“It’s the most wonderful time of the year …” sings Andy Williams in 1963, never having in mind that for some people at some point in time that could mean sitting in front of their computer screens, breaking their heads around the perfect gift for their auntie. However, today your Online Marketing for Christmas 2020 is an essential to driving sales around the holiday season!
Over the past couple of years, the infamous Primetime of Marketing has shifted to the online world more and more. Especially in 2020, when COVID-19 has encouraged us all to use the World Wide Web more than ever before – even for our Christmas shopping- your Online Marketing for Christmas 2020 should also be stronger than ever before. However, that also means that there are more and more Ad Campaigns to compete with, which means you need to make an even bigger impact to stick to people’s minds and increase your sales.
In this Blogpost, I will be sharing multiple tips, tricks and industry insights to show you how to organically support your Online Marketing Campaign in the holiday season of 2020!
Do I need Organic and Paid Online Marketing for Christmas 2020?
Generally speaking, we distinguish between two main types of Online Marketing:
Paid Online Marketing, also called Performance Marketing, refers to using advertising space on a provider’s platform to share your message and get it in front of the eyes of your target audience. Or, more concretely, your Social Media Ad Campaign – like Facebook Ads Campaign – or Search Engine Marketing – like your Google Ads Campaign.
Organic Online Marketing, on the other hand, incorporates all the things you do on your owned Channels to build a lasting customer base. Think blog posts, Social Media content, and more.
Usually, the distinction line between these two main types of Online Marketing is drawn quite sharply. Even though they both find their application using the same channels online, they are portrayed as two separate, detached things.
However, if you really want to stand out this Holiday season – which, I can already tell you, you want – you will have to stop this type of thinking. Much rather, Paid and Organic Online Marketing are like Santa Claus and Rudolph: Great on their own, but only together do they really achieve their ultimate goal!
3 reasons why need Organic Online Marketing to accompany your (Facebook) Paid Ads Campaign
As I have mentioned just a few sentences ago, Paid and Organic Online Marketing methods are great in their pure form. However, once we put those two together, they benefit each other reciprocally to create a consistent, 360° Online Campaign. And this is exactly what you need to get the most out of your Online Marketing for Christmas 2020!
Although the benefits of this coexistence are ample, here are the most important ones summarized in a few sentences:
Algorithm Boost:
By 2020 all of us know that Facebook not only is a platform to stay connected with your peers. Much rather, it is an ecosystem, allowing not only like-minded people to discuss their interests, but also companies to promote their products to potential customers!
In other words, the whole Facebook World, consisting of Facebook, Instagram (and Whatsapp), from the Home Feed to Company Pages and the Business Manager are connected. All of the actions taken within the Facebook Network, including Instagram, are combined in one single algorithm. This algorithm uses all the information and makes sure you see the content that is relevant to you, but also shows you ads that are very likely to be irresistible to you.
What is more, Organic Reach is on its last legs. Quite often, not even your most loyal followers will be shown your posts. That is why it makes sense to display ads in order to reach your target audience for a cheaper ad cost.
Think about it like this: Organic Content feeds Engagement and builds a Community. Paid Ads go after the conversion and seal the deal!
So, when planning on setting up Paid Ads for your Online Marketing for Christmas 2020, keep in mind to accompany it with some organic measures as well. Since the whole Online World, Paid or Organic Online Marketing is all woven together, the more information you can collect on a platform, the more precisely targeted your next ads can be displayed. And – although this has not been proven yet – it is highly likely that Facebook rewards those that take a 360°-approach with a boost in the algorithm!
Memory Boost:
As I have already mentioned before, the Holiday Season also goes as “The Primetime of Marketing”, meaning a lot of advertisers compete for all the potential buyers out there. That is also why, during the Holiday season, bid prices can rise by up to 140% compared to their yearly average! (Source: WordStream) In other words: You have to stick in the minds of your potential customers, so that they are not easily swayed by the offers of your competitors.
Maintaining a consistent Online Marketing Strategy including Paid and Organic measures will help you do just that by creating more touchpoints and in marketing we’ve learned that a person needs to have 7-12 touchpoints to convert to a buyer.
Do not just display ads or keep on promoting you in your content strategy. Be active on your own channels! Showcase your products or service, let your team have appearances, the list goes on. But mainly, create a lively appearance! The rule of 20/80 applies here! 20 % sales, 80% content and value. It also reminds people that you are not just an ad they have been shown on social media. Much rather, you can show that there is a real person with a mission, a professional team that knows what they’re doing, which helps to build recognition.
Credibility Boost:
We all know those unbelievable Ads, granting us to look like a 17-year-old again, never having to work again or other dreamy and typically unachievable things. Cat-fishy, spammy ads like these have resulted in a certain scepticism towards (display) ads in general.
Consumers are constantly bombarded by ads through a variousity of advertising networks like social networks or Google. No surprise, they sometimes start to ignore them on websites and in their feed. Or even worse, mistrust them. Sometimes, pages display as many as 3 ads at the same time, completely blocking out the content of the website!
