// BLOG
Is Your 2024 Holiday Marketing Plan in Place?
October 8, 2024
It’s officially fall, and Halloween is just over the horizon. That means it’s time for everything pumpkin spice, cozy sweaters, costumes and candy, and, of course, holiday marketing! Halloween starts the year-end holiday blitz that doesn’t conclude until January 1st, so you must have your marketing plan for the rest of the year in place now rather than trying to fly by the seat of your pants. How’s the 2024 holiday season shaping up?
This year, sales during the holiday are forecasted to see a 5% growth compared to 2023, with much of the growth coming from e-commerce. However, though online sales will account for much of holiday shopping, in-store sales will still account for roughly 80% of all sales. How your customers purchase your products or services doesn’t matter as much as how you’re reaching them, though. The holidays are when every store out there competes for the customer’s attention, meaning your holiday marketing plan needs to stand out.
How You Can Stand Out In 2024
Step one is defining your audience, as you don’t want to waste your time marketing to people who aren’t interested in what you’re selling. You can define the best audience for your marketing efforts in a few ways. You can take a look back at your customers and determine which are the most valuable, separate out your VIP purchasers, or create a segment of repeat, loyal customers. You may even decide that first-time shoppers are your best bet this holiday season. Don’t limit yourself to just one segment of your customer population, though. If you think repeat customers and first-time shoppers are both viable, target them both!
Once you’ve determined which audiences to direct your holiday marketing to, you need to figure out the best channels to get their attention. For many, this will be social media; however, you need to figure out which social media platforms your audience is on and focus on those platforms only. More and more people are shopping on social media platforms, particularly Instagram and Pinterest, so take advantage of that!
When using social media to market, get creative! Don’t only stick to regular, everyday posts about sales or updates. Instead, create a content calendar for the next few months that includes content like holiday gift guide reels, holding contests and giving away special holiday items, bringing in influencers, and getting your audience in on the holiday fun with user-generated content. And don’t forget ads! Social media ads are an excellent way to get your products and services in front of your holiday audience.
Email marketing is another fantastic way to market yourself for the holidays. Email marketing can be a highly effective tool, particularly if your email list is robust. Roll out special one-time deals or early discounts via email, set up automated flows to retarget customers who leave your site with items still in their cart, and utilize those sales funnels!
Finally, don’t forget to optimize your website for the holidays. Set up landing pages devoted to whichever holiday is coming up next, engage in keyword research to update your site’s SEO, and since most people shop via phone, ensure your website is mobile-friendly!
Final Thoughts
The holidays are the busiest shopping time of the year, so you need to be prepared ahead of time with a holiday marketing plan! It’ll take a little time to set up and some hard work on your part, but it’ll be well worth it in the long run. Once your marketing plan is in place, you’ll be ready to get in front of your audience with the precise content they want to see this holiday season.
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By Misty Layne
Client Spotlight: Big Brothers Moving and Hauling
May 23, 2024
We are incredibly lucky at Social Marketing Solutions to be able to work with some of the best companies from a variety of industries. From clients we've been working with for years, to the ones who are brand new to SMS, we work with a vast array of talent and we thought it would be great if we had a chance to highlight one of our awesome clients. Today we're introducing Big Brothers Moving and Hauling!
Big Brothers Moving and Hauling serves Morris County, NJ, and has a reputation for excellence and top-tier moving services. The company is locally owned and operated and consists of a team of professionals committed to prioritizing customer satisfaction and ensuring the relocation experience is completely stress-free. From efficient packing to secure transportation, Big Brothers Moving and Hauling can handle every aspect of relocation.
So, if you’re looking at a big move in the upcoming future, contact Big Brothers Moving and Hauling at (973) 216-5613 for a free estimate!
We’re very pleased to be working with Big Brothers Moving and Hauling on their Facebook and Instagram accounts and can’t wait to see where our efforts lead. Welcome, guys!
How to Repurpose Content Like a Pro
January 31, 2024
Online marketing, like social media, blogs, and newsletters, is all about the content. But most of the time you’re much too busy to keep churning out content for several different sites on the daily. So, what can you do to ensure you have enough content to go around without dedicating a billion hours each week to content creation?
Repurpose your content, of course! But what exactly does it mean to repurpose content, and how do you do it successfully? We’ll be answering those questions here, so keep reading to learn how to repurpose content like a pro!
What is Repurposing Content?
