Ho, ho, ho! We have good news! Christmas time is closing in on us! It’s time of joy and happiness and social media are a perfect place to spread it all over the world.
Since we’re already in the holiday mood, we want to give you eight tips for a successful campaign during holidays as an early Christmas gift.
1. Everything starts with planning
Every great action requires a plan. Every good plan requires preparation. Every plan can be realized if you have time. Key to success is planning your holiday activities on time. If you do this you’ll have a lot of time to generate good ideas and to find the way to implement them. Thinking outside the box, brainstorming with colleagues and learning from the best are some of the ways to generate new ideas. Having great ideas is great. Feeling sorry because you have a great idea that can’t be implemented due to lack of time is not great. Take this into consideration while making any kind of plans.
Always remember that holiday time is too short to spend it stressing about bad time management or on ”shoulda, woulda, coulda” thoughts.
2. Cool holiday graphics are a must have
You probably can’t imagine holidays without Christmas decorations which simply make you feel good every time you see them.
Since social media nowadays are like a ”virtual home” to a lot of people, one important step in building ”a Winter Wonderland” is ”decorating” them with themed graphics. Holiday profile and cover pictures are a ”must have”. Your website should also spread the holiday joy, too.
Putting an effort into making cool holiday themed desktop and mobile backgrounds that your fans can easily download and use can be presented as giving your fans a ”virtual gift”. And everyone loves gifts, right?
3. Create a shopping fever
Christmas is that time of year when people spend a lot of money on gifts. It’s not always easy to find a perfect gift for people you love, but if that person is a sports fan things are much easier.
Making special holiday offers, such as discounts, free delivery or special gifts for spending a certain amount of money, are the basic ways to motivate people to spend money on your merchandise. Investing money in your online shop promotion (ie. on Google and Facebook) during this time of year is also an excellent idea. Creating ”limited edition that every real fan must have” holiday products is also something you should think about. Packing it all in ”your” special wrapping paper is something that fans will remember for a long time. Buying their affection after they buy something from you is an excellent deal, isn’t it?
4. Emotions, emotions everywhere
Holiday time is all about emotions. Sport is all about emotions, too. If we combine these two in the right way, great amount of positive emotions are guaranteed.
Video of a whole team decorating a Christmas tree in the club office, sharing photos in which athletes reveal a little bit of their private celebration at home or unexpected content, such as revealing the Christmas photos from their childhood, are all an excellent way to create emotions and make fans like, comment and share this content.
5. Make it memorable
If you want to be remembered than you must be different. It sometimes takes a little bit of courage, but this always brings better results.
It’s not easy to make something new that will cause a WOW effect. But keep on trying. Be creative. Try to think about something that would impress you. Something that would make your fans talk and be active on social.
Players singing Christmas songs seems like a cool idea, but players singing Christmas songs in languages that are not native to them seems like an even better idea. Just imagine the reactions of football fanatic Germans if Cristiano Ronaldo would sing Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht.
Sometimes just a little ”twist” makes a difference between good ideas and excellent ideas.
6. Make your own Winter Wonderland
If you are lucky to play a match on your stadium/hall during holidays (ie. on Boxing day) use it as an opportunity to prepare an unforgettable experience for your fans. They would probably be delighted to see their team coming out of the tunnel with kids by their side dressed as Santa’s elves. Photos like this have a huge potential to become viral.
Since Christmas time is also a giveaway time, hiding gift vouchers under the seats or finding other interesting ways to surprise your fans should also be on your to do list.
Of course, cool Christmas graphics on a video wall (if you have one) and Christmas songs on your standard playlist is a must. If you have a mascot, ”Christmasize” it, too. Inviting visitors to share their photos using hashtag #XmasOnXY is an excellent way to show that your stadium/hall is a place where fun starts and that visiting it will be a memorable experience.
7. Spread the love
Holiday time should be a time of joy and happiness, but unfortunately, there are a lot of those who can’t feel it. This is also a time of empathy, so helping to those in need should be a ”must have activity” during holidays. Donating money to an organisation or visiting people in need is at least you can do for those who need your help. Sharing this story is also necessary but without self-promotion. Use your influence, become a role model and use this opportunity to motivate people to help to those in need. If you start the chain reaction of good acts, it’s great.
8. Test before launch
If you have an idea that you are not completely sure if it would work, do a little test. Ask yourself how you would react to it? Then ask yourself how do you think your brother, sister, friends, lady from the store, waiter at your favorite restaurant….would react to it.
If the most of your answers are positive, congratulations, you are on the right way.
PHOTO: Flickr
