4 Easter Eggs Hidden in Your Social Media Strategy: And How to Unearth Them This Spring
Reach out through social media this Easter to make the best of the retail spending in the holiday period, and Easter is most definitely a busy time for brands. According to the National Retail Federation, over $16.4 billion will be spent in USA, before and after Easter. The spending will be mostly on apparel, gifts, candies, flowers, food and decoration. Furthermore diverse geographies present diverse opportunities. In the U.S. and U.K., the holiday is mostly celebrated with chocolate eggs and candy baskets which indicates that it is a lucrative time for the confectionery industry. But, in Australia, the holiday is associated mostly with travel. Hotels, restaurants, travel agencies and florists are using the extended holiday period to advertise their best deals. This primer covers four ways in which you can get your social media campaigns ready for Easter:
Ascertain whether your brand is relevant
Before you even begin, it is important to ask yourself whether your brand is relevant. Ascertain who the target audience is, the target customers, and find out whether creating a campaign around the holidays would add value. The success of your campaign would depend on the sector you are in, the product or service you are offering and the audience demographics. If Easter is not the right fit for you, you can consider aligning your campaign to major events and international events who would deliver value to the audience. A well-thought out creative, if executed well, will outweigh opportunistic messaging. When you respect the intelligence of your audience, chances are higher that your brand will win hearts and minds.
Upload strategic posts during rush hour
A long Easter weekend means much more than egg hunts and chocolate bunny binging. With free time people will be on the lookout for events which will keep them busy. So make the best of this opportunity and stand out in the crowd. A long weekend gives you the opportunity to test new creatives and smaller social campaigns. To satiate the appetite of your target audience announce hints of a larger campaign or road test micro versions of a larger campaign. On long weekends the behavior may alter from the usual weekends. Individuals may take the liberty to sleep or head out for a brunch. This indicates that 10 am to 11 am could be the ideal time to upload posts on Facebook and contribute to conversations. Few others may relax during the afternoons. So a 3PM or an early evening update may help you widen your reach. As LinkedIn is usually quiet on long weekends, you can consider amplifying Twitter. The audience in Twitter responds to real-time events with a lot of vigor. One of the team members can scan the platform before you make a post for a high impact.
Partner with another brand to deliver value
Partnering with a like-minded brand can increase the chances of your campaign’s success. Or you can team up with a brand which already has an Easter theme. The brand’s theme should be relevant to your messages and value. This extended weekend gives you the opportunity to be creative. You can consider throwing in chocolates with a purchase,which can lift both the campaigns. Before reaching out to an appropriate brand, ask yourself is the brand targeting the same audience. Will the partnership add value to the existing customer base?The idea is to find a happy medium which will help you to attract new customers and reward them.
Establish a team of ambassadors
It is a good idea to engage a team of brand ambassadors. Before you engage the ambassadors, make sure that they are the right fit and are interested in collaborating with you. You can get in touch with ambassadors who share the same values as you do, use the same kind of messaging and aesthetics. Bloggers, Youtube or Snapchat influencers or Instagram celebrities who have a strong following can provide you with an access to audiences who are relevant to the product you are offering. Once you understand the audience, the media they prefer to consume and how they find information, it will be easier to identify the influencers.
The above strategies will help you to develop a successful marketing campaign. Easter is a highly anticipated holiday which gives you the chance to get creative and put your ideas to use. Don’t get left out of a conversation when your followers and customers are getting excited.
