The holiday season is wrapping up, but there is still a week between Christmas and the New Year that marketers should not forget about.
Although the week of New Years can be pretty hectic - merchants trying to sell what is left of their inventory and shoppers looking to return and/or exchange gifts - it is important to finish 2015 on a high note and be fully prepared to take on the New Year. Fortunately, social is there to help marketers reach their customers every day of the year.
For help shaping your social strategy for the last week of 2015, check out the three post-Christmas tips below:
Social shouldn't take a backseat after the Christmas holiday, instead marketers should leverage this channel to communicate important messages to their customers.
For instance, marketers for brick-and-mortar stores should clearly post their hours of operation for the week of New Year's so that customers can plan their shopping trips without having to call or Google the store. In addition to store hours, marketers should share information about end-of-year sales and promotions, as well as products that are still in stock. After all, many consumers will expect popular items to be sold out by this time in the holiday season, so if merchants still have some of these items available they should definitely promote it.
In addition to posting important information like hours and sales, social media marketers should also make sure to respond to customer inquiries, as a response can be all that a customer needs to convert. In fact, social customer service is a big area of opportunity for brands going into the New Year, as recent data from The Northridge Group found that 33 percent of consumers who contact brands with a customer service question never get a response at all.
For marketers trying to sell out left over inventory so their company can have a fresh start in the New Year, it is important to increase the reach of end-of-year social posts. Luckily there are a couple of quick ways marketers can do this.
Advertising, for example, is always an easy and fast way brands can increase the reach of their social posts. Plus, marketers can target social ads to specific audiences to ensure that the content is being seen by the right people. Additionally, marketers who are promoting a sale can leverage Facebook's Offer ad format, which enables users to promote timely discount and deals that can be redeemed in-stores.
In addition to advertising, marketers can leverage popular hashtags to increase the reach of the social content they post. That said, any hashtag that is used should be relevant to the content being posted. Moreover, local businesses should consider leveraging local, neighborhood or city hashtags to better reach consumers that are nearby.
Last but certainly not least, marketers should take the week leading up to New Year's Day to get organized for 2016. During this time, marketers can look over social strategies that worked in 2015 and incorporate them into the plan for 2016 and even take some time to check out the competition.
It is also important to note that marketers should analyze the data from the 2015 holiday season while it is still fresh. For instance, marketers can make notes about the type of posts and content that received the most engagement, as well as the networks that performed the best. Doing so will not only help marketers prepare for the year ahead, but also help them get a jump start on the 2016 holiday season. After all, it's never too early to prepare for the busiest shopping season of the year.