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Gerone Baladhay

Spook Up your Brand! 5 Social Media Tips to boost Business this Halloween

As they say in the Philippines: “Gulatin mo sila!” (Shock them!)

Surprise your customers and competitors with a spook-tacular campaign for the Halloween season that would grow your brand and following through social media. Apart from the Christmas season, Halloween is such an eventful time with a lot of opportunities for business to bank on.

That’s why it’s also a well-loved event for social media marketers and digital-first minded business owners; with just a few simple Halloween social media marketing ideas, getting in on the fun is as easy as screaming boo!

Boo-st your Business

Scary events may sound “bad” for business, but Halloween favors brands and businesses because of its short duration, mostly lasting only a week or two. Making halloween-themed merchandise, events, and campaigns a hook for boosting sales and getting potential customers aware of your brand.

Plus, it validates reasons for any market types to have fun and by extension drive more engagements and actions for your digital business. It can be:

  • Increase on website visit
  • Increase of ad clicks
  • Increase of messaging inquiry
  • Increase of store traffic
  • Increase on search of brand

Don’t be scared to start!

Now it does sound terrifying trendjacking on something as big as Halloween, but it would be even scarier to miss out on potential growth in business. Keep reading and check how you can start making your business Halloween-friendly.

A. Revamp your social media page

Decorate your social media page with halloween-related designs based on your branding. This is not just a simple “getting-in-with-the-season” move, you can help your followers look forward to the spooky season and encourage them to engage with your posts and online activities.

Clark International Airport (CRK) Facebook page replaced its usual cover photo into a halloween-fall themed design with jack-o-lanterns and fall leaves while showing the airport’s iconic wavy roof.

Most brands would start on three things: profile picture or logo, cover photo, and a slogan or mother ad. The profile picture might be edited and manipulated with Halloween colors like black, orange, yellow, and the like or morphed to look like a Halloween icon such as pumpkins, ghosts, bats, and so on.

Cover photos may depict a halloween scene and a slogan can be adapted to add words like “spooky” or “scream” from the business’ original brand slogan.

B. Organize events in-store or online!

Halloween is not complete without games and fun rituals, after all it’s famous for its “trick or treat” activity. Brands should bank on this type of engagement that are rooted on holiday hype to invite people to follow their social media accounts and visit their website or physical store.

The Infinity, a business center in Pampanga, Philippines, hosts a costume contest every year which engages their audiences to purchase at their location to qualify on the tilt. They maximize their social media presence with teasers and marketing posts.

Halloween gatherings are not just about sales, they’re also part of your brand’s ability to organize a brand community which includes suppliers, social media followers, current and potential customers, and more!

You can also organize an online photo or reel contest where participants follow your page and they wear Halloween costumes; prizes may range from brand gift certificates to products. Moreover, you may use the entries as user generated content (UGC) which you can post later on.

C. Scream for Reels

Reels, be it on Facebook or Instagram, provide brands with an opportunity to demonstrate who they are in a fun, digestible way. Not only as they champion viewership compared to static content, reels drive engagement better due to its shareability.

Content wise, a business can show various video materials from employees or customers in Halloween costume dancing to the latest dance trends, tutorials and tips regarding the brand products, or parody of horror stories featuring the brand.

D. Seasonal discounts and perks

We mentioned how Halloween’s short-season length adds a sense of “must-try” among customers, hence online gimmicks are always in. Still, to make them effective and solicit responses they require additional hype.

This is where seasonal discounts or perks come in handy. Example if you’re a business that sells cupcakes, your online gimmick could include a limited edition Halloween dozen cupcakes available for those who follow your page or commented on a particular post- elevate this offer by adding a promo where customers can get a half-dozen for free if they buy another box.

Other discount campaigns are:

  1. a small discount on the next order
  2. free brand merchandise (ex: shirts, mugs, hats)
  3. sale via website
  4. discount code for eCommerce
  5. bulk sales

Like most holiday campaigns, promoting these sales are best managed in social media. Followers may be engaged in polls about which promo or discount they prefer or use reactions as measurement to the range of discount the business can provide.

E. Meme always works

Memes have become an essential part of our daily lives, and they won’t be ghosting us any time soon with the huge impact they have in social media.

A meme is not just a picture, a text or video, but a cultural expression that drives engagement and strengthens brand awareness- and Halloween is a huge cultural event. Brands can bank on humor to attract an audience’s interest and relate to their way of life while riding the campaign with iconic Halloween trends.

Don’t forget to add those promos!

Is your brand ready for a spook-tacular campaign?

Now always remember that beyond the Halloween-themed campaigns, authenticity is a winning factor. There will always be a perfect way to create marketing content that doesn’t feel like marketing.

For an authentic spook-tacular social media campaign, the goal is not to make fun of our audience but ensure that by and through the brand and business, customers will experience the fun of Halloween in the process.

The celebrations may give social media marketers a lot of creative freedom, which they can use to attract attention. It is important to understand that we utilize the event as a way to build communities amongst customers and followers, get in on the conversation, and include their welfare while rolling out these social media strategies.

Learn more about holiday social media campaigns or social media management. Set up a consultation with us!

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