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5 Super Easy Ways to Make the Most (CONTENT) of the Holiday Season


Simply sticking with your usual game plan heading into this next month? Well then you're missing out on some primo content my friend! The holidays are full of cheer, parties, music, family, fun, and all that other good stuff. So what does that mean for your small business? It means you can use this time of merriment to your advantage when it comes to generating amazing content for your social channels. Follow the 5 tips below to make this most of this holiday season!






1. Put together an Instagram-able wish list

In one snapshot, capture an item or a number of items you’d like to promote for the holiday season. To capture the seasonal vibe, consider laying things out in a festive way. See below for a perfect example.




2. Run a promotion for your top fans

Do you have a few top fans on Instagram and Facebook? Those folks who always show you love and get involved in the comment section? These are known as brand ambassadors. A great way to show your gratitude for them and encourage future brand ambassadors on your pages is to run a promotion for those top fans! Capture the promotion in action and use that as content by celebrating the interaction on your social channels. Last week we met some small business owners up in New Hampshire who turned their downtown into a scavenger hunt for their top fans! Get creative and make it fun for the people who have supported you all year.






3. Throw a holiday party at your brick and mortar location

This is such a great idea for those who have trouble converting online followers to offline guests/customers. Who doesn’t love a party? Offer your guests a glass of champagne, some finger foods, a couple discounts, and boom! You’ve got yourself a room full of fans and an Instagram feed worth of content. Your guests will have a blast interacting with you and getting to know you and your products/service, and you can capture the event with photos and video. Make sure to gather social media handles from your guests so you can tag them - they’re friends will see it and that social web will continue to spread! Use social channels to promote the event at least one week in advance. From what we’ve seen, Facebook is the best social platform for getting folks to RSVP for events. Your videos will look great on YouTube, Instagram stories, and SnapChat!






4. Round up other small business owners and host a local holiday market at a shared space

This idea piggybacks off of the last one, but with one added detail: you get to take advantage of everyone else’s long list of followers too! Reach out to other small business owners in your network; ask if they’d like to take part in a “farmers market” style event in the area. If you get 10 businesses to take part, you just looped in 10 times the amount of followers! You can even host an event at a restaurant or brewery; think the "Brewers Market" from Castle Island Brewing that we checked out a couple weeks ago. This way the host business can promote the event as well and, you guessed it - boom! Their followers are now in the loop for the event as well. Social media is all about being social - that means online and off. Reach out to your network and encourage them to reach out to their network - power in numbers!






5. Feature user generated content

The best content is sometimes the organic content - the stuff that is out there in the wild of social media. Not the stock images or perfectly photoshopped stuff, but the pics taken by your fans. Think about it: someone was so excited about your product or service that they took up the time and space of their own social channel to rave about what you did for them. This is a great tip year round, but if you can catch someone in the wild with your product, captured in a way that reflects the festive season - you’ve got yourself social media gold! Search #nameofyourcompany or put the name of your company in the location filter of Instagram or Facebook. You may be surprised with what comes up!



Enjoy the season and make sure to use #HowISocial if you see any cool examples of holiday themed content!

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