? Research! There are always past campaigns that you can learn from – look at their results, figure out what made those campaigns a success or a failure, and then think about how you can make improvements. Get those creative juices flowing by researching and looking at a bunch of different campaigns from the past!

3. Think Multichannel

More often than not marketers get stuck on Facebook and completely fail to leverage the power of other social media channels, make sure you don’t make the same mistake this holiday season. When creating a holiday social media campaign you want to think multichannel! Add call-to-actions to emails, give out your Twitter info in your online videos, offer your fans gift coupons for following you on Pinterest – there is just so much that you can do to drive traffic to each of your social media handle. Just remember to include a social media component into every program of your campaign.

4. Wrap those Gifts

Okay let’s just all agree at something, we all love getting discounts from brands during the holidays. This is something that brands need to remember when designing their holiday social media campaigns. According to a report from Offerpop, the number of campaigns run by brands spikes between the first and second week of December but the participation peaks during the second and third week of November. Now this gives you a great opportunity to kick-off your holiday campaigns and introduce deals and offers to shoppers at a time when they are actually interested to participate.

5. More really is merrier

The report from Offerpop also shows that running multiple campaigns and offers is a really smart strategy for holidays. So make sure to plan out multiple campaigns, offers and giveaways to increase engagement and sales for your business. But beware, you don’t want to run 5 different promos in one week and expect to see amazing results, space your promos out cleverly to drive maximum engagement and sales.

6. Set your Budget Accordingly

All these multiple campaigns, branding and designing, it takes some $$ and in my experience the most common mistakes that brands make is allocating limited resources to their holiday social media campaigns. Make sure to allocate enough resources to your campaign and plan your PPC and other kinds of campaigns accordingly.

Remember that holidays are truly a great time for brands. If you plan your campaigns smartly, they can be a huge source of sales, traffic and engagement, not just on your social media channels but on your website as well. So if you are behind on your holiday social media planning, get started! But don’t rush, take your time to properly plan and execute a strategy by applying the tips we just shared with you!

 And from all of us here at Third Team Media, Happy Trick or Treating!