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It’s going to be that time of the year again when shoppers gonna shop and people are gonna wine, dine and celebrate! For a business owner, this time can be quite hectic and stressful, especially as they go about creating that festive atmosphere for the shoppers to revel in. This is also the time that marketers work in overdrive to capture their customer’s attention. If you want to attract people to your business online this December, then check out these 5 digital marketing ideas.

• Having fun with social media

Although social media campaigns can be used ANY time of the year – Christmas is just the perfect time to cash in on the festive spirit. Create a viral effect, driving new exposure to your brand by inviting people to upload pictures or videos and other users to vote on the entries.

How about “Best decorated Christmas tree”, “Best arranged Christmas table”, “Best holiday memory” or “Most creative Snowman” (not applicable to all countries). Or in the video case “Best Christmas song” or “Best Santa Claus interpretation”. Make sure to offer something really attractive as the prize, as this form of competition requires extra effort from your fans than just filling in a form.

Whole Foods used social media as a platform for discussion by posting seasonal ideas on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. By doing so, it was able to see what people like, while also having direct communication with customers. Whole Foods asks direct questions to its audience to make them feel included in the campaign whilst promoting the brand’s great recipes along the way.

Asos are the reigning premiers of Christmas E-commerce social media. The global fashion giants took things to the next level in 2014, creating a new @ASOS_advent twitter handle for an inspired Christmas contest. The account posted a new photo every day until Dec 24, offering fans the chance to win a new prize daily. In a stroke of user generated content genius, Asos followers had to post a picture of their own and tag it using the hashtag #instadvent for the chance to win the prize of the day.

(pic credit: brogan.com)

• Email Marketing

What part does email marketing play in Christmas? Well, 43% of marketing experts say that email is very important channel to generate additional sales during the Christmas period. Email affects at least 10% of the total holiday sales.

Your Christmas email marketing campaign can be broken up into 4 different stages

Pre Christmas

You may want to start your pre Christmas email marketing one month out from Christmas itself. Here’s where Christmas how-to guides and/or catalogs are often distributed to start hyping up towards the season celebrations.  

Christmas Countdown

(pic credit: blog.hubspot.com)

Christmas countdowns are great especially if you’re an e-commerce business – here are a few themes you could consider:

• Add countdown to Christmas
• Advent calendar
• Suggest gift ideas for him, her, kids, teens, grandparents
• Suggest gift ideas for different price ranges
• Inform about the last shipping date
• Be clear about last order date

Christmas

This is the time when you send greetings or Thank you letters to your customers. It might be just a greeting card or Christmas photo of your team. However, Christmas is a wonderful opportunity to make a connection with the customer. Here are some ideas for the Christmas e-newsletter:

• Share your success: Inform your customers about your company’s big accomplishments over the past year, especially if your partners can benefit from those new features, products, or services.
• Give a sneak peek to the future. Introduce new products or features that you are planning for the coming year. Let your customers be the first to know the good news, especially if they are going to benefit from that.
• Send a small gift. It might be an e-book about insights on your industry. You may give priority access to your new product, new feature, article, video or recipe for Christmas drink/dish

Post Christmas

Post Christmas, pretty much like a post-launch marketing effort, can be done to help tie up loose ends and prep for the New Year ahead. Take an inspiration from coupons.com:
(pic credit: coupon.com)

• Video Marketing

Video content plays a huge part in Christmas campaigns as it works wonders in capturing your target audience’s’ attention at a time where they are actively seeking some sort of purchase.

Coca-Cola decided to let go of their famous polar bears for their 2014 Christmas commercial and dusted off the classic Santa Claus to front their #MakeSomeoneHappy campaign. Santa was found turning pages of an enchanting book, “How to Make someone happy” and was spotted offering ideas of nice things to do for people – offering their umbrella in the snow, doing a silly magic trick while waiting to board a train or surprise dinner at grandma’s. The ad highlighted that every joyous moment of our life deserves to be enjoyed with a Coca-Cola.

• Influencer Marketing

Why are we talking about influencer marketing when the best influencer for Christmas marketing is Santa himself? The reason this type of marketing has gained popularity and taking over in the land of all marketing is because influencers have a strong hold on the buying decisions of consumers. A Nielsen research revealed that 94% of people trust friends or strangers over other forms of marketing for their buying decisions so you can imagine what happens over Christmas.  Everyone gets in the Holiday Spirit and begins posting their heart out – and suddenly everyone becomes an Influencer.

In 2014, Kate Spade enlisted actress Anna Kendrick to partake in their holiday promotion “The Waiting Game Video” with the hashtag #MissAdventure.  It was a video series featuring the actress along with an adorable dog and was designed to win over hearts of fans and consumers.

• Using special holiday apps

The value of the holidays in marketing apps is clear. The period from mid-December through early January is, according to Apple, traditionally one of the most active in the app stores. During the holidays many people receive gifts of new mobile devices or iTunes/Google play gift cards.  When each of those new phones, tablets or gift cards are activated, it stations those apps on the top of consumer’s mind leading to downloads and daily activity.

Starbucks made the Christmas season come alive with Starbucks Cup Magic. Customers could download this reality app and use it to discover Starbucks characters found on iconic red cups, coffee bags, and signage. Customers could watch beloved holiday characters leap to life in various merry holiday scenes. From carolers singing holiday tunes, to an ice skater practicing her spins, to a boy and his dog having a wonderful time sledding down a hill. Starbucks app allowed customers to pass merry sentiment, send gifts to friends and even offered them coupons they could use to get another caffeine rush. All the features in the app could’ve been shared via email or Facebook or simply clicking a button to send a Starbucks Card eGift to friends.

If you’re inspired to create a holiday app, AppMakr can help you publish and update an app with a minimum of technical expertise and time needed – making app creation possible for anyone with the motivation to do so. You can create an app with all the essential features available via an easy-to-access mobile interface for existing and future customers.