4 social media strategies to gear up for the holiday season

The back to school rush is over, Halloween is (almost) on the horizon and the holiday shopping season is gearing up for another Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas bonanza. It’s the most wonderful time of the year for eCommerce retailers – but one that requires plenty of forward planning and lots of thinking on your feet.We’ve seen social commerce go from strength to strength over the last 12 months. It’s a fantastic channel for raising awareness and one that you need to fully leverage to make the most of the next three months. Try these strategies to support your eCommerce website and drive shoppers to your check out pages…

1. Consider using Messenger Us shoppers can be an impatient bunch. If we want further details about a product or service, we want to be able to speak to the retailer. Using Facebook Messenger as part of your social media strategy, especially around peak sales times, is a great way to give your customers that immediacy and ramp up conversions. There are over 1 billion active monthly Messenger users, meaning this is a potentially lucrative, untapped addition to your seasonal sales push. 2. Use Stories Instagram and Facebook Stories have use engagement rates and are incredibly popular with users. They give you a chance to be more spontaneous and more creative than a standard post, allowing users to respond to polls, ask questions, chat with you live etc. You can also link from Stories direct to product pages, which you can’t do from a standard Instagram post. Get creative with stickers, emojis and other Stories functions to grab audience attention. Consider also sharing discount codes, complete with swipe up links to your key products. 3. Test Shoppable posts Instagram’s Shoppable posts are an easy way to showcase your products to your Instagram audience and allow the user the total convenience that comes with simply tapping to shop. Many brands have reported excellent results from this type of post and a growing number of eCommerce retailers are jumping on board. If you haven’t yet tested the waters, the onset of holiday shopping season is a great way to do so – and an easy way to make the most of every Instagram view your account receives. 4. Try advertising Paid social media is only going from strength to strength as organic algorithms stint use. To sweeten the deal, networks like Facebook and Instagram offer advertisers advanced tools and very precise targeting options, meaning you can be sure every penny of your budget is being used to get your products and services in front of the right people, at this crucial time of the year.