Four ways your brand can win on social this Holiday season

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

And if you’re a retailer, your most important. That’s right; it’s the Holiday season. A whopping 15% of all Australian e-commerce sales will come in a period of three weeks from the end of November to mid-December, according to Australia Post. This means it’s even more critical that your retail or e-commerce brand is social ready for the most competitive time of the year.

So as you’re putting the star atop your office Christmas tree or chasing down those final assets from your designer, here are four things you should be thinking about as you prepare to launch your 2019 Christmas campaign.

1. Stories are making a splash.

2019 saw Instagram Stories (and now Facebook Stories) take off. Despite copying the feature from Snapchat, Stories now drive higher engagement than any other Instagram format. Tapping horizontally through Stories is in-vogue versus scrolling through an algorithm controlled feed.

Understandably, this change in user behaviour will require retailers to further evaluate their creative approach. Horizontal and square assets will no longer make the cut. This holiday season, retailers will need to take a fully-vertical approach to social.

Facebook has said that Stories will be a key battleground in growing awareness for product offerings through the Christmas period. However, according to research from Social Bakers; the Facebook news feed is the best place for brands to drive conversions. 

The key message? Grow awareness through Instagram Stories, drive conversions through the news feed. 

2. Get in early

It might seem obvious, but the early bird does in-fact get the worm. For e-commerce retailers, getting prepared early and starting your campaign activity in early-November is a must given changing consumer behaviour. Facebook reports a record 20% of global consumers will begin their Christmas shopping in October, with a further 49% starting in November. This suggests that consumers are going ‘bigger for longer’.

This trend is predominantly driven by American shopping events such as Black Monday and Cyber Tuesday. Increasing global interest, including in Australia, means no longer are these events just for American shoppers.

Any excuse to shop, right?

The start of November is also a great time to start your media buying. Competition for media space heats up in December as every retailer in the country flood the market and compete for finite media space to grab consumer’s attention. However, brands who invest early in warming up audiences and awareness for their brand, product or sale; can head into the December period with a broad audience already engaged with their offer. This can do a great job of keeping CPMs low, staying ahead of your competitors and improving your chance of a conversion.

3. Time to get chatty

As Facebook moves back into ‘private spaces’ from ‘public spaces’, Messenger has become the centrepiece of Zuckerberg’s push. This holiday season, Messenger activity or ‘conversational commerce’ (c-commerce) will play a significant role in driving sales.

According to Facebook, 65% of holiday shoppers who used Facebook messaging apps said they’d be more likely to buy from a business if they could contact them through a messaging service. 

Retailers have the opportunity not just to provide customer support, but to also go a step further and provide personalised recommendations or suggestions. Akin to the role of an in-store ‘sales assistant’ who can help you pick out the perfect gift for your brother-in-law or help you find the right pair of shoes.

While this is undoubtedly a demanding requirement on resources, 64% of Aussies reported earlier this year that they’re more likely to trust a brand who interacted with them positively on social media. Having a presence through Facebook’s Messenger platform is becoming an expectation, rather than a luxury. It’s also a great opportunity to up-sell and build loyalty through a convenient experience for your customers.

4. Target Differently

This one is a big one.

Unlike the other ten months of the year, your targeting on social through November and December should be slightly different. Where the majority of your sales come from people buying for themselves, in the holiday season, people are purchasing gifts for others. These people are likely to come from outside your typical target audience, so it’s important to think bigger and increase the range of audience targeting.

The best way to do this is leveraging off your custom audience data obtained through visitor website activity and creating broader Lookalike Audiences based on website purchasers. This is especially valuable if you can identify people who are making the purchase as a gift or doing their holiday shopping early.

In their Pre-Holiday Guide to Retailers, Facebook encouraged the use of their new dynamic ads to target broader audiences. It might be worth your time to give it a try and see how it goes.