Social Buzz — Tips for creating a unique brand voice during the holidays

There is no denying that during this time of year, brands embrace marketing for the holidays, and rightfully so. It can be a great time to get creative with your branding efforts. There are a lot of traditional and even digital marketing staples you can think of that have successfully embraced the holiday season in their marketing campaigns (ie., Coca-Cola and the polar bears).

So what about embracing the holiday season on social media? Autumn and winter provide great opportunities for your brand to create a unique holiday voice.

Let’s walk through some tips for creating a unique brand voice and embracing the holiday season on social media.

Don’t ignore colors

Autumn and winter bring out a change in colors across all marketing, and with that comes a change in people’s perception of those colors. This can be very advantageous because your brand can easily incorporate gold, green, red or blue for the season. This also affords your brand the ability to remain unique because creativity doesn’t have to be the traditional holiday imagery. It can be reflective of your brand but color conscious to incorporate the holidays.

‘Tis the season to partner up for giving

The holiday season is heavily associated with giving back and giving thanks. Partner with a nonprofit that shares the same values as your company. This can add dimension to your brand and help to reach new audiences. Then promote it. If both your brand and the nonprofit are pushing out the giving promotion across traditional and social media platforms, the cause will reach both of your audiences. This really allows your brand to be holiday conscious while incorporating community and the unique connection your brand shares to that nonprofit.

Live video – spread good cheer

Live video continues its trajectory into many facets of marketing, including social media. Creating a holiday campaign around something like sharing good cheer is great for live video. Video allows brands to develop customer trust, personalize their conversation with customers and work to establish a lasting connection. This can also help your brand show their unique holiday angle. Your brand can elevate a unique message via video or it could show customers and their relationship to your brand. The connection to the holidays is there, but the creativity and distinct aspects can be defined by your brand.

Are you listening? Look for moments of relevance

Don’t isolate your campaign. There are a lot of good takeaways for your brand during the holidays. These can be discovered via social listening. When you begin to understand how people talk about your brand, you can identify moments of relevance for marketing moving forward. This can be everything from tracking demographics around who is tagging your brand as an idea for a holiday gift to reviews, feedback and experiences with your brand. Depending on if your brand is a gift, an experience or something else, listening during a time of significant spending can help your brand understand its uniqueness and maintain it.

Create a tagline and #hashtag it

Just like playing with colors during autumn and winter can incorporate holiday flavor into your marketing, playing with taglines can do the same. Maybe your brand already has a memorable tagline that can be tweaked for the holidays and maybe your brand does something unique during the holidays that is worth making a tagline for; just be sure you maintain an authentic brand voice. Once you have identified this holiday phrase, make it hashtagable. It might not be the whole phrase, but enough that it keeps it unique to your brand (think Ghirardelli’s “ ‘Tis the Season for Squaring”).

By implementing tips like the ones outlined here, your brand is creating its own unique voice within the holiday season. These tips are not isolated and can often work together to further your brand’s voice during the holidays.

Brook Bentley is the social media and content manager for Sierra Nevada Media Group, which publishes the Northern Nevada Business Weekly. You can contact her at bbentley@sierranevadamedia.com.