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Spooktacular Content Ideas for October: The Modern Marketing Show, Episode 65

Content planning is tough, especially for a small business owner. You have a million other things happening on a daily basis, and with the holidays right around the corner, you need to find a way to balance it all. So we’re sharing examples of content ideas you can find inside our Retail Content Pack.

We didn’t record a video this week but you can view the post, here. 

Idea #1: Host a #TBT picture contest and ask your audience to share pictures of themselves in their favorite childhood Halloween costume. Give away a gift certificate to your store to a few lucky winners valid starting in November. This is a great way to get people in your doors during the busy holiday months.

Idea #2: Give a discount to anyone who shares a cheesy Halloween joke at checkout. Share the best ones on social media, and give the joke teller a shoutout.

Share your fun Halloween content ideas in the comments below.

You can catch new episodes of The Modern Marketing Show every Monday at 10 a.m PST on our Facebook Page. Replays will be available on the blog each week.

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Social Edge Live, Episode 31: Holiday Gift Guides for Everyone in Your Life

The countdown to Christmas is on and it’ll be here before you know it. The hustle and bustle of malls and shopping centers is a common sight to see this time of year. People are out looking for the perfect gift for those important people in their life – which can be completely overwhelming! Most people turn to online channels and social media for ideas and inspiration, so why not capitalize on it? Consumers often look to you as the credible source, for gift inspiration, so tell them what to buy for who and why with holiday gift guides.

Watch the full episode below:

Holiday gift guides make for great content across your social media platforms. They provide a solution to a time-consuming, daunting, and often stressful task. You’ll be able to provide unique ideas that can steer away from the same old, same old. Let your creativity shine when creating these holiday gift guides. Remeber: the best way to get the most engagement across your social media is to go live or use video. But, we understand that can be challenging for most. Which is why we wanted to share some ideas you use can use outside of going live.

Slideshows

Slideshows are great because they add movement, but don’t require the time or energy that comes with being on camera. The moving images can help keep your customers looking at and engaged with your content longer than they might have otherwise.

When creating a slideshow you’ll want to upload anywhere from 3 to 10 images. You’ll then want to set a timer for how long each image is displayed – we recommend 2 seconds in between before showing the next image. You can also add music to your slideshow from the approved choices available of Facebook.

Albums

Albums are a great way to keep everything in one place. You can always create multiple albums, each with their own theme, to make it an easy viewing experience for your audience. Title your album clearly to help send your customer to the right place, i.e. “Gifts for Her” or “Gifts for Mom” make it clear about types of items are inside.

Once the album is made it’s always important to include the product name, price, and store contact information on every image. This makes it easy for your customers to find the item in-store or to get in touch with you if needed. If you have an online shop you can also include the direct product link so people can purchase online.

We recommend creating an album with a minimum of 5 images. When viewed from a mobile device or computer people will only see thumbnails of the first few images, so you’ll want to catch peoples attention early and get them to click over to view what else is inside. Again, it’s about increasing the time people spend with your content and engage with it.

Carousels 

Are a collection of up to 10 images that can link to a specific place online. These are great for e-commerce businesses or if you sell online because you’ll be able to link directly to the product page. You can use carousels on both Facebook and Instagram, but they vary slightly in how you set them up.

Flat-lays

Flat-lays are a great way to share content and can be very visually appealing. You’ll lay your products down against a clean, simple background or you can just use your floor. Then you’ll take the picture from up above over the items to showcase all the items in the image. You can get super creative with flat-lays. These are great if you want to share outfit ideas, themed item, or even items of a single color. You can share these across all platforms like Facebook and Instagram, but especially on Pinterest.

Tip: For more flat-lay inspiration each #flatlay on Instagram.

Stories

Stories work for holiday gift guides because they allow for quick snapshots or videos of your products. If you’re doing special sale or want to let people know you’re almost out of an item, this can help create urgency to get people through your doors.

Remember, these ideas can be used for more than just holiday gift ideas. You can also create guides for “Holiday Party Decor” or “Christmas Party Outfit Ideas” or even “Office Christmas Party Favors”…honestly the possibilities are endless.

You can catch new episodes every Monday at 10 a.m PST on our Facebook Page. Replays will be available on the blog each week.

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Social Edge Live, Episode 30: 12 Days of Christmas, Will You Be Participating?

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and you know what that means: sale, sales, and more sales. One foolproof promotion we always recommend running as a small business is a 12 Days of Christmas Campaign. For those of you who unfamiliar with a 12 Days of Christmas Campaign, let us break it down for you.

What it is:

It’s a 12-day super sale that happens during the month of December. Each day a special deal on a new featured item is available to your customers. The featured items can be seasonal, high-ticket or items that need to sell before Christmas, like decorations and gifts. You want it to be a nice, cohesive blend of items that peak customer interest.

How to run it:

You should announce the deal of the day the night before or early that morning allowing it to be available as long as possible. Announce it across all your social platforms. We suggest going live or sharing a pre-record a video (you can’t escape using video!). You’ll then support the announcement with an email marketing blast and posts on Instagram, Instagram Stories, Snapchat, etc. Make it clear about what the deal is, include dates, exclusions, while supplies last if you don’t plan on ordering more. You want to create a sense of urgency so people come shop in-store that day! Offer to hold items for people if they comment online or call your store, but set a time limit for how long you’ll be able to hold it for.

When to run it:

Retailers run it beginning December 1st or December 12th. Many prefer starting on the 1st to avoid having it end so close to Christmas.

Best Practices:

Whether people mention the promotion or not, the deal of the day is applicable to anyone shopping in-store. It’s all about experience, and only offering the deal to some people and no others is going to create a bad experience.

You typically don’t make much profit on the featured item since it’s being discounted. It’s you and your team’s goal to upsell and get people shopping to spend more while in-store. Also, use this as a tool to collect as much new customer information as possible to help you with future marketing and sales initiatives.

Is your deal good enough to get people through the door? Do your best to stand out and catch people’s attention.

Promote each deal to get the most exposure and to fully optimize it. You don’t have to break the bank to get your pots seen. We’ve seen success in as little as a $25 budget over the full 12 Days. It’s all a numbers game, the more people that see your deal the more foot traffic you’ll be able to get. Look back at email open rates and video views to make sure people are seeing it, and make adjustments accordingly. 

You can catch new episodes every Monday at 10 a.m PST on our Facebook Page. Replays will be available on the blog each week.