Why You Should Begin Planning Your Christmas Social Campaigns Now

The last quarter of every year is when the biggest retail shopping numbers are always posted, primarily because the biggest holiday seasons are contained within that last quarter. Consumers everywhere are purchasing Christmas presents as well as household decorations, they're making plans for the holidays, they are considering options for the following year, and they are bargain-hunting on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.Instagram has grown to become one of the most popular platforms for tracking down bargains and making those important purchases for the holidays, so that's one of the platforms which you should probably have a presence on, in order to get the most out of your holiday season. Since it has a surging base of active daily users, Instagram has become a key part of many organizations' marketing plans in the fourth quarter.

However, some brands will not realize the maximum return on their investment, simply because they began their campaigns too late in the season, and didn't have time to reap the benefits. Part of the reason for this is that shoppers are now out bargain-hunting far sooner than they ever used to be. It's also true that social media influencers are being booked for their services sooner than ever before, so that many of the most effective influencers are unavailable by the time you go hunting for them.In short, there's really no time to waste before getting your holiday marketing campaigns finalized and kicked off. If you don't, you can bet that your competitors are out there, gaining some of the benefits that you have missed out on. Here are some reasons why you really need to make an early start if you're going to maximize your return on investment at holiday time.

Social media is the way to go

In increasing numbers, holiday shoppers are avoiding the chaos of busy retail outlets, long checkout lines, and the festive holiday music played in stores and in malls. Instead, many shoppers are deciding to conduct the bulk of their purchasing online, where is much more convenient, and far less hassle than becoming involved in shopping mall chaos.

For most brands, this is a very good thing, because online shopping is much more conducive to promoting your brand than is shopping at a retail outlet. Keep in mind that your online presence is actually your shop window, and it provides a glimpse into your products or services, and what your brand is all about. That means you should do your utmost to make sure your online presence is both visually appealing and highly informative for shoppers, so as to distinguish yourself from other online brands.

Early start for shoppers

Fewer and fewer shoppers are taking the last-minute approach to making holiday purchases, as more of them have become aware that the best bargains are to be had early. A recent survey showed that 9 out of 10 shoppers were completely finished with their Christmas shopping by the 13th of December, with only a few stragglers still hitting the stores after that time. Most shoppers are now doing the bulk of their purchasing in November and sometimes even sooner.It appears that last minute shopping has become a thing of the past, and that the majority of Christmas shoppers these days prefer to get right to it and finish by November. As a business organization, it is therefore incumbent upon you to get your marketing campaigns out before the public as soon as possible. If you wait until December, chances are that you'll only be making your pitch to those stragglers who have yet to complete their shopping. By getting your campaign out early, your appeal will be in front of the masses and you'll have a much better chance of increasing your return on investment.

High demand for influencers

As always, social media influencers are in high demand around the holiday season. If you have been thinking about making use of a social influencer, now is the time to do it, because if anything, the influence exerted by such individuals increases around holiday times, when people are more inclined to make purchases anyway.

That makes this a great time for you to partner with a social media influencer who can recommend your brand to his/her followers and increase your visibility, as well as your sales volume. It may also help introduce your brand to new markets which you would not ordinarily have had access to within your own marketing campaigns. You might also benefit from having high-quality branded content used by social media influencers, which you can re-purpose in other marketing campaigns, thus increasing your return on investment.

Build seasonal excitement

Another very important reason why you should start your holiday season campaigns early is that it provides you with an opportunity to build excitement about upcoming bargains or new products. When holiday shoppers get a sneak peek at new products being offered this season, it's a great way to start some buzz about those products, and build excitement about the shopping season.You can help increase all the buzz and excitement by sending out email broadcasts which announce new seasonal products or planned discounts and bargains. You may need additional time to customize campaigns to a specific target audience, and that's another reason why you should begin your holiday campaigns early. Since you want to take advantage of every opportunity during the season of maximum purchases, you'll want to craft your content accordingly so as to generate maximum interest in your products and in your brand.Give yourself some extra time to create high-quality content which will trigger interest in your holiday products, and which will generate excitement before your products are actually made available. Getting an early start on creating content will also give you a chance to obtain any necessary approvals before your campaign is launched.These are some of the most important reasons why it's to your advantage to get a jump on your holiday marketing campaigns as soon as possible. Since this is by far the busiest time of the year for retail purchases, you just can't afford to miss out on your share of all that buying activity.