Valentine’s Day is a special day for all lovers around the world. It is the one day that people go out to celebrate love. It is also a great time for brands to shine. So, it is important that you have a Valentine’s Day campaign ready even if you think that your brand has nothing to do with love. Taking advantage of this day to increase your social media reach is important because almost everyone will go online at this period. Thus, even if you are not looking to sell, you can still make the best of this period to create an online buzz for your brand. Here are a few things that you need to do when running a Valentine’s Day social media marketing campaign.
Do not wait for the week before Valentines to put up a marketing campaign. If anything, your campaign should begin at least three weeks before the Valentine’s Day. To be able to do so, start planning your campaign as early as January. Put a plan together that has a schedule of the message you want to communicate, how you want to communicate it, and which platform will be used. Make sure that you have a clear schedule that stipulates every task and deadline, and most importantly, make sure everything is ready before the start date.
Once you are ready with your marketing plan, the first step of running your Valentine’s Day social media marketing campaign is to change your brand images to those that have your Valentine’s Day theme. Change the background image of your website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and any other platforms that you are using to reflect the Valentines mood. Also, images are the first thing that draw customers to your page, so make sure they are relevant and captivating.
If you have special offers running through your campaign period, then make sure you have a dedicated landing page with all the necessary information regarding the offer and how to redeem it. Use a link to this landing page on all your social media platforms.
QR Codes are all the rage now, and they are a great way to increase followers on your online platforms. Print a QR code on your product or marketing material, such as posters or brochures, and let people use them to visit your website or social profiles for a chance to get special Valentine’s Day offers or gifts.
In the spirit of love, capture new followers by giving away gifts through online competitions. Online competitions are a great way to get people to talk about your brand. During the Valentine’s Day period, many people are aware that brands give away gifts and specials, so there will be lots of people looking out for competitions. Also, encourage followers to share your posts, updates or Tweets with their friends and family to create more online buzz. The more the shares, the more participants you will get, and the more your brand will be amplified online.
Remember that your followers are humans, and they want to be thought of as such. The best way to show your followers that you care is to take some time away from selling and just hold talks with them. Encourage audiences to discuss love matters, share their stories, and so on. Keep in mind that the topics should be related to Valentine’s Day and motivate interaction. In addition, asking questions is the best way to keep an online discussion going. So, have someone from your company run these discussions instead of automate the posts.
Another great way to drive online conversations, especially on Twitter, during the Valentines season is by using custom hashtags. For instance, you can have something like #MyEpicValentinesDateFail. Hashtag helps Internet users to find discussions easily. It also helps the discussion to go viral, and if you do it right, you can just have yourself a trending topic.
Nothing tells a story better than a video. As part of your Valentine’s Day campaign have video as one of the strategies. YouTube is a great platform to share custom videos with a large number of users. Film something relevant to your industry taking account your Valentine’s Day theme, and then upload it on YouTube. You can also use videos to run online polls and ask followers to share and vote. Reward voters with gifts, such as coupons or discounts. This will encourage more people to participate.
Finally do not forget to measure your campaign. Do not wait until the end of the campaign to track its performance. You can measure engagement on a daily or weekly basis. Tracking your campaign gives you a chance to see what works and what needs to be changed. Make sure you get the most out of your campaign. Moreover, you can track the success of your campaign by tracking mentions, post/link shares and website traffic. It is also important to measure your conversion rate so that you will be able to measure your Return on Investment (ROI).
Special days such as Valentine’s Day are among the times when online traffic is busiest. So, it is important that you have a campaign ready to take advantage of this traffic to increase your online brand visibility and increase your sales.