Take It From Cyber Monday: Gimmicks Work

Now that the holiday shopping hoopla has died down (anybody get anything good?) it’s time to look back at what we can learn from Black Friday, Cyber Monday and now, Small Business Saturday. Besides where to score a flat screen for 70% off.

There are a lot of social media marketing lessons wrapped up in the official kick-off to the holiday season. And I don’t just mean the obvious “post deals on Facebook and Twitter.” The very nature of the holiday shopping weekend is based on some tried and true marketing principles that can–and should–be applied to social media marketing all year round.

Create a Hook

This whole whirlwind weekend of retail therapy started with Black Friday. As online shopping became a bigger and bigger facet of our day-to-day, etailers jumped to get on the bandwagon, while brick and mortars upped the ante with different in-store and online-only offers. The Black Friday and Cyber Monday monikers stuck, creating ad campaigns and trending topics for themselves. Now, people look forward to it every year. And it just keeps getting bigger. Think about how you could do that yourself on your social channels. Create branded or themed posts that recur week after week and keep people coming back.

Be Consistent

Once you’ve got your hook, keep delivering on it. Simple works. In the crowded social marketplace, you need something that is easy to remember and can help you stand out from the noise. When people know what to look for, it’s easier to pick out of the crowd. A Black Friday ad is expected every year, so people learn to pick it out in a newspaper, much like your branded content will stand out in a Facebook Newsfeed or Twitter stream once you create a pattern. Can you imagine a Thanksgiving without the Macy’s parade and all of their Black Friday specials? Didn’t think so. We’ve come to rely on them as a hallmark of the season. And there’s no reason you can’t do the same for your fans.

Surprise and Delight

Seems to fly in the face of my point above, right? But you can deliver consistently and still surprise people. Capitalize on things people want and expect from you (like Black Friday sales every year, or Fan Friday posts on Facebook) but surprise them with a new twist. Retailers switch up their free gift offers every year, and there’s no reason you can’t do the same with your thematic content. Get creative!