By now you know that social media doesn’t sleep. Whether your customers are holidaying, visiting friends and family, working as usual or a combination of all of these, it’s a pretty sure thing they’ll still be social (pun intended).

As we’ve discussed on the Tiger Pistol blog before, the nature of social media is that customers expect it to be an environment of almost immediate currency.

With the plethora of religious and public holidays in December and January, as well as the likelihood of end-of-year sales and special offers, it’s probable you’ll find your customers turning to your social profiles as their primary source of up-to-date information.

So – whether your doors are open or not, you can’t be silent on the social front. Here are my top three tips for handling the last (and the first few) days of the year:

1. Keep it simple

Now is not the time to be posting your more provocative content that is likely to keep your hands full with responses.

Stick to informational (eg. opening hours) and easy-engagement content like asking people to vote yay or nay on sticking prawns on the BBQ.

Of course, if you’re running a promotional offer of some kind you want to maximise exposure and traffic so keep that in mind too!

2. Be smart and schedule

Scheduling tools are your friend. If you’ve put it off until now, this is the ideal moment to find the right social scheduling tool for you.

You’ll hit two birds with one stone – get things organised now and you’ll not only cover yourself in December, you’ll hit the new year with your social situation in order.

3. Have a plan

Not a content plan (although that’s definitely handy). Have a plan in place for what happens if you have a customer reaching out for help, a complaint or even a natural disaster.

In any of these events, the last thing you want to be doing is a) being silent or b) continuing to post about day-to-day niceties.

This is important any time of the year, but particularly so when you may be operating without a full contingent of support. 

Readers: how are you planning to socially handle the silly season? Is it business as usual for you or do you have a special strategy for that time of year?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Steve Hibberd has over 15 years digital marketing experience and is currently Co-founder & CEO of Tiger Pistol. Steve has a passion for Social Marketing, and works closely with key industry stakeholders in both Australia and the U.S. on developing product to make success on social easier to achieve for small business owners and marketers across the world.

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