It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! The holiday season is a joyous occasion, with our Instagram feeds looking festive and fun for weeks on end. To say that we love this time of year is an understatement!
For small businesses, this is usually the busiest time of the year. Consumers are actively searching for the right gifts for their loved ones, so you need to make sure you’re doing everything you can so they can find you.
If you’re not sure what to share on your socials and your website in the next few weeks, we’ve got you covered! Read on to discover creative content ideas that you can easily produce for your business!
Words: Adriana Thani
When should you start sharing Christmas-themed content?
There’s only one answer to this: as early as possible! We generally advise our clients to start posting Christmas-related content around mid October.
This allows ample time for potential customers to explore what you’ve got to offer. Once they’re ready to make a purchase (or ten!), they’ve got you on the front of their mind. You should also consider the deadlines for shipping out your Christmas orders – this is especially important if you offer international shipping!
Remember, it may take longer than usual for your customers to receive their products this year due to all the restrictions. Make sure you’re allowing plenty of time for that as well.
Christmas content ideas for your business
While you should definitely continue sharing your usual content throughout the next few weeks, make sure you’re also sharing posts, videos, and Stories that are specifically geared towards the holiday season. Here are a few content ideas to get you started:
1. Share a sneak peek
Are you launching special gift packs or offers over the holiday season? Share some sneak peeks with your followers!
This is a great way to pique their interest and build some hype around your product launch. As a bonus, the air of mystery around this type of content is an excellent way to spark engagement with your audience too!
Here are some ways you can share sneak peeks on your Instagram:
- Share snippets of your new product offering every day for a week (either through your e-mail marketing or Instagram Stories), and then do a big reveal on your grid.
- Drop hints about your new offer in your regular posts – just a quick note at the end will do: “Psst…we’re working hard behind the scenes on something brand new. Keep your eyes peeled!”.
- Create a video of you in the creation process for this product, then ask your audience to guess what it’s going to be.
2. Create a gift guide
Everyone loves a good gift guide! It can be tricky finding the right gifts for the people you love, especially considering the sheer amount of new stuff out there.
Creating helpful, valuable content for your audience shows them that you care. Gift guides are a staple for magazines around the holiday season, but for some reason, we haven’t really seen it a lot in the digital space.
Not only are gift guides really useful for your audience, they’re also an opportunity for you to showcase what you have to offer!
Here are some ways you can use gift guides as part of your content sharing strategy this holiday season:
- Create a blog post with gift guides for different types of consumers that would use your products. It’s important to highlight your own products in these gift guides, of course! Here’s an example of a gift guide blog post we created for our client, Styelle Swim, last year.
- Create Carousel posts on your Instagram featuring your products, with suggestions on who would love to receive them as a gift.
- Host a Q&A on your Stories where people can ask you for product recommendations. This is a great way to engage with your followers as well!
3. Launch a countdown campaign
Humans love a bit of suspense, don’t we? That’s why countdowns are so effective! Use this holiday season to create a bit of excitement around your Christmas offerings through countdown content.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Launch a 12 days of Christmas countdown with a new discount code every day.
- Create an advent calendar on your website which features one item with a big discount for one day only.
- Start a countdown to launch your special Christmas-only offers – this is definitely something you can tie in with the first idea we shared earlier!
4. Share the joy with a giveaway!
Giveaways are a fantastic way to create engagement and increase followership on your socials. The holiday season is obviously a perfect time to host a giveaway, because more eyes will be on digital content in general as people search for the perfect gifts.
Here are some ideas you can use to create a successful giveaway:
- Add a little twist – In the spirit of giving, let the winner of your giveaway choose the person they want to receive the prize!
- Partner up with another like-minded business to offer a special giveaway package together.
- Make it festive! Make it clear that this giveaway is Christmas-themed by adding festive accessories.
5. A holiday-themed tutorial
Audiences love it when brands showcase the versatility of their products. Take the opportunity to create content that shows how customers can use your products, but add a bit of Christmas cheer!
This may be a good time to invest in new product photography for Christmas-themed images too.
Here’s how you can create special holiday-themed tutorials featuring your product:
- Create a regular tutorial, but make sure you’re surrounded by holiday decor.
- Use your products for holiday DIYs – bonus points for using them in an unexpected way!
- Share gift wrapping ideas for your products to inspire the gift-givers in the audience.
6. Take them behind-the-scenes
We can’t deny that as humans, we are really curious creatures. People always want to take a little peek behind the curtains, so why not let them? This allows you to humanise your digital content so your audience can feel more connected to you and your business.
If you’re not sure how to take your audience behind the scenes, here are some content ideas to inspire you:
- Share videos of you asking your team members about their holiday plans, or their favourite part of the season.
- Show how your products are made, especially if you’re launching brand new products just for Christmas.
- Get personal – show up in your Instagram Stories and share what makes this holiday season special for you.
7. Give back
Christmas is a time for giving and forgiving – always make sure that this spirit of generosity is apparent in your content this holiday season. Your kindness and authenticity will be apparent to your audience, and will go a long way in creating trust and loyalty within your community.
Not sure how your content can be about giving back? Here are a few ideas:
- Donate a portion of your proceeds to a cause that is important to you and your audience.
- Commit to doing a random act of kindness every day, and urge your followers to do the same!
- Highlight instances of generosity and kindness within your community and industry. This is the time to share wholesome and inspiring stories!
8. Cultivate connections
In an increasingly disconnected world, it’s all too easy to feel alone. Make sure your spaces are warm and welcoming. When creating content this holiday season, think of every image or video as an invitation for people to actually connect with you and each other.
Here are a few ways you can spark conversation and connection through your content:
- Ask for account recommendations so you can connect with other businesses.
- Provide a platform for your audience to discover other small businesses. We love the Support Small Business stickers on Instagram for this!
- Connect with your audience and other small businesses in a meaningful way – leave thoughtful comments, share their content, and leave DM responses to their Stories.
Make this a holiday season to remember
There’s no doubt that our celebrations may be a little more subdued this year, but that doesn’t mean that your audience shouldn’t enjoy a little Christmas cheer this holiday season! Do your part to create a warm and festive atmosphere in your little corner of the Internet. We all need a little Christmas cheer this year, don’t you think?
If you need a little help to create special content for the holiday season, we’re here for you! This is the perfect time to sign up to our Instagram Management packages or engage us for copywriting services (including Instagram caption writing and blog posts). Contact us ASAP to ensure that we can help you in time for the busy season!
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