Holidays: A Publisher’s Guide to Preparing

The holiday season is the best excuse to get together with family and friends, eat a ton, drink a ton, and give thanks for them being a part of your life. Everyone involved in the process of hosting Christmas parties, or Thanksgiving dinners knows that there is a lot of preparation involved in this time of the year. Publishers, we understand that you, too, have a lot of preparations to make for the holidays.

The holiday season is a big one in the field of advertising and publishing. There is a lot of room for growth and revenue boosts, but only if you’re on top of all of the necessary steps in holiday preparation. We have a few tips for you to help you keep the holiday spirit moving along on your end. There is an array of things you can do in preparation for the holidays, but, at a bare minimum, you should consider these options when you are preparing for the holidays:

Related coupons and discounts

Tis’ the season to be coming out with as many coupons and discounts as possible. This can be especially effective in boosting revenue if you sell from your website or have a direct distribution relationship with companies like Apple. Sites like Amazon offer excellent discounts and deals in honor of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as well as just before and after Christmas. Sites like Retailmenot have a variety of coupons and discount codes that can be used for the holidays. Everyone loves discounts, and if you feature some discount codes or coupons just before the holidays begin (when consumers are most likely to be doing a great deal of shopping), you’ll increase your engagement rate with users significantly.

Holidays Content Promotion

If there is any opportune time to be pushing out content- it’s during the holidays. Anything and everything holiday-themed should make it onto your social media platforms, including Twitter. The Skimlinks Editor tool can be inserted straight onto your social media channels. This way, your readers will never miss your recommendations (and you’ll still receive commissions on products your readers purchase). If you want to be super organized, then plan all of your Facebook posts and Tweets in advance using CoSchedule (we use it and we love it). This incredible tool allows you to plan your social media posts and blog posts months in advance, so you can schedule all of your content for specific dates and times. Here is a great example of a Starbucks holiday deal:

Run social media contests

Contests are a excellent and memorable way to maintain the buzz around your brand. You should first decide what type of contest will be the most effective on who you are targeting, and in alignment with your goals. The options are abundant, because you could run a sweepstakes, essay, photo or video contest through Facebook. A sweepstakes is probably the simplest kind of contest, because it requires the least amount effort on the behalf of your fans, so if you’re not sure where to start, try this option. Great tip: choose a platform with integrated social sharing options so that your audience can spread the word. Here are two great examples on Facebook:

The View

Amazon

Holiday popups

As the holidays approach, a great way to increase engagement during this time is to use holiday-themed popups. Perhaps you can present some of your discounts or seasonal sales in the form of a popup, so that users are aware of what you have to offer during this period. For example, if your company is offering 50% your product from November 30th-December 20th, then you could create a popup that appears during that time that leads to the payment page so that potential clients can pay right away. Popups are also a great way to gain exposure, and to make sure that all users have viewed your site. Take a look at what EasyNews added to their site in honor of the holidays:

So, when you’re making plans on the behalf of your company this season, think about what you can do in order to engage your audience with a holiday theme. This way, you’re not only keeping your users engaged, but your content will be relevant, too.

How does your brand like to prepare for the holidays?

Image credit: Christmas Presents Under Tree by Viktor Hanacek (used with permission from picjumbo)

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