'Tis the Season to Be Marketing-Savvy With Email and Social Media [Slide Show]

by Jeff Revoy |

December 14, 2011

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It's that time of year: Consumers are decking the halls and hitting the shopping malls to snag the best deals and find the perfect gifts for those on their holiday shopping lists. The holiday season is the busiest time of year for most businesses, and it's rife with opportunities to capitalize on increased consumer spending.

Breaking through all of the noise is challenging for marketers during the holidays. But having the proper email and social-media marketing strategies and best-practices in place can help businesses cut through the clutter.

Here are six tips for kicking your email and social media marketing into high gear during the holiday season.

1. Get social

Facebook is the world's most-visited website on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day, according to a 2010 Experian Hitwise report. Get your brand in front of the millions of people flocking to social media during the holiday season: Offer gift ideas, reward fans with special giveaways, run polls, and ask questions.

Combining social media with email marketing is also a powerful way to reach new and current fans (Facebook) and followers (Twitter), so be sure to include social media links in your holiday emails.

2. Be flexible

What worked brilliantly last year might not perform as well this year. Offer deals on a weekly basis, test them, and prepare to adjust tactics. If you measure against your goals and find that your campaign is not getting the results you would like, don't be afraid to correct your course. You know what is best for your business, and being flexible during the holiday season is a must.

In the event you need to turn your holiday marketing campaign around, consider trying new and different offers. Identify "winning" subject lines and designs from previous split tests, and overhaul your email communications accordingly.

3. Offer one deal at a time

Don't pack every newsletter or social media message with a smorgasbord of discounts or special offers. Less is more.

Though shoppers love a good deal, too many good deals can overwhelm them. Think of your messages like a restaurant menu. If diners have too many dishes to choose from, nothing will look appetizing. Too many deals from you, and a potential customer may walk away overwhelmed, confused, or, worst of all, irritated.

Promote just one offer per email and social media message; make sure you segment your list accordingly.

4. Measure what matters, when it matters; the holidays aren't for everyone

Think about whether now is the right time for you to try to compete with big-box retailers, especially in the area of price. If your holiday marketing campaign is costing your business too much and doesn't look like it will be successful or even sustainable throughout the season, abandon course. Holiday campaigns that miss the mark can be especially costly for your business. Sometimes it's better to focus on the time of year you can be most competitive.

Before abandoning efforts, however, make sure you're measuring against the marketing goals you set for the holidays. For example, if your goal is to increase brand awareness by generating traffic to your website, track your email click-through rates. And don't focus too much on metrics that are not related to your goals. If you want to increase revenue, for example, and you're performing well in that area, don't sweat lower email open rates.

5. Ditch the images

Pictures in your email messages are nice, but not everyone can view them, especially on smartphones. Make good use of real text (not graphics) at the top of your emails. A graphic-heavy email will appear blank until the recipient selects to download the graphics. Real text is always visible. Don't feel that you can't include holiday-themed graphics in your messages; just do so smartly.

And remember to create a text-only version of your messages to accommodate many of your contacts who are on the go and are reading your messages via smartphone.

6. Break apart your audiences

Throw away the cookie-cutter messages. Break your audiences into four buckets: early birds, prime-time buyers, last-minute shoppers, and post-holiday bargain hunters. Heavily customize communications with each group.

For instance, prime-time buyers check gifts off their lists between late November and mid-December and seek Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. Post-holiday bargain hunters want to exchange gifts and use their newly acquired gift cards; they'll want to know about end-of-year deals and updates on what's left in stock.

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Jeff Revoy is chief product, marketing, and strategy officer for iContact, a leading email and social media marketing provider for small and midsize companies. He can be reached via JRevoy@icontact.com.