All-You-Need Holiday Content Calendar Easily plan this season’s social campaigns General rule of planning:

Start early to hit the really important dates.

Planning takes time and team effort. To create campaigns that drive excellent acquisition results, you need to invest equally in: audience research, content creation, campaign execution, campaign measurement.

IDEALLY, QUALITY CAMPAIGN PLANNING WOULD LOOK LIKE THIS

June to August (Preparation & Planning) Craft the foundations. September to October (Brand Awareness & Acquisition Campaigns) Ensure you have a plan that will keep you on track Build interest and intent. this holiday season. Everything from key dates November to December (Launch & Sell) and hashtags to essential tools and resources are Maximize those sales. January (Retention & Reflection) all here for you in this holiday calendar. Post-holiday customer retention, cross-sells and up-sells.

All-You-Need Holiday Content Calendar | Easily plan this season’s social campaigns 2 Create New Post November 2019 Month Week Day Compact View Filter Your Campaign Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Essentials 28 29 30 31 Halloween 1 2 3 #spooky DEEP RESEARCH #costume #pumpkin The more time you spend on researching your audience, the 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 more you will be able to plan a solid foundation.

At this stage, it’s vital that you have your marketing personas clearly defined. You can easily create 11 11:11 12 13 14 15 16 17 your personas online with a #TeamSingle Socialbakers template. It will help #single you understand their interests, #singleforever affinities, and motivations. 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 ENGAGING CONTENT Content creation is fueled by inspiration. You have to know which posts actually drive engagement.

Thanksgiving Shop Local 25 Black Week 26 27 28 29 30 1 (US) Saturday (US) Discover millions of great content examples with an inspiration tool. Start Black #thankful #free #shopsmall Friday #family #newdeals #smallbizsat Campaigns #givingthanks #win #smallbiz Create New Post December 2019 Month Week Day Compact View Filter

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday SMOOTH EXECUTION Communication is key. Organize Giving 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 an effective workflow to make sure Tuesday teams are aligned and community #Deals #unselfie management is ready to respond. #newdeals #charity St. Nicholas #sale #givingback Eve (NL) You can simply set up roles, Free Shipping responsibilities, and a seamless 9 10 12 13 14 15 11 Day approval process with a reliable Last standard social media collaboration tool. #giftsforher International post #freeshipping #giftsforhim shipping day for #giftsmadeeasy ACCURATE REAL-TIME

MEASUREMENT 18 20 21 Super 22 16 17 19 Saturday It’s vital to track all of your campaign progress. Sometimes Last standard Last express #christmasshopping post shipping day post shipping day #giftideas Hanukkah you can get lost in measuring for Christmas for Christmas #giftshopping Starts multichannel data and lose sight of what’s actually working. Sales (UK, 24 25 26 23 Canada, Australia) 27 28 29

With Socialbakers’ Social Media #family #afterchristmassale #presents Christmas #sale and Reporting platform, you Day can easily track data from organic #christmastime #newdeals content to paid campaigns to 30 31 New Years 1 2 3 4 5 influencer collaborations. Eve #NYE Sales Hanukkah #newyearsresolution Official Start Ends #newyearsale (traditionally) BOO!

October November Halloween 11:11 (Singles’ Day) US, Canada & Europe China & Southeast Asia

This is the time when families dress up in their favorite Even though it started as an “anti-Valentine’s” celebration back costumes, carve pumpkins, and go trick-or-treating. A major in the 90s, this day became the world’s biggest shopping day holiday for massive markets like the US. FMCG brands have in China. In 2018, Alibaba, a notable e-commerce tech giant, used this opportunity to post Halloween-themed videos and made $30.8 billion in sales. Research has shown this total trendy DIYs to feed into the Halloween spirit. amount of sales was more than Amazon’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. Considering that China is 4 times the population of the US and has a growing middle class, this is a huge annual opportunity for businesses for the next decade to come.

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Keep in mind, this is the peak time when the beauty and mommy industry Singles’ Day has been gaining global recognition from international brands take advantage of social media and show off their love for Halloween. to A-list celebrities. This is the opportunity to invest in influencers to market Use this chance to search and collaborate with influencers for more brand your brand on the world’s largest shopping day. awareness for your brand.

All-You-Need Holiday Content Calendar | Easily plan this season’s social campaigns 5

November (Black Week) November (Black Week) Start of Black Friday Thanksgiving Campaigns US Worldwide This is one of America’s major holidays to spend time with family and gather around a dinner table with a 15-pound Black Friday is 3 days away and when most companies will roasted turkey. However, this is the time when brands launch launch their campaigns. Big time retailers would usually start their prime social media campaigns to entice customers to start offering their discounts as early as Wednesday with extended shopping at midnight. store hours.

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This is your chance to excite your customers. You can even offer your It’s not only a crazy shopping experience for families who wants the customers “early access” or target your most loyal customers with a perfect gift for a good deal, but it’s also a crazy time for workers in retail special promo code. In addition, keep track of your competitors and see and customer service. It can be beneficial to show some compassion and how effective your marketing strategy is compared to your competitors’ consideration through your social channels during this stressful time. It campaigns on a visual quadrant report. could be as simple as showing your brand’s way of showing thankfulness or creating your own rendition of a “Giving Thanks” campaign.

