Holidays provide a great opportunity to create timely, interactive social media content for your brand – whether it’s an occasion as significant as Christmas or a weekly social media holiday such as #NationalPancakeDay.

What steps should you take if you aren’t seeing strong engagement on your seasonal posts & Stories? Social media engagement measures how many people are interacting with your brand on a daily basis. Working to increase engagement should be a priority for your marketing strategy – it has numerous benefits for brands, including improving ROI, as well as boosting brand awareness.

Here are 3 ways to elevate engagement on your Instagram holiday content, year-round:

1. Use the Right Holiday Hashtags! 

Hashtags are an invaluable tool for reaching new audiences and increasing engagement. If you aren’t using the right hashtags, your content will be less discoverable – which automatically means less interactions! Focus on using the right holiday hashtags so that your audience will easily find the seasonal content you’re sharing. For practical tips on how to build a killer Instagram hashtag strategy, check out our blog post here.

Here are 15 hashtags we recommend incorporating into your Christmas 2019 holiday content (listed by volume of Instagram hashtag usage, from largest to smallest):

#Christmas

#Xmas

#ChristmasTree

#HappyHolidays

#ChristmasTime

#ChristmasDecor

#ChristmasGifts

#ChristmasCountdown

#Christmas2019

#Christmas

#ChristmasTime

#ChristmasGiftIdeas

#ChristmasTree

#ChristmasPhotoshoot

#ChristmasDecorating

2. Best Times to Post

If you’re using a Business Account on Instagram (which we highly recommend utilizing for your brand!) tap Insights > Audience > Followers. There, you can analyze both Hours (the average times your followers are on Instagram on a typical day) & Days (the days of the week when your followers are the most active). Schedule your remaining content this month for the hours & days in which your audience is most active.

For major holidays (when your audience will likely be on vacation), schedule your content for when you generally would on the weekend, since your audience will be off and scrolling throughout the break. ⁠

3. Last Minute Content Ideas 

Here are a few engagement-inducing content ideas that you can plan & post before Christmas kicks off. While these examples are Christmas focused, they can inspire your content planning year-round:

• Host a Giveaway! According to research from SocialBakers, there was a significant increase in giveaways last holiday season (throughout the month of December 2018) and there was a significant decline in giveaway frequency right after the holidays. Take advantage of the month of giving! You can keep the contest simple – give away a sample of your product or services, just in time for Christmas. Make sure to keep Instagram’s Promotion Guidelines in mind and follow the practical tips listed here for guidance.

Here are some recent festive Instagram contests from small businesses to check out for inspiration:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5rv9ASnQDG/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6ENLewn-XL/

• Compile a Gift Guide – A staggering 62% of Americans buy their gifts the week before Christmas!* Create a holiday gift guide – or simply share a few last minute gift ideas – to inspire all the eleventh-hour shoppers out there. Include your own products or services if relevant! Some small biz inspiration:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BrlRtnrn6WG/

• Change Up Your Theme – Put your social media decorations up, so to speak. From now through Christmas, add some red, green & white to your feed to achieve a cohesive holiday look. People are more likely to interact with your brand’s content if it’s timely & matches the mood of the season.

No matter what holiday you’re creating content for – here’s to hoping it’s full of good times and great Instagram engagement!

Action Items:

1. As you plan your holiday content, make sure to research relevant hashtags. Also be sure to schedule your posts for the best possible times for engagement.
2. If you’re seeking content ideas, pick one of the three ideas mentioned in this blog and execute it!
3. When you begin to see engagement on your content, make sure to engage in return! Answer comments, DMs etc.

*Statistic from: Fortunly