An Early Christmas Gift for Social Media Marketers

For social media marketers, Christmas has come early. A couple of weeks ago two social media moguls, Facebook, and Instagram introduced holiday-related ad targeting options; optimized for marketers looking to run highly-targeting marketing campaigns on the most popular social networks up through New Year’s. Not only are marketers in the mix. The small business owner as well can run their campaigns thanks to the abundance of data from Facebook. They’ll be thanking Santa for such analytics that allows them access to the right interest groups.

Here’s how it works. Facebook users highly engaged with content related to holiday shopping receive ads from the social media platform. If they habitually like or share Black Friday or Cyber Monday posts, for example. Marketers and small business owners can then find this data under the “Behaviors” section within the “Seasonal and Events” category. The holiday targeting option is available on all ad formats. And the data here also gives marketers and small business owners alike the option to run ads on Instagram.

Here are several benefits of running such ad campaigns:

Locate Your Sales Leads

With the aforementioned data, you’re able to locate trending and talked-about products online. What are the hottest items this year? What should I stock up on before the holidays? What's my hashtag strategy? All these pertinent questions get answered with proper data. Let consumers know their desired items are in stock, act as a thought leader by publishing product reviews and other product information as well.

Improve Your Customer Service

Keep an eye on comments and create a conversation with your newly identified audience. Knowing their interest already gets you halfway there. So complete the sales process through nurturing trust and providing outstanding customer service. Statistics show that nearly half (42%) of consumers who complain on social media expect brands to respond within one hour.

Keep an Eye on Competitors

Sun Tzu once wrote, “know your enemy as yourself and you will fight without fear in every battle.” Business can get competitive and downright dirty in some cases. With this in mind, keep an eye out on your competitors in the social media field. Watch strategy, take note of consumer interest and how often your competitors’ brand comes up in conversation. Identify yourself with them, become one with them, and outsell them.

Improve your Products

Keeping up with the conversation provides you with insight into what products or product enhancements your audience desires. Armed with the right data, you’ll be able to provide the answer to their questions before they even get the chance to ask. Be the solution your target audience wants.

Keep these in mind as we continue our journey through the holiday season. Let us know if you use these new features for your holiday marketing by commenting below.