With Christmas preparations well underway, make sure your holiday social media posts don’t become an afterthought. Social media is an integral part of everyone’s day-to-day lives, so it should come as no surprise that it plays a major role influencing purchase decisions. Customers are hardwired to spend at this time of year, and businesses know it!
Which means the fight for grabbing attention becomes even more fierce. But remember, the way to people’s wallets is through their hearts. Holiday social media posts can carry far more emotional appeal that at any other time of year; you don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to grow.
If you’re wondering what you can post without resorting to ‘fluff’ just for the sake of putting something Christmassy out there, this is the post for you. Here’s 7 holiday social media post ideas that will make your content feel like a fresh of breath air on a crisp winter morning:
Help them with a seasonal pain point ‘how to’
Make things easy with a gift guide based on your niche
Share the love with user-generated content
Run a holiday themed contest or giveaway
Engage with polls and questions
Extend your holiday wishes with announcement
POST A SEASONAL ‘HOW TO’
The holidays can be a stressful, time consuming, labour intensive season. Make things easier for your audience with helpful how-to guides, or a series of hacks and tips. It’s also a great way to subtly promote your own goods and services as the solution they are looking for. How can they not love you for that?
Start with a blog post and then repost and repurpose for Instagram. Bullet points translate well into carousel posts (which are the ‘it’ thing right now). Create a different slide for each pointer, and don’t forget to end with a CTA. We all know that Reels are the most popular form of video content, and how-to tutorials are no exception. You could use this format to showcase a before and after!
Trending content ideas
SHARE A NICHE SPECIFIC GIFT GUIDE
If I were to ask you what the most stressful thing about Christmas is, where would ‘trying to find the perfect gift’ rank? Pretty high I reckon.
And that’s why sharing a gift guide will make you shine brighter than the star on the top of the tree. Plus, it allows you to promote several products at the same time while driving relevance to your brand. Team up with another small business and collaborate together to increase reach by crafting a limited edition bundle that mixes and matches your products and/or services.
Trending content ideas
LEVERAGE USER-GENERATED CONTENT
Creative use of user-generated content (UGC) during the holidays is valuable, as it ensures engagement and authenticity. But it also takes some of the pressure off yourself to come up with your own fresh content. Just be sure to ask permission before posting and don’t forget to credit the original source.
Bonus points if the UGC is about your own products or services.
Trending content ideas
HOST A HOLIDAY CONTEST OR GIVEAWAY
The season is finite, which means there’s already a sense of urgency. This makes it a great time to run time-bound promos, giveaways, and contests. Consumers are always looking for a great deal, and this year is no exception given the increasing strains on the cost of living.
Make sure you are offering something that your existing followers want and will find value in. This will encourage more action (comments, follows, shares, etc.) and you’ll reach further and further as each person’s network becomes involved.
It’s also worth noting that you don’t give away so much that it becomes a huge cost to your time or revenue. Otherwise, what’s the point? I’m thinking specifically about ‘12 days of giveaways’. Oftentimes the engagement and traction wears off half way and you’re no longer reaching new people. Effectively giving away more than is really necessary. A word of caution to cost things out before committing.
Above all, keep it fresh and exciting. It’s better to do something small but memorable. No blending in, ok?
Budget friendly options
- Tickets for a holiday event
- Cash prize or a gift card
- Product gift basket
END OF YEAR ROUNDUP
The holidays are a perfect way to celebrate and reflect on the year that has passed. Instagram has been doing the ‘best 9’ for a number of years, and there’s a reason the concept has lasted so long. It injects nostalgia and sincerity into your feed and audiences love that!
Showcase your businesses biggest achievements, highlights from your portfolio, behind the scenes of your progress. It’s a great way to warm up potential new clients and customers for coming to you in the new year.
Trending content ideas
CONNECT WITH POLLS AND QUESTIONS
I know it feels like every post on Instagram these days is a paid ad (sponsored) but there are so many amazing free tools on the platform that you can use to engage with your audience. Stories are the best place to use this type of content, and you can save them as a highlight to stay on your profile for others to see later on.
Starting polls and asking questions is a way to initiate a conversation with your audience, get a sense of what they like and what they don’t, and foster a genuine relationship with them. So if you’re ever struggling to think of ways you can help your audience, just ask them!
Starting a conversation with your audiences shifts the focus from you to them. Make it a fun holiday social media post by asking about their holiday traditions or doing holiday trivia. Just remember to keep things relevant to your brand identity!
MAKE A HOLIDAY ANNOUNCEMENT
If you’ve been sharing any type of holiday content on your social media feeds then it’s a nice courtesy to extend your holidays wishes at least once. You can use the same post to set an out-of-office for the holidays message. You deserve to take the time off (if you want) and setting the right boundaries and expectations with your audience/clients is an essential best practice. This way you can enjoy your break without constantly checking your inbox or social media.
You might even go as far as signing out of the app altogether! A social media detox is never a bad idea, and what better time to do it when the majority of your audience are doing the same thing?
SCROLL STOPPING DESIGNS
Now you know what you’re going to post, grab these done-for-you holiday post designs.
Over 20 unique designs in 4 different sizes with fonts, text, and images included! Available in 3 aesthetics to vibe with your brand 😍 Available in my Etsy shop and you can use code HOLIDAYBLOG to save 20%