All-You-Need Holiday Content Calendar | Easily plan this season’s social campaigns 6 November (Black Week) November (Black Week) Black Friday Shop Local Saturday / Small Worldwide Business Saturday US & Canada Right after Thanksgiving, families used this time to start their holiday shopping. In 2011, this was taken to a whole new level Thanks to American Express who started this holiday in 2010, when huge retailers like Target, Macy’s and Walmart offered special the following Saturday after Black Friday is dedicated to supporting deals on this day and opened their doors at midnight for the first small local businesses. People show their appreciation by shopping time — hence, the term “Black Friday.” locally or posting their favorite local cafe or shop.

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It’s your time to shine. Make sure your tech is up to date and community Take a break from the corporate, commercial feel. You can even visit the local management is ready. With a community management platform, you can small business near your company building. Create engaging content with handle your social community care from multiple channels in an all-in-one the owners of the small business or their loyal customers. You can conduct dashboard. interviews or fun video content of their business. Engaging with these small businesses will not only show your support on this holiday, but you can also help these business gain the visibility they need.

All-You-Need Holiday Content Calendar | Easily plan this season’s social campaigns 7 December (Black Week) December Cyber Monday Worldwide Worldwide

Back when dial-up was modern, retailers have noticed that people This international day was created for charitable giving at the liked shopping in their office (back then, only offices had faster beginning of December. In the past, companies like PayPal and computers and internet). With internet speed connection evolving eBay started charity funds where customers had an option to and e-commerce industry on the rise, Cyber Monday is becoming donate right before checkout. more popular every year.

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This holiday was not made to avoid the crazy shoppers, but also to Charitable giving is not always about money. You and your team save shoppers’ time. The mindset here is convenience. So be prepared can schedule a volunteer day to help at a local community center or for higher traffic and make sure your website/application is bug-free. homeless shelter. Or you can simply send a Slack message that your The more seamless the user-flow is, the faster customers will be able team is gathering donations (such as, food, books, clothing, shoes, purchase your product. etc.) for your company’s favorite charity.

All-You-Need Holiday Content Calendar | Easily plan this season’s social campaigns 8 December December Green Monday Free Shipping Day US, Canada & Europe US, Canada & Europe

One of the strongest sales day in December, especially when An annual event held mid-December. On this day, all kinds of shoppers realize they only have two weeks left to buy presents. businesses, whether big or small, offer free shipping for their customers on this day. This is a promotional way for customers to finish up their last minute shopping before the holidays.

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Use this chance to offer special holiday offers or discounts. If you want to take Make sure to add your business on the FreeShippingDay website it a step further, you can keep track of the customers who made purchases on or you can easily send an email to [email protected]. this day and offer them an exclusive “VIP” discount on Christmas Eve. This will Don’t forget to excite your customers that your business is taking keep the retention high and more importantly, create loyal customers. part on Free Shipping Day. The more you make it convenient for your customers, the happier they will be.

All-You-Need Holiday Content Calendar | Easily plan this season’s social campaigns 9 December December / Panic Christmas Eve Saturday & Christmas Day US, Canada & Europe Worldwide

This is the time when shoppers go out for some very last minute Families are home, houses are made, and christmas holiday shopping and the second-busiest shopping day during trees are filled with presents. Most businesses will be closed during this season. this time and sales will slow down.

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The sales momentum will be high, so check your campaign analytics. No one wants to work during this time. Make sure to create festive Compare your organic and paid campaigns with a smart platform that content early on and schedule the post at an appropriate time. All your measures and reports across multiple channels. posts across channels can be scheduled in advance — especially if you don’t want to make anyone work during this holiday.

All-You-Need Holiday Content Calendar | Easily plan this season’s social campaigns 10 December December / January Boxing Day New Year’s Eve UK, Canada, Australia Worldwide

Think of it as a second Black Friday. Even though it’s an extra Aside from the new year’s resolutions, New Year’s Eve is the last holiday to relax and spend time with family, shoppers believe day of the holiday season and the end of Q4. This is the time that the after-holiday sales will be even cheaper. when retailers work their hardest to end the year with a bang.

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Used up all of your holiday creativity and have no idea what to post on Boxing After a long holiday season, people will start to cut down on spending. Day? You can quickly find fresh ideas with our inspirational tool. Use this time to build your retention plan to reel those customers back in and convert them into loyal ones for the new year.

All-You-Need Holiday Content Calendar | Easily plan this season’s social campaigns 11 The holiday season can be stressful – but with the Still need guidance? right tools, it’s easy to stay on track. Get everything you need to succeed without any stress. Don’t worry, we have the ultimate guide that contains everything you need to create Get Started With Socialbakers successful holiday campaigns.

Start planning now! Take advantage of these holiday tools to get inspired and start creating content now.

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