What exactly does it mean to “repurpose content” anyway? Repurposing content simply means that you’re taking old content and reusing elements of it (or sometimes all of it) while also updating anything that is no longer relevant. And when you repurpose content, you don’t reuse it in its original form; instead, you change it up into a new form (like turning a blog post into an Instagram Reel).
Repurposing content isn’t the same as cross-posting or reposting content (though it’s easy to get the three confused). Cross-posting content is when you share the exact same piece of content in the same form across your social media channels, websites, etc. Reposting content is when you publish the same piece of content a second (or third or fourth) time on the same site. So, perhaps you just found a picture you posted two years ago on Facebook, and you decide to share it once again to your Facebook page.
Why Should I Repurpose Content?
Now that you understand what repurposing content is, you might be asking yourself why you should do it. There are three main benefits to using content in this way.
The first benefit is that you save time. If you’re repurposing content, then you don’t have to sit down and think up ideas for new content, figure out how to present that content or create that content. Instead, you already have the ideas and the content itself; all you need to do is decide where you want to post it and in what form. And you can repurpose content at the same time as you originally create it. For example, if you just finished an e-book, you could also use content from that in blog posts, podcasts, or as quotes on social media.
The second benefit of content repurposing is it can give you an SEO boost. Having lots of content out there on the internet that all focus on the same or similar targeted keywords means the search engines will deem you an authority on whatever subject your content is about. That can mean more people find your stuff when they search for the topic you’re discussing.
Finally, repurposing content expands your online reach. If you simply post a blog, then people who visit your website will see it. But what about the people who read your newsletter or your followers on Threads? By repurposing that same blog post into content that fits other platforms, you’re getting your content in front of a more diverse (and larger) audience.
How do I Repurpose Content?
There’s really no end to the ways you can repurpose content, depending on how creative you are and where you’re repurposing content (in fact, here are 20 ways to repurpose content!). But if you’re looking for a few ways to get yourself started, here are some ideas:
- Take parts from a report or e-book and turn them into a blog post.
- Take a video from YouTube and break it into smaller pieces to place on Instagram, LinkedIn, or Facebook.
- If you have a lot of text-based content, turn some of it into graphics, such as infographics.
- Turn long-form written content into newsletters.
- What’s the key takeaway from a piece of old content? Use that takeaway to make a quick Instagram Reel or TikTok.
See? There’s no shortage of ways to repurpose content, and once you get the hang of what works best for you, you’ll be repurposing content like a pro!
Final Thoughts
Repurposing content can be an incredibly useful part of online marketing. It saves you time, gives you an SEO boost, and can help expand your online reach. Plus, you get to be creative in how you decide to repurpose your content. Pick one of the above ways to repurpose content to get started (and be sure to check out the Hubspot article with 20 ways to repurpose content!). Trust us; you’ll be glad you did.
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By Misty Layne
Happy Birthday to Us!
August 14, 2023
On July 25th, Social Marketing Solutions celebrated its 12th anniversary of being in business!
A lot has changed since 2011—Twitter is now X, Facebook is Meta (and owns Instagram and now Threads)—the social media landscape has changed in a myriad of unexpected ways. That isn’t all that’s changed in the past 12 years, though. In 2011, we couldn’t have imagined the success and support we have now. The past years have given us a growth of customers beyond all expectations.
We’re excited to continue working towards our 13th year in business. There are no words to describe Social Marketing Solutions' gratefulness for the support and loyalty of everyone we’ve crossed paths with, particularly our amazing clients. We continue to learn so much from clients and fellow social networkers.
Social Marketing Solutions also looks forward to coming out of this upcoming year stronger and with even more knowledge on how best to promote and support our clientele. It’s beyond rewarding to help small businesses grow, and we can’t wait to see what comes next!
Here’s to 12 successful, fun, and knowledgeable years of social media marketing, and cheers to another 12 to come!
Welcome to Our New Clients!
April 3, 2023
Social Marketing Solutions is constantly growing and expanding, with new clients added all the time, and we'd love to introduce you to our newest additions to the SMS family! Please welcome our latest clients, and stop by their Facebook pages to find out what they're all about!
Please help us welcome:
- Dryer Vent Wizard of Sacramento
- Dryer Vent Wizard of the Greater North Bay Area
- Dryer Vent Wizard of SE Saratoga and NE Schenectady
- Wayne Bedding
We're so excited to have you guys join us!
