Digital Marketing Tips For The Festive Season In South Africa

It’s that exciting time of the year again… a time of celebration, giving, and joy, but for businesses, it is a time to shut down and take a well-deserved break. In hindsight, it can also be a golden opportunity to boost sales and engage with their audience.

Whether your company is open or closed at this time of the year, it would be a pity to miss out on all the internet action. If people are consistently following your page and engaging with your content, they may unfollow you if they see you aren’t posting anymore. Knowing how to leverage your digital assets and channels is essential if you want to stand out from your competitors in the retail battleground.

With the right Holiday digital marketing strategies, your brand can capitalize on the holiday season to increase revenue, expand your customer base, and leave a lasting impact.

Here are a few top tips for running a festive season digital marketing campaign:

1. Remarketing Route

The remarketing route consists of targeting people that you know have been on your website, Facebook, or Instagram previously. Remarketing to people that have engaged with your business before is a much more effective way to do digital marketing over the festive period.

Selecting the appropriate channel and segment based on your audience for your remarketing advertising will ensure that they get a customised experience. When this occurs, customers trust your brand because you understand their demands.

2. Analyse Previous Years

Think about the previous years and experience – what you did, what went well and what didn’t work.  Consider what your top-selling products were and use Google Analytics to view which days had the best traffic on your website and conversions. This will help guide you on what to do again and where you can improve.

3. Seasonal SEO & PPC Strategy

By implementing a seasonal SEO and PPC strategy, you’ll rank better for festive-themed search terms and queries, attracting more Christmas shoppers to your site. For example, if your business sells toys, customers are likely to search for, “Christmas gifts for kids” or “Best Christmas toy ideas for girls”.

We all know that Black Friday and Cyber Monday is fast becoming very popular in South Africa, so creating a PPC and SEO strategy for these will also increase relevant traffic to your website, which in essence, will set you up for an effective Christmas marketing campaign for your website and social media platforms.

4. Optimise for Mobile

According to eMarketer, nearly 60% of all online sales are attributed to mobile devices.  More consumers are browsing online from their handheld devices than ever before, so it’s imperative that your website is fully optimised and responsive for mobile. Up to 57% of mobile users will not recommend a business if their mobile website is poorly designed or responsive, and mobile websites that load in 5 seconds or less will end in a viewing session that’s 70% longer than their slower competitors.

5. Target Existing Database

Consumers have a propensity to purchase from brands they trust and have purchased from before. This makes email marketing and SMS campaigns very powerful. According to SOMS Digital, you can use it to inform your database about your festive season promotions and help drive traffic to your website. Keep the following tips in mind when creating an e-marketing campaign:

• Personalise by speaking to your customer directly – this can include their name, location and even purchase history.
• Regularly clean up your database to ensure you target the correct people.
• Remind customers of the benefits of shopping online: no long queues and trips to the busy shops.

6. Use Social Media

Social media is such a powerful and effective tool for users to be tremendously active on over the festive season – posting about their purchases, great finds, product reviews and more. Creating social media strategies for this period can be very operative in increasing traffic to your site and conversions. According to Comfort Digital, here are two of some of the social media strategies that are effective during the festive season:

7. Social Media Campaigns: Creating and Spreading Festive Buzz

Social media platforms provide the perfect stage to showcase your brand’s holiday spirit. From visually appealing content to interactive content, we’ll discuss how to make the most of social media campaigns during the holidays. You’ll discover strategies for running engaging festive social media campaigns, spreading the joy of the season far and wide.

• Crafting engaging holiday-themed posts
• Running festive giveaways and contests
• Utilizing holiday hashtags and trends
• Collaborating with influencers for greater reach.

To run engaging festive social media campaigns that spread the joy of the season far and wide, businesses can employ a combination of creative strategies.

7. Collaborating with Influencers for Greater Reach

Partner with social media influencers who resonate with your brand and the holiday theme. Influencers can help you reach a broader audience and add authenticity to your campaigns. Influencer collaborations can include product endorsements, reviews, or joint giveaways. Ensure that influencers share content that aligns with your brand’s values and holiday messaging.

By combining these strategies, your brand can create engaging festive social media campaigns that not only capture the essence of the holiday season but also spread the joy far and wide. It’s essential to stay creative, stay connected with your audience, and use the right tactics to make your campaigns stand out in the crowded social media landscape during the holidays. These are just a few of many ways in which you can increase traffic and sales while maintaining a strong brand presence during the festive season. The December holidays are always the busiest time of year for all retailers, so preparing a well-thought-out digital marketing strategy will ensure you reap the rewards and cash in on the increased demand during the busy festive season.