Social Advertising | Gifting Season is Here!
15 December 2022
15 December 2022
It’s silly season and that means a lot of things. It means the snow is here, it means Christmas carols and gift giving is around us - it also means digital advertising gets exciting!
For most retail and ecommerce brands, the Christmas season can mean mass sales and for others it can mean mass competition. So, it goes without saying, the advertising you do online has to be well thought out, detailed in targeting, and make the best use of budget when CPCs can skyrocket.
Here are 5 tips to nailing Paid Social activity in the Festive Season and into the New Year… consider it our Christmas gift to you!
That’s right, gifting season means when it comes to audience targeting, it turns on its head in December. What we mean is this, your audience expands in the Festive season as you not only have your usual audience to target but their families, friends and partners to target too. Why? So they buy your usual audience those gifts for Xmas.
“Most concerned shoppers (89%) will be doing their shopping both in-store and online. This group say free returns (63%) and free delivery (55%) are essential components of their holiday shopping this year.” (Marketing Week)
Our advice is during the Christmas period you should run A/B tests on the opposite audience types to drive online revenue. For example, if you sell female gym gear – run a test on males in December too, target people in relationships and see if those doting boyfriends, husbands and fathers buy their loved ones your gym gear too. It’s important to consider all the people who will be searching for your products and services in this period, and hone in on those who could maximise revenue.
Lucky for you, Meta allows you to add audience information like relationship status in campaigns. So they make it a nice, simple addition to Festive campaigns!
“In 2022, social media video ad spending grew by 20.1% to $24.35 billion.” (Hootsuite)
We all like to spend time with loved ones over the Festive break, with a lot of professionals clocking off work by December 17th; so, make sure you have considered what budget you need for the Christmas break, and get all your campaigns ready in your Social Media platforms ahead of going on holiday.
Research keywords that are trending, consider hashtags and consider interests and behaviours that will be relevant for audiences throughout the Christmas / New Years break. Also consider remarketing, who do you want to remind of your brand and push down the buying journey, and more importantly, research what CPCs and CPAs will cost you too. Then you can set your daily budgets accurately and ensure they will do what you need them to… get a piece of that $24.35 billion!
It sounds basic, but it can be a real differentiator in the competitive landscape of the Christmas period – update your copy, your call to actions and your creative too!
“34% of British consumers say inflation will have a ‘major’ impact on their Christmas shopping spend.” (Marketing Week)
The more relevant content is to audiences, the higher the chance for conversions. So speak to your audience at this time, relate to them, and the more tailored, the better. It could be as simple as adding a Christmas discount code to Ads, or adding copy like ‘Get in quick before Xmas!’, or perhaps relating to current socioeconomic factors. More of your audience will be online at home looking to spend vouchers and Christmas money, so make sure to speak to them and maximise all copy for conversions in the Festive break.
“Brand building is the area of marketing that will see most investment over the next year, with 42% of CMOs planning to invest in brand.” (Marketing Week)
Some brands aim for Black Friday and then Christmas, and then they recover in time for the New Year, but the truth is – Boxing day and New Years are big spending periods too. People have Christmas spending money, they’re off work and school, and it can be a big time for converting online revenue. So, consider campaigns for post-Christmas and into the New Year, and make sure you keep consistent spend going throughout to get in front of your key audiences and ahead of your competitors.
We all must have memories of queueing for Boxing day sales? Well, the same goes for ecommerce, especially in this economic climate and with winter snow already falling. The ability to shop from the comfort of a warm home is huge, capitalise on it!
Maximising conversions over the Festive break should be considered a gateway for the New Year, and the New Year is the best time to kick-start brand awareness. New Year, New Strategy as they say!
“77% of those surveyed expect to increase their marketing spend over the next 12 months, despite 44% saying they believe the recession will have a negative impact on their business.” (CMO Survey)
For those businesses where conversions can slow in December, perhaps more B2B focussed brands with offices closing down over the break, use the down time to prepare a slick digital strategy for 2023. Consider your audience, what platforms they’re on, what times of day, what copy they relate to, and how to drive conversions for the best value – this should all form a digital strategy with key KPIs to measure success in the New Year. After all, the best part of Digital Advertising and Paid Social specifically, is the data it generates for you to analyse and feed back into your strategy.
For more expert advice on Social Ecommerce and Social Lead Generation, make sure to speak to our award-winning Social Advertising team, here. We can smell the Christmas spices, and we hope you smell some Christmas success!
