The holidays, the old saying goes, are the most wonderful time of year. And for many businesses, they’re also the busiest and most important.

1. Have a clear goal and decide what you want to achieve.

Before you do anything, you need to outline your goals and what it is you want to achieve with your campaign. This goes for any sort of advertising, and not just what you do at the holidays; otherwise, you just have a bunch of tactics that are trying to get attention but aren’t really tied to an overall strategy or goal. And without that goal in mind, you can’t have real success.

2. Create a content calendar and work backward from major dates.

Proper planning is going to make or break your campaign, so mark out key dates in advance and work backwards in order to figure out time lines and deadlines. Create a spreadsheet with a column for each day and then a row for each marketing channel. Even if it doesn’t have a lot of detail, it’ll give the team an overview at a glance. Then you can have specific dates highlighted in order make sure you hit all your deadlines.

3. Decide what to measure.

You should judge the success of your marketing efforts based on what you were trying to achieve. If your aim was to get more sales at a physical location, then the cash register will tell the tale. But if you were trying to increase general brand awareness, then you’re going to be measuring things like email sign-ups and traffic to your website.

4. Have fun with images.

A great way to get your Facebook Page noticed during the holidays is to do something fun with your cover image. For example, change it each day and make it like an advent calendar. Posts with images also get more attention so add a photo to your post! Don’t we all love seeing a photo of a delicious lunch special or gorgeous unique gift idea?

Another thing is to try a bit of humor. When people are in a good mood, they’re more likely to spend. So make your marketing messages entertaining, lighthearted and humorous.

5. Think like a person, not a marketer.

Regardless of what kind of business you’re in, the key is to realize that people are on Facebook for personal reasons. Nobody wakes up in the morning, looks at their phone and says, “Gee, I wonder what some big brand is doing today on Facebook.” They’re checking to see what’s happening in their friends’ lives. So when writing posts or creating ads, make sure you’re contributing positively to their day and their experience on Facebook.

6. Have a call to action!

Be sure to direct the viewer of your post with a call to action or “something to do”. It’s great to include a link back to your website where users can see your location, your hours, your menu, your schedule and much more to continue them down the road toward becoming a customer.

7. Find shoppers when they’re near you.

There’s a lot that businesses can do on Facebook to get more sales during the holidays. The easiest thing for brick-and-mortar businesses is to target audiences by using the Local Awareness feature. This allows you to target ads to people only when they’re physically near your business. You can even give people directions to your location right on their phones. Another way is to use Custom Audiences to find your best customers on Facebook, and then use Lookalike Audiences to find similar people.

Want to know more? Contact Hashtag Creative at 727-667-8188.