The 2015 Holiday Season is upon us, a time of festivities and special events and a time when consumers spend more money. It follows that so businesses and brands have one of the best opportunities to connect with customers and potential customers through the use of technology.

This season, why not use the latest trends in social media to add extra pizazz to your communications and growth to your bottom line?

Whether you’re attending or exhibiting at an event, or looking for ways to add sparkle to your online social media this season, here are some tips to boost effectiveness and spread holiday cheer.

1. Highlight Local Events and Programs
When you’re attending an event, especially during the holidays, use your social media channels to let your readers know about local holiday activities. We all know that the number of activities available gets ramped up during the holiday season. So do your research and know what’s going on around you so you can pass that information on through social media, even if you’re going to be attending an event in an unfamiliar city.

2. Don’t Focus on Advertising
We’re all exposed to too many ads, especially during the holidays. So go out of your way to increase holiday cheer by being helpful and informative without too much overt selling. Twitter suggests that 80% of your Tweets should focus on creating interaction and only 20% should lead back to products or promotions.

3. Run Holiday Specials Designed to Create Interaction

Your customers and fans can be your best selling point. If you’re exhibiting at an event create a holiday giveaway or deep discount that requires your readers to interact to be eligible. This will help generate buzz and promote conversations.

4. Customize Content for Each Social Media Channel
Even if you’re going to push out the same campaign or promotion to all your social media channels, it will boost the effectiveness if you tailor the content to fit the audience on each of the channels you use. In general, the customers who use Twitter are not the same ones who use Facebook or Instagram.

5. Plan Your Social Media Calendar Ahead of Time
Whether you’re going to be exhibiting at an event or operating strictly online, you want your social media campaigns to be well thought out and scheduled appropriately.

6. Give Customers a Taste of what They can Expect in the Coming Year
We habitually think about the upcoming year when the holiday season begins. That means this is an excellent time to get your brand, products, and services, in front of your customers now so they start to see what you offer as a good solution for them in the new year.

7. Be Aware of Customer Holiday Stress

Be sensitive to the fact that the level of stress for many rises during the holidays. This can translate to more disgruntled customers and complaints. Take advantage of being able to respond in real time to customers through social media and have someone on your staff or at the event deal right away with customer comments, requests, and complaints.

8. Highlight Your Favorite Charity or Cause
Holiday time is a time of giving. If your company already has a charity or cause that it supports, highlight what you’ve done in the previous year. If you do not already have a favorite charity, then find one (or some) and start including that in your social media. Send out information to your readers on how they, too, can donate to that cause.

9. Make Sure Your Website is Holiday Ready
Since online traffic and buying increases during the holidays, make doubly sure your website is on point and consistent with the social media messages you’re posting.

10. Utilize Our Love of Listing
People love lists. You can capitalize on this love of lists during the holidays by starting social media conversations which encourage people to add to a list. For instance, ask your readers to respond to a question such as, “What’s your favorite way to give back during the holidays?” This gives everyone a chance to feel good about themselves, gives readers new ideas how they can give back, and helps promote holiday giving. Win, win win.

11. Use Special Holiday Hashtags
Include special hashtags in your posts during the season that makes people want to repost them. For example, #CompanyNameHolidayGiveaway. You can build on these hashtags year after year.

12. Track Your Holiday Social Media Results
Don’t forget to measure your successes so you can adjust your campaigns or messaging for even greater effectiveness the following year.

SmartSource Rentals provides a variety of technology and equipment for your office, holiday events, or tradeshows. We have state-of-the-art equipment rentals and the staff to back it, from timely delivery and pickup to 24/7 technical support of all our equipment. Call 800.888.8686 for a quote today.