The Social Side Of Holiday Communications

By Author: Kenneth Hall
Total Articles: 38
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Once again this Valentine's Day we took a look at romance in social media, scouring resources to uncover data and case studies to further evaluate social media's role when it comes to love.
One such report that stood out was released by the social analytics company NM Incite that indicated male Twitter users are more inclined to be negative about Valentine's Day, while related tweets by women mention gifts for their significant other. Hmm - anyone really surprised with those results? After all, aren't men often guilty of waiting until the last minute to pick out a gift. Not to mention the fact that PDAs (even on social media) aren't the manly thing to share!
An infographic created by Radian6 shows a summary of last year's Valentine's Day social media conversations, which totaled 8,293,748 mentions across the major social networking. Odds are the 2013 figures will trend upwards as we are seeing more and more holiday-related promotions in social media. Using Valentine's Day as the test case, here are three ways to leverage holidays, ranging from basic ideas to multi-dimensional campaigns:
Social media branding ...
... - motivate your customers to get into the spirit and encourage them to be more responsive to the holiday offering by incorporating images of "love" into your social networking activities. For example, create a seasonal Facebook cover or profile picture, Twitter background or header image. Here are more specific ideas.
Customer interaction - use the season to "spread the love" - that is strengthen communication with customers or clients. A recent SocialMediaToday pos t discusses examples of how Burberry, Starbucks and other major brands incorporate a Valentine's Day theme to connect and engage with consumers.
Promotional campaigns - Think integrated marketing promotions. Jeweler Tiffany & Co.'s Valentine's Day campaign promoted gifts and engagement rings in a multi-dimensional effort that included advertisements in upscale magazines, online marketing and social media promotions. For example, Tiffany fortified its position as a brand about love with a "True Love in Pictures" Facebook campaign that enabled people to upload images and turn them into a postcard. Lingerie brand Freya implemented a Valentine's Day campaign encouraging customers to add love songs from Spotify to the "Heartbeats playlist" on its Facebook page. In return, users were entered to win a set of Freya lingerie or a "break-for-two" in Paris.
Upon launching a holiday promotion or communications campaign, it is important to have a team in place to handle the uptick in volume of posts and interactions across your various social networks.
Please share how your consumer brand or clients are leverage holidays or about other campaigns that have caught your attention.

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