One of America’s favorite holidays is coming closer! Thanksgiving is the perfect time to think about all the things you’re grateful for and to plan your next steps in business.
Take a glimpse at what you have achieved and get ready for the holiday season ahead of you – it gives you many opportunities to make your ideas come true. It’s time to create great marketing campaigns because holidays can inspire you! They are all about emotions, people you love, delicious food, being together, lovely surprises, thoughtful gifts, and nice gestures, so why not use those to create a successful marketing campaign for your brand? Thanksgiving is the first one on the list – make it exciting and heartwarming for your customers and followers this year. As usual, get started on time and prepare a lovely campaign thanks to these cool tips!
Thanksgiving Weekend Spend
Where do you intend to spend Thanksgiving this year? You already have plans, don’t you? Well, don’t forget that not everyone is lucky enough to have a cozy home, a nice Thanksgiving dinner, and a family to spend this holiday together. That is the reason why you should think of those people – at least during the holiday season – and help them have something to be thankful. Nothing says: “faith in humanity restored” like a charity event. You can consider it is killing two birds with one stone. Organize a Thanksgiving dinner for the less fortunate ones and use the occasion to promote your business. You will do a beautiful, generous thing and at the same time create a great campaign for your brand, which will be associated with something good in the future. Also, it doesn’t have to be dinner. You can host a charity concert and invite celebrities to donate money, clothes or food to shelters. You can organize a set of different activities all over your city that will take place at the same time: give balloons to children, provide lunch boxes to the homeless, surprise senior citizens with flowers. You can stop by a few animal shelters, because they need love as well, right? It is a great way to start the season of giving and to show that you care about your audience – in real life, too, not only in the virtual one.
Ready, set … social media time!
A cook-off or a food contest is a “must do” when it comes to Thanksgiving! There are several ways you can do this. Something simpler would be to have the challenge on your social media platforms and keep it in the virtual world. Have your followers share their favorite recipes for a family dinner and then vote for the best or the most original ones. Just count the number of likes each comment has and publish the top five recipes in a particular post. Prepare some awards related to your brand that they can get if their enters the top five.
In addition don’t forget to thank everyone who participated, even if they didn’t get any likes – people would appreciate his cooking. On the other hand, if you have more time and resources, you can do something more complicated, but unforgettable. Organize a live contest! That action requires more dedication, it’s true, but it will also become a great memory for your customers and social media followers. You will have some great photos and videos that you can use as your next marketing campaign material as well, and it will be worth the effort. Pick a venue and the time, set some ground rules for your cook-off and let the games begin! The excitement will make everyone enjoy this and the delicious food they will be able to taste at your event is a cherry on top!
Giveaways and gift cards
It’s still all about giving. If you invest a little, you can get a lot in return, so think about vouchers and gift cards for your customers. You can reward the fastest ten followers who leave a comment on a post on your social media platforms and make their Thanksgiving more wonderful. Gift cards can be some discounts for your services or baskets with some of your products that they can share with their beloved ones. Personalized gifts are even better, you know? Try to plan this a little bit ahead of the holiday and get to know your audience.
This way, you can prepare some unique gifts in advance. If you have noticed those two or three people who always like and share all of your posts, don’t you think that they deserve a special “thank you” this November? Well, if they have kids, you can prepare a personalized lunch set for the little ones. Do they like Winnie the Pooh? Great, there’s an idea for the decoration. They love to travel and discover new relaxing places? Reward them with a cute weekend getaway or a spa day. Are they college students? A discount for a language course will be a fantastic opportunity for them to set new, exciting goals for 2019.
Market and challenges
There are so many challenge ideas you can use here. We already mentioned Thanksgiving dinner recipes, but there is so much more out there! A photo challenge is, for instance, perfect for Instagram. Think of a hashtag that will unite all of the photos your followers will share and once the "challenge" is over, publish a post with the most beautiful images. Of course, you need a theme for this challenge, such as “Thanksgiving decoration,” “Autumn vibes,” “Family is everything” and so on. Twitter would be the perfect place where your audience can shortly explain what they’re grateful for this year. The number of characters Twitter offers is excellent for short heartwarming stories that will make your homepage full of holiday spirit. One of your challenges can focus on the most inspiring Thanksgiving Pinterest board – these can include recipes, decoration ideas, cute sayings, family and nature photos and more.
Quiz and Rewards
That is how you can use your Facebook page. What do you know about Thanksgiving regardless? When did people start celebrating it? How has it changed over time? Are typical meals different in different parts of America? Trivia quizzes are another way to boost interaction with your audience, and everyone loves it! You can publish new questions or just fun facts about this holiday a couple of times a day (make sure the timing is right). People will surely respond because it’s nice to test your knowledge from time to time. Once the quiz is over, you can publish an article or a video will all the correct answers instead of writing on your wall. This way it will be more, and it will bring you more shares and likes.
Games and Social Media
An opportunity to make your social media platforms even more fun than usual. Create a couple of cute little games that will keep your followers busy on their way home from work. Imagine your audience hunting turkeys for their virtual Thanksgiving dinner! Many favorite games can also be modified and adapted to this holiday, but you can also loosen up and let yourself be as creative as possible – this is no time for holding back. It should be original and fun and even make your followers know what an exciting, fun period is ahead, especially with all the winter holidays coming. Thanksgiving games will be an introduction to what is waiting for them in your Christmas stocking.
Are you already feeling grateful for these ideas? You’re welcome. The essential thing is to start with your campaign on time and to make it fun and heartwarming because of the nature of this holiday. Monitor your success carefully and remember the best ideas so you can reuse them. Interact with your audience as much as possible and make them feel appreciated for their contributions to your social media challenges and contests. A connection is a key word here – Thanksgiving is all about people and building good relationships, especially with your followers. After all, they are what you are thankful for this year and let them know it!