The holiday season is upon us and if you haven’t already set up your online strategy to take full advantage of it –you need to start now. There are countless opportunities and ways to maximize interest in your business around the holidays. Some take a good amount of planning and forethought, others are much simpler (and much cheaper).

What do you do with your brick and mortar store for the holidays? Well, if it’s a place of business where you have customer traffic – chances are you going to be doing a little holiday decorating. If you’re running a retail or hospitality business of some kind, whether it is a candle store, a café or so on, customers usually appreciate the little extra touch.

What about your online storefronts? One of the easiest ways to garner a little extra attention around the holidays is to give all of your storefronts a little holiday makeover.  When I talk about your online “storefronts”, I’m talking about the places online that you present your business in a way for customers to engage, shop, and interact with you. Your website is definitely an online storefront. Your social media channels fall into this category as well. Think of platforms that are easily customizable like Facebook and Twitter. 

You have a lot of options here.  Updating photos like your cover photo, header photo, or profile photo in a specific themed way is a great use of some free advertising. Consider it your own personal holiday billboard. What do you want to say? Are you trying to gain attention with some great holiday images? Are you announcing a new product or seasonal sale? Is there a promotion or giveaway that you want to highlight?

Some businesses have specific lines of products that they release for certain seasons. Think pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks and a Christmas themed line of products at Bath & Body works. Both companies take advantage of their online storefront to share some great images that double as a holiday advertisement.  Drawing in business doesn’t always mean throwing in big dollars. Sometimes it’s as simple as having a great product or message and then developing a great graphic or design around it.

Utilizing a little social media makeover to skyrocket holiday sales is a simple and effective idea. It gets your customers attention while serving as a great new ad. Get customers involved in advance by asking what sorts of specials they’d like to see on certain products and what discounts or giveaways would be the most important to them. Keep it lighthearted, fun, and effective.

What have some of the best holiday ads on social media been that you’ve seen? Do you think a simple updated cover photo can bring in interest and possibly new customers? What do you think? Comment below!