Can you believe it’s October already? The silly season will be here before you know it. Don’t regret not running a campaign during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays when over 90% of Kiwi’s will be scrolling their social media feeds, be where all your customers will be this summer!!

The thing about holidays these days is that while people may be away from home and work, they still take their phones and laptops with them and spend a lot of time online. In fact, many people spend more time on their phones and on social media when they are on holiday! This is a massive opportunity for brands to capture their audience in a time when they are relaxed and engaged, and it is a missed opportunity for most brands who go offline during this period.

Holiday season – the most expensive time of the year!

Kiwis are big holiday spenders. We spend an average of $25-50 on each Christmas present, which adds up when you have a lot of people on your list! Discount rates are also much higher in the months leading up to December, as brands look to offer the best present for the lowest price.

Food, drinks, electronics, toys, fashion, beauty, tourism, homeware and many other industries all receive their highest revenue of the year in December. These brands are equally putting their highest advertising budgets in the months leading up to December until they hit their targets.

One of our clients at The Social Club in the sports industry told us they spend the majority of their marketing budget in the months leading up to Christmas, and they make 80-90% of their sales for the year in December. They also noted that this wasn’t just leading up to Christmas, most of their big-ticket items were actually the week after Christmas!

When it comes to recommendations, 92% of people trust their friends (micro influencers) and those they admire and follow (influencers) more than they trust brand advertisements or regular celebrity endorsements . People are not interested in pushy sales ads, and they use ad blockers to avoid them, especially when the holidays approach. So if you want to reach your customers and convert more sales this Christmas, influencer marketing is the perfect opportunity.

92% of people trust their friends and influencers over brands and regular celebrity endorsements

The journey starts now..

If you’re reading this, you’re halfway there! Now is the time to start working out your influencer strategy, key messages, discounts and target audience. You should confirm the right influencers for your campaign as early as you can, as they will be in high demand during the holiday period too. At the Social Club, we are already planning campaigns for December, January and even February!

You don’t just walk up to someone in a cafe and ask them to marry you. Working with social influencers to capture their audience is the same. You need to take their followers on a date, spend some time with them, and then once they feel like they can’t live without you, pop the question – will you buy my product?

At The Social Club, we recommend taking them on a journey through a journey starting today…

Awareness (early on): the months in the lead up to Summer and Christmas are the perfect time for influencers to start spreading awareness of your product or service.

Engagement (pre-holiday): once people are familiar with your product or service, you want to start the conversation and get them researching more. Some great ways to do this are through competitions and giveaways to drive engagement and consideration.

Conversion (holiday): Now it’s all about doing deals! This is the time for your influencers to drive in-store and e-commerce traffic. One of the best ways to do this is to offer personalised discount codes that the influencer can offer to their followers.

Long-term customer (post-holiday): With the holidays over, it’s an awesome opportunity to have your influencers show off their best pics of them using their presents or reminiscing about their trip. Remember, the early weeks of January people are spending a lot of time on their phones while on holiday and deciding what to spend the cash they got from Grandma on. So it is a prime time to help them with this decision!

Track, test and track again

Every influencer is different, every influencers’ content is different and every influencers’ audience is different. There is no one size fits all with influencers. One of the biggest mistakes brands make when running campaigns, is not measuring the results. Christmas is the perfect time to try something new, test how it goes, and then track the results.

With Instagram Stories now allowing swipe ups for influencers with over 10,000 followers, brands can directly track the number of clicks to website from a single story as well as the link in the influencers’ bio. That’s pretty damn powerful.

And if that’s not powerful enough, you can directly track the number of sales made by an influencer by using a discount code. Influencers love using discount codes, as they can offer something back to their followers who have been so loyal to them. Brands love discount codes, as they can directly measure the number of sales from a post. It’s a win/win!

People love to shop online, but sometimes they need a little nudge to complete their purchase. More than 70% of people claim discounts greatly affect their purchase decisions during the holiday period.

If you want to get a leap on your competitors and steal a bit more of the pie this Christmas, an influencer campaign is the way to go. The awesome thing about influencer marketing is that it is totally trackable, so you can directly measure the results of your campaign and the ROI.

If this all sounds great, but you’re thinking you’d rather enjoy a some sunshine and a BBQ at the beach this summer, The Social Club has got you covered! With our expert team and our awesome technology, we’ll match you up with the best influencers for your brand. Better yet, we can help drive your creative strategy and do the heavy lifting while you sit back enjoy your holiday. The perfect time to get started is now. Get in early and reach out to the team to get your campaign underway today!