(Source: Your Dictionary)
Therefore, it is never a bad idea to accompany an Ad Campaign with Organic measures in order to build trust and credibility. However, for your Online Marketing for Christmas 2020 it is all the more important. Why? Because recent times have put us all on the tips of our toes. In turn, this means that consumers need to see and recognize the brand and people behind an ad in order to put enough confidence in them to buy products, services or gifts from them.
And if that is not enough, this statistic might change your mind: 54% of people browsing on social use the platform to research products they’re intending on purchasing, making it important to regularly feature information about your brand and product on the appropriate social channels. (Source: AdEspresso)
10 Ways to get the most out of your Online Marketing for Christmas 2020 by using Organic Social Media
In the previous paragraphs, I have introduced you to the importance of using Organic Social Media to accompany your Paid Online Marketing for Christmas 2020. However, I also know that this might have raised a few questions on your part. “What should I even post? How do I create a consistent feel from my Ads to my organic content?”
And because I do not want to let you grope in the dark, here come x tips that will show you how to use Organic Social Media to get the most out of your Online Marketing for Christmas 2020 and beyond!
Related Topic: How To Get Your Facebook Ad Campaign Ready For Christmas 2020!
1. Give your creatives a festive look
Although this might not be the most unique idea you have ever heard of, it still works. Giving your creatives and visual assets a festive, christmas-y sheen is sure to awake all those warm-hearted holiday-feelings in the viewers heart.
Try to be really creative with it. Choosing the colors red and green is a given, but will it make you stand out? Probably not, so try to branch out a bit and get inventive. Use your products to create festive shapes, give them a holiday-makeover, whatever floats your boat!
2. Pro Tip: Create an Ad to Account-Scent
A lot of companies already do this in the creatives for their Ad Campaign. What still a lot of companies are missing, though, is a proper Ad to Account Scent. What even is an Ad to Account Scent, you might ask. In simple terms, Ad to Account Scent refers to building a consistent branding from your ad creatives and copy to wherever you are sending people that clicked your ad to. So ideally, your ad campaign for your Online Marketing for Christmas 2020 should go hand in hand with your Social Media Accounts, Landing Pages and Website. Generally speaking, this makes people recognize in seconds that they landed exactly where they should.
In order to create a proper Ad to Landing Page/Website-Scent around the holiday season, you should also give your organic visual assets a festive feel. Use the same holiday-emojis in your post copy as you do in your ad copy. Go for a consistent pattern in your visual creatives, paid or organic. In short: Keep up a consistent holiday-branding so that people will easily recognize your organic content after seeing an ad.
This helps not only to build recognition, because people will be able to associate certain elements with you. But it will also do wonders in building credibility, trust and reassurance. By recognizing the visual assets, they can attach the ads they have seen to a specific brand.
3. Go live
For many businesses, the holiday season is one of the busiest times of the year. So, why on earth would you even think about putting more stress upon your shoulders by going live on any Social Media Channel during that time?
Well, there is two good reasons to do so:
- Live Content is favored by many platforms, e.g. Instagram and Facebook. Thus, going live will signalize these platforms that you are actually there and caring about your audience, resulting in a general algorithm boost.
- Live Videos enable you to step into direct touch with your audience. Use it to your advantage! If you will, Live Videos can be your own infomercial, helping to increase sales!
However, always make sure to provide true value to your audience throughout the process in order not to lose their interest and trust.
4. Build Organic Engagement
In times of massive online traffic and heaps of ad campaigns running, you want to have all the attention and interaction you can get. In turn, this will signalize the algorithm the relevancy of your content, which can be inferred with your ads and future organic posts. Other than that, building engagement will also lead to lasting relationships with your audience, which can be tapped into at any point in time.
Here are a few universal tips to increase engagement:
- Post consistently. This does not only mean to add new content regularly, but also to post in a consistent color-pattern, wording and topic-range.
- Explore video formats. Anything that moves will grab the viewers’ attention. Once you have that attention, encourage interaction.
- Embrace story content. Usually, stories give you more interactive options when creating your posts on almost any platform. Think polls, gifs and DM-stickers.
- Add CTA’s everywhere. Remember that there is a lot going on. People are confused, so give them a strong CTA to guide them.
Instagram is one of the most important platforms today. Click here to learn How to Increase Instagram Engagement in 5 Steps!
5. Holiday Competition or Giveaway
This tip actually goes hand in hand with Tip #4 Build Organic Engagement: As part of your Online Marketing for Christmas 2020, host a holiday-themed giveaway or, better yet, competition. The great thing is that this idea can be tailored to fit almost any business and audience.
Your company is specialized in business consulting, which results in a rather serious audience? Give away a free one-hour power consulting session to everybody that comments a post. This keeps the serious tone while still creating a buzz.
Here is an example of how we did it:
More youthful businesses could also tap into creative ideas to go with their audiences expectations. Why not have your followers compete in a little holiday-themed photo challenge to win the grand prize?
