The gifts are wrapped, Christmas decorations have immediately replaced Halloween decorations, and soon Santa Claus will soon be violating international airspace laws to bring gifts to children around the world. Time is almost up…but you’re falling behind on your marketing goals, don’t fret! You’re not out completely of luck.

While the holiday season is the prime time for marketers, it’s a very brief and time-centric period, so you need to act decisively and quickly.

If you haven’t touched on the holiday season in your content at all, you’re missing out on a nice heaping helping of customer engagement and brand awareness. Or, maybe, you have done your due diligence and have been keeping on top of the holiday season, but you’re looking for that extra festive flair for your Facebook, Instagram, and other accounts. 

In the spirit of the plethora of gift-giving holidays that take place around the most expensive time of the year, here are a few content ideas that will help spark the holiday spirit…and fat Q4 sales.

1. Updated festive visuals. Really, your banners on Facebook, Twitter, and Linked in should be changing at least quarterly, but this time of the year is basically a given. Add a Santa hat to your profile pic, a menorah to your cover image, flashing lights to your Instagram Stories, get wasted on boozy eggnog, and make ten TikToks (we’re not liable for the results of any of our advice). Above all, make sure your holiday-themed content has appropriately wintery and holiday-centric imagery.
2. Flash sale! It’s a bit too late to do a “12 days of deals”, however, it’s still fair game for quick “limited time” social-media-exclusive sales. People make last-minute gift purchases all the time, but—and this is a major and very important but—make sure your shipping capabilities will get the product there before the end of the year. It’s forgivable to miss Christmas (a lot of families have Christmas get-togethers even after the 25th) but if you can’t get your product boxed up and packed in the sleigh before March, do not do this.
3. Contests. Giveaways and prize draws are popular at any time of year, but especially during the holiday season. A big basket of merchandise or a larger grand prize will get people flocking to your page.
4. Amp up your email marketing. While not strictly speaking social media marketing, an email marketing campaign is an effective and personable strategy content idea for reaching out during the holidays. Send out a few product-specific blasts that showcase some glitzy photography and you’ll be bound to pick up a few stragglers who put off shopping until the last minute. You’ll want to be very careful with your messaging around this time of year, however, considering the global…”thing” that is still ongoing. As far as consumers are concerned, COVID-era messaging is played out and depressing. Adding “these trying times” to your email won’t net you sales, and your final quarter projections are going to have a blue Christmas.
5. Share your work family with your audience. Whether you post (not embarrassing) pictures from your Christmas party or your team reaching out to the community for a volunteering event, this idea adds a healthy dose of humanity to any marketing campaign. This type of content, above all else, should be promo-free.

So, maybe the holiday season snuck up on you this year, or you’ve been grasping at straws for what to publish. Either way, the ideas above will help you finish off the holiday season on a high note so you can focus on the new year!