Even though it’s cold outside, here comes the season of warm get-togethers, steaming eggnogs, and hot days for those who do business online. Since a little sparkle makes everything brighter, make sure you have decked the IG feed all the way.
Targeted ads, useful content, and celebrating activities are the elves to fill your gift bag. In fact, these mentioned ones are pillars for any season, but a Special Day takes a sophisticated entourage.
In this article, we'll talk about how to make approaches to selective digital communities and turn your account into a real winter wonderland.
Turn a Gift-Hunting Shopping Spree Into Selling Opportunities
Let's step away from tales and fantasies for a while and look at real numbers to learn more about holiday shopping habits:
- 5% finish their gift shopping lists as early as the end of September.
- 12% are done with Christmas purchasing in October.
- 36% get everything ready in November.
- 28% plan to complete it by the beginning of December.
- 9% report last-minute shopping.
There are still 8% who are not yet sure when they will start, as well as 3% who will spend nothing. With such a diverse answer scale, it is clear that pleasing everyone, even at Christmas, seems a challenging job.
This way, a good content strategy should be built around all separate clusters. It is recommended to pitch early deals for those used to shopping in early autumn. A mass approach does for the November rush. Last-minute offers capture slow starters.
The message is simple: Take these steps one by one to get the-more-the merrier effect.
The Rituals’ Case — the Proof is in the Pudding
Special designs are hardly what September and October types expect. This is the best time to introduce new products or upcoming drops and give the audience a chance to learn new stuff about your brand. Take care of early birds and let them buy the product among the very first. The idea here is to let people shop without the risk of running out of stock during the festive twists and turns. This period is best suited for conscious and large purchases. So, work hard to deliver the value of your product.
Rituals, home & body products manufacture, successfully launched a vegan-friendly lip balms line in three juicy colors. To continue the eco-theme, the company introduced concentrated hand wash refills, and even did something more large-scale like a drop of three new fragrances. Rituals also refined the formulations of many of its best-selling products for the festive season.
Warm up your followers with special offers by mid-November. This is the best time to spread holiday vibes. Think about packaging, draft gift boxes, in general, make your product look good enough to become a present without additional manipulations. Rituals also stuck to the plan and announced two limited editions. The latter even became part of the advent calendar.
A worthwhile offer, that's what you need!
But your account may not be powerful enough to provide you with evergreen traffic.
So, invite “Rudolph” into your team!
Decide on a Reindeer Set to Speed up Your Santa's Sleigh
Customize an offer for each segment of the target audience. Personalized products are always in demand. Test samples in Stories and then adapt the best-performing ads for the feed. Check out what other accounts do and make the most of the insights.
Try all available methods for promotion. There are no right and wrong ones. It is only those that you used and didn’t.
Do not forget to book ad posts and negotiate collaborations. Influencer marketing can be a game changer. As people look for gifts and present ideas, a well-timed collaboration in a relevant niche can drive sales significantly.
Change your Instagram header/avatar and post a couple of Christmas-themed posts. Share your childhood memories, holiday recipes, or anything you think would fit. It is important to bridge your experience with clients, so they can feel related. This is exactly what Meta did by uploading a nostalgic salt dough ornaments guide:
The Best Ideas for Christmassy Content on Instagram
You may have already noticed some good options for the winter content plan. Let's break it down again so as not to overdo it with mediocre posts. Repetition is more likely to cause pity than the desired wow effect and positive emotions. At least, you already know about the remaining Santa’s little helpers: useful posts and celebrating activities.
Since Christmas is associated with joy that comes from helping others, think about how your account can take care of your followers and continue the cycle of kindness.
- Best of the year. Review which of your uploaded posts have generated the most interest and refresh your audience’s memory. Pace relevant links in stories or pin them. Pulling out your best works doesn’t mean you can give up on new content. It is just as a way to save your subscribers from long scrolling in the hunt for a streamlined engagement.
- Trends. There is no greater expertise than the ability to predict what will be in demand next year. To make things more convincing, provide research results, expert opinions, and infographics. It is important for users to understand how not to squander in the holiday rush. Such media are a beacon for making purchasing decisions. That is, basically, how things work.
- Guides. A walkthrough on thrifty shopping or product manuals are what people may be in quest for. In addition to the standard ideas on how to trim a Christmas tree or plan a holiday menu, DIY videos are especially popular. Amazon, for example, released an inspiring Reel on how to upcycle delivery packaging boxes and turn them into beautiful gingerbread houses.
- Christmas collections. Few people like to spend hours searching for information on the Internet or social networks. Save your audience from such a heavy load and make collections of holiday movies, songs, ornaments, and more stuff that gives a sense of Christmas Spirit. This is the most frequently bookmarked and shared content, so be sure your efforts will pay off.
- Tips and life hacks. Share recommendations that will save viewer’s time and make the holidays unforgettable. This format can also work to boost sales. All that is needed is to show the product in action. Napkin rings nicely topped with a rose to add a fresh touch to a table setting, silicon warming mat to serve the dishes piping hot, whatever the offer, it should be linked to party preps.
Cheer up the audience with your content. Games and fun activities are great for bringing joy and escaping routine, which in itself is a noble goal. Well, at the same time, this is the best way to foster engagement. Here are the most popular Instagram fun things to do:
- IG users are much into New Year's masks or stickers. Come up with something special from your brand such as KFC does. The company encourages scanning Holiday Buckets to get a custom snap Sticker. Just look at this cuteness!
- "Add Yours" photo dump. Ask the audience to share the most memorable moments of the past year. Basically, any topic will do. The main message is to reflect on achievements and results, and also to charge up with wishes for 2025.
- Polls. You can run a poll with a yes/no answer or offer multiple answer options. This is a great way to get feedback from your subscribers and learn more about their preferences and red flags.
- Who is the most attentive? Leave Easter eggs in photos, hide code phrases in text, and promo codes in videos. You can raffle off prizes among the most sharp-eyed or simply give your subscribers a chance to unwind, as The New Yorker did:
- Continue the phrase. Let each subsequent user continue the phrase of the previous one. Set a New Year-related theme and watch how nice things roll out.
- Emoji game. Suggest leaving emojis that match users holiday mood.
Avoid Like-Turkeys-Voting-for-an-Early-Christmas Decisions
Keep your account’s personality in mind and try not to slip into unbridled fun. Useful content and fun games work well to attract an audience. However, when people visit your page, they should understand what your brand is about and who you are behind all the glitz.
Talk about what you accomplished this year and what your ambitions are for next one. Be specific. Show your results in reports, numbers, graphs, etc. Don’t be afraid to highlight big events. Look at how Disney meticulously keeps track of nominations won, paired with animated characters and sentimental tributes to the Founding Father.
Good deeds happen behind the scenes. Not in this case. Charitable initiatives allow showing your brand supporters that you are true to your beliefs. Find out which areas are most in line with your mission. Encourage your followers to get involved. After all, the concept of universal well-being is the very gist of the holiday.
You don’t have to put all your projects on hold just because everyone is waiting for Christmas. Informational content has a right to be in the feed. Go live on Instagram, share behind-the-scenes, react to big events, etc. just like you would do any other time of year.
To Wrap It Up
Getting momentum on Instagram during the holiday season isn’t just about aesthetics. It’s about making connections and spreading the joy of Christmas. Light up your Instagram feed with the magic of festive Instagram post ideas. Use different types of content to find the right key for each user. Share your special moments, engage with the IG community, and, overall, let your creativity flow. Christmas comes, but once a year. So, keep your social media marketing routine in mind.
