Using Facebook this Christmas as part of your digital marketing promotional campaign

Do you hear the jingle bells all the way? Holidays are coming. Shops are having their shiny decoration; streets are lightened by themed stars, candles and snowflakes… Holidays are coming and bringing magic, spreading it in the air. They say that at this time of the year wishes come true. If yours are related with your business, here you will find last minute ideas for Facebook Christmas campaigns that can potentially become viral. You can adapt them to your business and make your Christmas wishes on Facebook come true. Facebook says that 70% of the people on the social network are connected with a local business. If you are having a tourist agency, restaurant, jewelry boutique or a bakery this is an excellent time to launch a campaign and spread awareness of your business with low budget. You know that the competition will be CRUEL, but – be different, and you will succeed. Creativity pays back, especially when it is at the right moment. – Check the rules by Facebook – what you can and cannot do with your profile picture, cover image, timeline activities and promotional campaigns – Get to know the tools that Facebook provides – offers, ads, sponsored posts. This will help you to decide how to implement your idea and how to promote it. – Targeting: do you target your current customers, or you want to expand your fan base with new ones? You already know yours, so the approach might have slightly difference according to the target audience. – Start with a brainstorming. What usually customers do around the holidays? What usually companies do? Try to look from a different perspective. Red lights should alert you about several overexposed areas: decoration – traditional shiny balls; red/golden/silver Christmas stars; boring good wishes; standard offers (buy 2 pay 1; 30% discount; +20% extra…). Try to avoid the traditional approach. Another red alert: Look around you. Everything says: “buy”. Help your fans to save money instead of spending them. They will do that anyway. Don’t push them to do it on Facebook. – Use photos. They grab the attention and increase the engagement. And very often are more powerful than any creative copy. Check the variety of image dimensions for the posts. Your idea might look better on 606 x 606 (standard post) than on 843 x 403 (the milestone pictures for example) – Use visual elements. If you have a specific idea better visualize it than describe it. People are more likely to understand it faster and response faster than to plain text. – Use texts. Keep the message short and simple. Double check for spelling and grammar. – Interact. Use every opportunity to interact with your customers. Encourage them to share with you. It could also be part of a campaign. Ask them to share their favourite recipes with you; pictures with their home/ office decoration; funny pets’ suits for Christmas; secret tradition/ rituals. – At the end – customers are real people. And people want to have fun at this time of the year. They want to enjoy their special moments with their families and friends. Don’t disturb them with boring visuals and stupid messages. Especially when everyone does that.

Last minute ideas for successful Facebook Christmas campaigns:

– Escape from the traditional methods and focus on the creativity. Put drama – a mouse is trying to eat the Christmas star, Rudolf is gone… Change the roles – the customers are giving presents to Santa; only the bad children receive presents. Provoke action: do to receive. – Bring them to your party – create an initiative with a reward – invitation to your Christmas party. – Involve them in a social cause that you support. – Real things instead of virtual things. Encourage your customers to like your page and write a Christmas wish as a comment under your virtual Christmas tree and they will see the wish on your real tree, located in front of your store/ office/ park. Combining online with offline activities reflects positively on the customers’ engagement and the willingness to participate. People can see the results of their efforts. They can also see that you care about what they say and do. And that you also put efforts. They feel appreciated and special. And, let’s admit it – they become more sensitive around the holidays and this will warm their hearts, so – be kind with them. – “Post your Christmas wish under our Christmas tree and win a free romantic dinner at our restaurant”. This campaign doesn’t even require an app, but can attract many fans to your page. – Personalize a message for each user – post unique welcoming message to every new fan. Similar to Twitter activities, but with personalized content. For some dozes of inspiration you can check the fan’s timeline, or just find a resource with quotes and add the name of the new follower. – Personify your company/ product or logo. Put face and name of a person or other character for Christmas – like a miracle. “Camila” – the bear. This will bring fun and also people become fans of fictional characters. – Participate in the creation of a new product. Create name of our new product/ service/ Christmas cocktail/ cake. The suggestion that collects the most likes will win the reward. – Provoke with quests. Take the giraffe’s viral campaign for example. Ask your fans a question and those who reply wrong will have to change their profile pictures or post something on their walls. – Creative quest: Share a picture with many elements and ask: “Where is the Christmas sock hidden?” – Decorate your page in an untraditional way: hammer instead of star if you are producing hammers; balls wrapped by images of pizzas/ cocktails. – Take action. Start from the scratch, get inspired and build Successful Viral campaign on Facebook. Remember, that even with low budget you can have a successful viral campaign that will payback. Use your money for Facebook ads and sponsored posts to give a “push” to your ideas and benefits will come. Don’t forget that even if your idea is great you have to manage it well to succeed and to fulfill your Christmas wishes! : )