Christmas is upon us!

A typical British household spends an extra £800 during the month of December. With brands all over the world tweaking their marketing strategy to conquer the Christmas rush – it’s time to get going.

Having a good video strategy in place for the holiday season puts your business in a much better position to take advantage of the Christmas sales period and beyond.

So, let’s look at a few different ways that you can make sure your videos have the maximum impact this holiday season.

Planning

The first step in getting your holiday video campaign up and running is figuring out what you are going to do and how. This might seem obvious, but you will be surprised how many people think video is a magic bullet that will turbocharge their engagement purely by the virtue of being motion pictures.

Video is an incredibly powerful tool, but only as part of a well thought out strategy. Failing to plan is planning to fail. Cliché’s are cliché’s for a reason, and if you don’t think through your video strategy for the holidays you may be missing a trick, or treat… Sorry, I couldn’t resist. But seriously, make sure that you have a plan in place, not just for the content that you want to create, but also for the whole sales funnel and how the video content will fit into your overall digital

Take a look at the 4 points listed below that will help your plan for success.

1. Desired Outcomes
You need to start at the end and work backwards. Figuring out what exactly it is that you want to accomplish will guide the rest of your strategy.

If your goal is to sell as much product as possible you need to be clear about what the sales targets are. The more specific you can get the better. For example, your strategy will be different if you would like to promote one specific product above others, or if you have multiple products that you would like to promote. This might mean that you make different videos for each product.

Alternatively, you might want to use the holiday season to grow your audience. This will require a very different approach than a purely sales driven campaign. Competitions and giveaways are a great way to add to your subscriber list or social media following, especially over the Christmas period.

You may just want to raise brand awareness; in which case you might want to consider a campaign that highlights your company’s values. Partnering with a charity or a good cause over the holiday season is a great way to show your customers what you stand for and, more importantly, make the world a better place.

There are so many options available and it is important to choose one.

2. Target Audience
Knowing who you are going to target is very important, not least because it will very much determine how you distribute your video.

If your demographic is best targeted on Instagram, you will need to take a markedly different approach than if you were targeting Twitter or Facebook. You can target multiple channels but it is important to be aware of this beforehand so that you can factor it into the production process.

3. Budget
Money is always a factor so take into account how much you will need for paid advertising to promote your video. Don’t blow your entire budget on the production of your content and have nothing left over to boost your video.

We would all like our fantastic films to ‘go viral’ but the reality is that your film probably isn’t the next Keyboard Cat. You need to spend some money to boost your clip to make sure it gets seen.

The adjoining material that you create for your campaign almost as important as the film itself. Make sure you use the assets from the video across your digital estate to get the most out of your film. It’s always best to think about this before you make your video so that the adjoining content isn’t an afterthought.

The Content

Now onto the fun stuff! Being specific with your content, asking what, why and how you will create it is important.

Take a look at some ideas below to help maximise brand engagement.

1. Theme your  films
A Christmas theme is always a great idea but try to move beyond the addition of some tinsel, a couple of fairy lights and a splattering of snowflakes. Work the holiday theme into the content of your video and find innovative ways to integrate your product or service with the holidays.

2. Gifting
Gifting is a very important segment so make sure you don’t neglect this when planning your holiday season content. You are not just targeting end users, but those who might give your product away.. Video is a fantastic way to remind people of the emotional connection people share over the holidays so make sure to incorporate this into your strategy.

The amazon advert of 2020 is a great example. It reminds people of the importance of family and friends at Christmas time whilst acknowledging the hardship felt this year. It makes the brand seem friendly, soft and approachable all whilst promoting their service.

Check out the video here for some inspiration.

3. Discounts, discounts, discounts
Holiday discounts and savings are all around your customer during the holiday season, so why not highlight yours through video. People are more likely to respond to moving images so using video for your discount ads is a great way to boost conversion rates.

Currently, 80% of users would rather watch live video from a brand than read their content marketing posts. Seeing products in use and imagining buying them in person is a lot easier to do with a strong video.

4. Giveaways go  a long  way
Give away some product over the holiday season.

An often-missed advantage of the holiday season is that it is a great opportunity to grow your email and social media subscription base, so don’t overlook this important aspect this year.

Give away some product in return for a like, follow or email address so that you can grow your list for when the holidays have passed. Check out these tips for throwing an Instagram giveaway.

Things To Consider

So you have your plan and an idea of your content but before you begin filming it’s important to consider the format and platform for your video.

Take a look below at some important points to consider.

1. Formats
Different distribution channels have different specifications so make sure to keep these in mind when creating your content. Instagram and Facebook like square video on their news feeds where YouTube and Twitter need widescreen video.

There are also the story feeds to keep in mind, and this needs 9×16 (also called vertical video). Where you will be posting your videos will have a big impact on how you produce them so keep the end product in mind.

2. Channels
Different channels also have different demographics and can be remarkably different in terms of the tone of the content. LinkedIn is pretty buttoned up, business only and is mostly aimed at the B2B market, so if you are producing content for LinkedIn make sure to keep this in mind.

Of course, it’s not always a bad idea to do something completely different to stand out but be sure that it’s a choice based on a strategy, rather than a faux pas.

3. Calls  to  action
Make sure to have a call to action at the end of your film. Whether you are asking the viewer to like and share, join your email list, or directing them to your shop.

If you don’t know what your call to action at the end of your video needs to be then I would advise rethinking your entire strategy because if you don’t know what you would like your customer to do after watching your film your entire campaign probably suffers from a fatal case of purposelessness that needs to be rectified as soon as possible.

4. Conversion
The action your viewer takes as a result of your call to action needs to be tracked and measured against the realistic goals that you have set for your campaign.

If you are not getting the conversion rates you expected then there are a few things that you can tweak to improve conversion rates such as tweaking your ad budget, re-editing your film to improve audience retention or utilising social influencers to boost the performance and engagement of the film.

The holidays are a great time to connect with your customer base, whether it’s to sell some product or grow your contacts list. If you want to know more about how we can help you maximise your engagement through video, please get in touch with us on hello@foxfifth.com