10 Tips To Tune Up Your Social Media This Christmas

So it’s getting close to the holiday period … the retail sector is ramping up, tradies are madly trying to finish work in progress before their suppliers shut up shop, and parents are busy getting organised for the two week break. Depending on your industry, almost everyone is getting ready for a nice long vacation, but is your business on vacation too? Probably not.

While thoughts may be turning to those long awaited family road trips, the question is, when did you last get your social media serviced? Have your social media channels had their Christmas tune up before you and your staff head off?

At Digital Marketing AOK we like to think of ourselves as your Social Media Mechanics and here is why;

Like any growing and evolving thing, your social media can get tired and sometimes feel a little unloved in what is well known to be the peak Social Season. You want to be sure you are firing on all cylinders, so here are our Top 10 Tips To Tune Up Your Social Media This Christmas.

1. Check your branding

When was the last time you updated your Facebook cover photo, Twitter background, LinkedIn company banner etc. Have you looked at it since you set it up an eon ago? Are you putting something festive up that is also a great reflection of your brand? And if you are, do you have time allocated to change it to something less festive post Christmas?

Does your Facebook Page have custom tabs? Do they look amazing or are the sad searchlights directing customers to your website?

2. Are all your Apps and Integrations working?

If you are using one of our personal favourites, Woobox for your custom tabs have you checked that your site is Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) or are you using the Redirect function? Or like some pages we come across, are you being sent to a white box of nothingness … a bit like being lost in a Mt Buller snowstorm.

3. Are you shutting down or trading?

The fact is that most of us these days have an expectation that if you have social media accounts as a company or a brand, we are going to be able to get an answers to our questions – NOW, not in two weeks time, so if you are shutting down pin an announcement to your Facebook Page send a final tweet etc.,  letting your followers and customers know that you are closed for Christmas, and when you will be reopening in the New Year..

4. Get an agency to manage your social for the holidays.

That way you are covered and there’s no need to close down, or wonder if you have posted that crucial notice about the Boxing Day sales. At Digital Marketing AOK, we provide short term holiday management options so that your feeds are still ticking along nicely,  we also make sure queries are answered in a timely fashion and can work with you to plan out your activity this holiday season.

Which brings me to my next point….

5. Have a plan

One of the best things you can do if your social media has been a little flat is revisit your business goals and ask yourself some critical questions about how social media platforms can help you achieve them and in what way? Should you be striking up a holiday twitter conversation with that CEO you want to approach for a meeting in the new year, or peppering your LinkedIn company updates with information relevant to not for profits ready for a push into this area in the new year?

Social media needs direction and businesses need to remember it is meant to be conversational.

6. Aim for the target

Okay so we have a plan, bows at the ready so to speak…..

Have we made the right friends in the right places?

Review your LinkedIn connections who do you need to invite for Christmas drinks or dinner even? We have all been guilty of sending out a group email to bang on about what we are doing but let’s be honest doing business hasn’t really changed that much. Social media and LinkedIn in particular is just the opportunity to start the relationship, you still have to put in the time to build it. Personally, I like to start with coffee.

7.  Train your customers

Human beings are creatures of habit and the fact is we like to know what is going on. That being said, it might just might be beneficial to give them the heads up as to why they want to keep an eye out for your updates or interact with you on a specific social media medium. My top tip is send your customers a personalised email with your plans in terms of relevant content for them and where they will find it. Even simpler than that, put all of your social media icons with embedded hyperlinks on your signature.

Whilst you’re keeping it simple, check out the app About Me as well. This is a great app to promote yourself, what you do and who you are.

8. Share the love

How effectively have you brought your offline networks into your online space?  After all, if these guys are some of your key partners of influence might be time to tag them in, or share a post from their page with a thumbs up and supportive comment for good measure. The more interactive you are with them in the social stratosphere, the happier they will be to see you at that next networking function. They might even drop that dream referral in your lap!

9. Try something new or at least new for you.

My personal favourite at the moment is Animoto, now admittedly some people will tell you oh I tried that ages ago but I’ll give you a hot tip when it comes to Joe Public most people haven’t and we all get a little tired of the same images etc.

Why not get creative with Instagram, Vine  TikTok or have a look at some of the Whiteboard doodle software that’s out there. For easy image editing and more, there’s Canva as well.

The Christmas season is your chance to grab your audiences attention during the massive activity spike that runs pretty much from the 20th of December through to the other side of New Years.

10. It’s Christmas give something away

T’is the season to be jolly and all that goes with it, so find something awesome and run a competition encourage some creativity from your audience and get them sharing after all everyone loves free stuff let’s be honest, Justin in particular (Hint Hint).

Remember if it’s all too hard or you haven’t even made the leap into social media for your business give Digital Marketing AOK a call. We like to start with a coffee and we can work out a plan to get your social media covered during the holiday period and beyond.