Hosting a holiday giveaway of some sort, on the one hand, is sure to create a buzz and recognition in your audience’s memory. However, if done right, it can also create heaps of user-generated content, which leads us to Tip #6.
6. Leverage on User-generated Content
Whether you use it in your ads or for organic content. Do not miss out on using User-generated Content in your Online Marketing for Christmas 2020!
Why? User-generated Content is one of the best ways to build social proof. Social proof, in turn, is one of the best ways to convince potential customers to buy your product, book your service as opposed to the ones of your competition.
How? Try to pull all strings when it comes to collecting User-generated Content. Hosting a competition could be one way. But you could also use content from your branded hashtags, customer reviews or even encourage followers to send in pieces of content. This content might even give you a posting option throughout the following months and year up to the next Christmas campaign.
Pro Tip: Remember to always request permission and give credits to the original creator! In no way do you want to spread insecurity during the time of warmth.
7. Go viral with indirect competition and influencers
This one is connected right to the above but instead of having user-generated content as a goal, it’s all about the engagement and leads you get and you also have two different takes on this one.
Team up with other brands that are your indirect competition for a big give-away that creates a buzz. Your indirect competition are those that have the same target audience, but aren’t your direct competition – so like a burger and a sushi place – both satisfy hunger but in a different way. Create an advent calendar, a physical give-away basket, an online give-away package, or a sponsored luxury trip for the time after the pandemic, that surely many need. Then spread it over all channels and have people compete or give their contact information to participate.
You can then boost this with influencers to reach the masses. This might not only lead into a viral campaign you will also have many more followers and leads to leverage further in the future.
8. Holiday Countdown
“… 4 hours ‘till Christmas!” Who remembers this iconic scene from “How The Grinch Stole Christmas”? Well, I do and surely all the Who’s in Whoville will, too.
Much like in the movie, hosting a countdown as part of your Online Marketing for Christmas 2020 does one thing. It builds anticipation! You can use this anticipation for your business, by hosting a Holiday Countdown that ultimately leads to a very special offer or some type of golden nugget.
Again, this idea is completely adaptable to every single different business type. So, here are a few ideas how you could use a Holiday Countdown:
- Offer Countdown: Every day of December, share a different, special offer. This does not even have to be a discount. Think free shipping, little add-ons or small gifts. Inform your audience about this discount in your organic content and ads!
- Knowledge Countdown: This one is great for high-ticket businesses that ask for prices from about €1.000 on per customer . Instead of special offers, share a piece of valuable, educational information with your audience every day. In the end, put it all together and reveal the big picture!
9. Take a new approach to gifting
In 2020, I dare to say a lot of people have had a change of heart when it comes to materialism. Due to the covid-19-breakout, today more than ever, we value physical proximity, real interaction and qualified knowledge. This also means that gifting this year will be a whole lot different. Gone are the days of unwrapping dozens of makeup palettes, fluffy socks or game consoles. This year, people are all about gifting experiences, memories and solid know-how. So, try to incorporate this development into your ad strategy and product development.
Now might just be the perfect time to present your latest online course as the ideal gift for anybody in your target audience. Or do you maybe even offer a workshop? That is like killing two birds with one stone. Not only can it be a real experience, but it also guarantees a great knowledge growth!
10. Prepare for the aftermath
It is 4 days after Christmas. The presents have been unwrapped, the leftovers from Christmas Dinner have been devoured. And in settles the general calmness and quiet of the end of the year. Usually, this is the time of the year when brand accounts on Social Media just go bleak. Between Christmas and the Epiphany, no company even thinks about going online and posting. However, that is exactly the time when people all around the world spend an augmented amount of time on Social Media.
So make sure to plan ahead and schedule some content to be sent out during these 2 weeks. This does not mean that you have to break your holidays at all. Simply use a content scheduling tool like Sprout Social or Onlypult to do it for you. Then, lean back and watch the engagement drop in!
The Takeaway
In 2020, the holiday season will no doubt be a little bit different. However, what should really be different this year is your Online Marketing for Christmas 2020! With all the latest developments and bidding competitors rising by the minute, it is absolutely necessary you approach your ad strategy differently.
I really hope this article has helped you to learn how to use a 360° approach for your Online Marketing Strategy for Christmas 2020!
In case you have any questions left, leave them in the commenting section down below and I will get to them as quickly as possible!
Also, if you need any further guidance, do not hesitate to let us know. We love to help! For guidance in Online Marketing in Q4, the Holiday Season or a strategy for 2021, follow this link to book your complimentary Discovery Call!
With this in mind: Have a great Holiday Season 2020!
When networking wizard Bettina is not working on the next big idea, then she is focusing on how to constantly improve workflows, and systemizing the “stuff that is not so much fun but needs to be done”. She believes in giving and that being kind gets you a long way.
You might spot her as a keynote speaker, a guest lecturer at universities, or a mentor at StartupLive or Greenstart by Climate and Energy Fonds Austria.
Bettina describes herself as a foodie, travel addict, and her team sees her as a true leader, who always encourages everyone she is working with.
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