How to keep your Instagram page festive and engaging this December
Striking a good balance between hard sell and organic content on social media can make all the difference at Christmas.
It’s nearly December, and you’ve got your marketing plans locked in and ready to launch, if they haven’t gone live already. But have you thought about how to keep things fresh and engaging on your social media channels? If you’re a company with a presence on Instagram, then you need to give some thought to your content throughout December, and how you can keep engagement levels high.
Here’s some great ideas for content that can slot between your planned marketing posts to keep your feed engaging and conversational.
1. Share your best sellers of the year
This doesn’t have to be a shoppable post, just an informative piece that you’re sharing. People looking for gifting ideas will be influenced by the knowledge that others have bought it. Sharing reviews of products is great too, as it encourages trust and brand buy-in from customers who are information-gathering in preparation for making purchases.
2. Gift wrapping tips
This one is especially impactful if you sell products that are an awkward shape, such as bottles, as you can use your own products as props. Stills of aesthetically pleasing Christmas wrapping are always great content and will be shared widely, but a reel showing it done in real time would be better still as reels are more likely to gain traction outside of your own audience sphere.
3. Influencer / customer content
If you engage in influencer marketing, then try to get some of these scheduled in for December, so that you can reshare their content as a quick win. If you don’t, then pay attention to any posts where you may have been tagged by customers, and reshare those instead.
4. How-to videos and usage guides
If your products are consumables, such as food or drink, share some guidance for suggested usage via reels. For example, if you sell chocolate, show some great festive serving suggestions. If you sell cosmetics, share some ‘how-to’ guides on application/who it's for. Again, this sort of propping and styling incentivises people looking for gifts to buy.
5. Advent-style countdowns
You could do the 12 days of Christmas, or the full 24 from the start of the month, but this can be a fun way to share marketing imagery, making the reveal into a visual advent calendar. Create some really striking number graphics that will break up your page visuals.
6. Share a behind-the-scenes snapshot
Don’t be afraid to mix up marketing content with more candid behind-the-scenes snippets to lend a bit of character and personality to your brand. If your staff had a Christmas party, or have taken part in Christmas Jumper Day, then share that. Show the people behind the label and reveal a more personal side occasionally. If you want it to feel candid, but temporary, share this content on stories, so it doesn’t disrupt the look and feel of your page style.
7. Charity collaborations or shout-outs
Christmas is a time for charity, and even as company who is commercially involved in the season, you can still take part in this. Make a charitable donation to a cause close to your company’s heart or reveal that every purchase made on a certain day will push a percentage of takings towards a charity you support.
8. Ask for engagement
Encourage active engagement through a competition or sharing event. Ask customers for their best Christmas tree photo or top tip for Christmas table decorating, and get them to tag you in their entries, sharing what you receive. It doesn’t have to be a competition with a winner, just an engagement exercise that will see your tag being widely used and shared, and you’ll get content for your stories by resharing these tags.