During the holiday season, the rules of social media etiquette shift slightly although it is not always noticeable. People are more boisterous, generous and engaging – after all, tis the season of giving and good cheer! Your social media approach should follow suit for the holiday season while aligning with your brand. As we get further towards Christmas and New Years, now is the time to consider how you will behave on social media while keeping in pace of the season.
Here are five tips to keep you from looking like Scrooge online.
1. Adjust your post frequency to match the occasion.
Overall it’s best to keep up with your regular frequency through the holiday but be mindful of the day and timing of your post. On Christmas or New Years Day, if your followers are on social media, it is likely to engage with loved ones and connect with family. If their newsfeed is clogged up with your posts on these days, you will just annoy them! With this in mind, limit your posts on peak days such as Christmas Eve and Day, Boxing Day and New Years Eve and Day. However, if you are running sales such as Boxing Day deals, be sure to promote it but keep your messaging on point.
2. Make your posts meaningful.
During the holidays, avoid making your posts all about yourself or your business. Instead, think of your customers and audience. What can you post to uplift, help or support them through the holiday season? This is the time of year, they would love to hear good tiding from your business or ideas how to make the holidays less stressful or more joyful. For an example, if you are a bakery, post little tips to help with their holiday baking or cooking shortcuts to make their cook time shorter. At the same time, you can post photos of your holiday cookies and coupons for people to buy them for a holiday get together.
3. Feel free to get as personal as your branding allows.
The holiday season is a perfect time to share details, anecdotes and photos that humanize your business. However, make sure that you keep it consistent with your branding, as this is what your audience expects. A business with a fun, personable brand image such as a local clothing store should feel free to mention a great Christmas outfit or relevant holiday dinner snapshots. While a more conservative brand, such as a professional law office, might keep the level of intimacy to posting the company Christmas card. To bring a personal touch to your brand, feel free to post on the charitable work your company is engaging in or mentioning staff members’ holiday traditions.
4. Keep the photos coming.
Statuses with images have a 94% higher engagement rate than those without. So this holiday season, post images to boost that engagement. This is a perfect opportunity to show images that illustrate your brand in the spirit of the holidays such as the staff Christmas card or photos of staff in Santa hats. Photos and sincere sentiments show the human side of your brand and remind customers that your purpose on social media is to connect with them, not just to make sales.
5. Don’t leave your customers hanging.
The holidays are a time of year when some businesses shut down and others remain open all through the season. If your business closes, be sure to put the out of office memo on social media just as you do on your emails so you do not leave your customers waiting for a response. Give them a clear idea of when you will be responding to online inquiries so they know what to expect and it doesn’t just appear like poor customer service.
If you are remaining open during the holidays, your online activity should reflect this, even if your social media person took a few days off. One of the most important rules for businesses — responding to customers in a timely manner — applies just as much during the holidays as any other time of year. Remember that your standards for customer service should be the same online as in the real world. Just as you wouldn’t want a customer standing in your storefront feeling ignored, you don’t want them sitting at home waiting on a response to their post or inquiry.
Keep these tips in mind for a great holiday season and your social media will start 2015 off with a bang!
