The holiday period is peak sales time for e-commerce brands, and Black Friday is one of the sale days you can make the most of.
In fact, according to report Adobe Analytics found that U.S. consumers spent a staggering $9.2 billion on Black Friday sales in 2022, an increase of 2.3% year over year.
With countless brands offering discounts and promotions, it can be difficult to cut through the noise.
However, with an effective social media marketing campaign, you can drive meaningful action from your target audience and increase sales. Key? Tailor your campaigns to your audience's needs and aspirations, and leverage social media to make the Black Friday shopping experience playful, fun, and engaging. From running online contests on your social media channels to offering free gifts with purchase, there are many ways to turn a good marketing campaign into a great one.
Looking to get in on the action and achieve your upcoming campaign goals? We've compiled five key strategies (including examples) to help you prepare for your next Black Friday social media marketing campaign.
What is a Black Friday social media marketing campaign?
As you probably know, Black Friday is a huge sale that takes place every year on the first Friday after Thanksgiving. This milestone marks the official start of the festive shopping season, featuring flash sales, exclusive discounts, and even bonus giveaways.
In-store and online, shoppers can purchase everything from tech gadgets to skin care products at deep discounts. For brands, the goal of Black Friday is simple. The idea is to encourage shoppers to run sales and stock up on festive gifts early.
A Black Friday social media marketing campaign is a way to extend your promotions and offers to your target customers on social media. A Black Friday marketing campaign should reach your ideal target market through a series of carefully selected posts, quickly clarifying the promotion you're running, and encouraging them to take action (usually via a time-limited message). using).
With the right tactics in place, you can use social media to reach new audiences, engage existing ones, and drive big sales to achieve your Black Friday campaign goals.
Curious about the status of Black Friday campaigns? Consider fenty beauty campaigna playful take on “beauty influencer culture,” captures the attention of viewers on TikTok and uses humor to encourage them to redeem Black Friday sale codes.
What makes a good Black Friday social media marketing campaign?
But what exactly makes a great Black Friday social media marketing campaign? With so many brands and businesses fighting for attention at the same time, get creative and target your audience. Curating your content will help you stand out and cut through.
Specifically, the best Black Friday social media campaigns:
• Avoid sales-only messages.: Just offering a discount code isn't enough to acquire and convert shoppers. Make sure your campaign creative adds value, solves a problem, and entertains your audience. This is what encourages meaningful engagement.
• Create a sense of urgency: Use interactive countdown stickers and “last chance” messages to remind your audience they need to take action now.
• Reach beyond your existing audience: Whether you team up with influencers or collaborate with content creators, working with like-minded creators ensures your campaign messages reach new communities.
We take this example below Krakiniscreated a Black Friday carousel post using photos of customers who had already posted about their products. Each tagged customer was then able to share this post with their community, organically increasing the campaign's reach to relevant users.
If you want to increase sales, increase brand awareness, and increase engagement on social media platforms, you need to start preparing your Black Friday marketing campaign now. Not sure where to start? These strategies will show you how to plan and execute successful campaigns across social media.
1. Curate gift guides for a more seamless shopping experience
No one wants the hassle of traversing numerous online pages looking for the right product to make a good gift. That's why a curated selection of gift guides as part of your Black Friday social media campaign creates a seamless shopping experience.
Gift guides deliver shoppable content that converts on social media by compiling a carousel of products that fit your audience's needs (and leveraging clickable product tags).
When creating the perfect gift guide, break it down into manageable sections. This can be done by age, interest, or another metric that is meaningful to your audience. for example, goop We've created gift guides based on specific interests, from wellness to cooking to travel.
2. Holding a Black Friday contest exclusively on social media
Running a social media contest can increase engagement and followers, making it a great strategy to use during your Black Friday social media campaign.
These campaigns are usually run on social media and encourage followers to participate and encourage them to follow, like, comment, and share the post. In return, entrants have a chance to win prizes.
The key to creating a contest that appeals to your audience is to keep it fun and creative. There's no need to simply share the original post.
Instead, viewers can be asked to engage with brands and businesses in unique ways, such as sharing their favorite photos of products or writing about how a particular service has helped them. . In this way, it also helps foster brand loyalty.
Check out our recent social media contests. ultra violet, uses dynamic reels and the brand's iconic, playful tone to encourage customers to enter to win the entire holiday collection. The results speak for themselves. This one post of hers got her over 27,000 views and her 3,000 entries (and counting).
When it comes to Black Friday, you can consider running a contest over the weekend between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. To expand your contest's reach, consider collaborating with influencers in your field.For example, if you're a pet company, consider working with influencers in your field. You might partner with a trainer.
3. Free gift with purchase
If you've ever clicked “Add to Cart” just to get a free gift with your purchase, you're not alone.
The strategy for gift-with-purchase promotions is to encourage customers to make purchases in order to earn free gifts. It works because it taps into the psychological factors that drive consumer behavior, such as the desire for reward, exclusivity, perceived value, and reciprocity. Basically, customers want a VIP feeling from her, and exclusive gifts create that.
The key to running an effective purchase reward campaign is to set limits around it. Make sure the promotion has a running period or a set quantity to reach before the gift runs out.
Examples of effective free gifts with purchases during Black Friday include: Muradleverages bold brand colors and carefully selects brand images to promote their offer.
Tip: For this strategy to be successful, you need to make sure the gift is customized to the consumer. It must be relevant and apply to the shopper's needs and preferences. For example, a hair care brand might offer a serum or hair oil if a customer spends more than $100 on hair products, recognizing that this is complementary to an existing purchase.
4. Use bundles to introduce your product line to your audience
If you haven't heard of bundling, this strategy involves selling multiple products or services as one combined unit. When it comes to holiday periods and shopping events like Black Friday, bundles can be a great promotional and marketing tool.
Not only are products usually offered at discounted prices to increase demand, but bundles also play an important role in helping viewers learn more about your brand.
for example, Nintendo I promoted the limited edition bundle as a Black Friday sale on Twitter. In making the selection, the gaming company grouped together a large number of new and existing products, allowing them to better introduce their product line to their customers. They then added hashtags to their posts to make them more visible online and shared unboxing videos on their social channels.
Whether you bundle selected products together or bundle different services, offering special bundles during Black Friday is an effective strategy to generate sales. Help customers find their next favorite product and potentially drive sales for months after Black Friday.
5. Offer early discounts and special offers to your loyal customers
Early bird offers are a great strategy to use if you want to drive sales and stimulate customer engagement. This strategy offers discounted prices and exclusive sales to customers who purchase in advance. For Black Friday, that means getting in on the shopping frenzy before the holiday begins.
A successful Black Friday social media marketing campaign requires careful and thoughtful planning. Early bird offers and sales allow you to run effective campaigns before other brands saturate the online space. This strategy not only increases sales and audience engagement, but also increases customer loyalty. Providing your customers with special offers also encourages repeat purchases.
consider steve madden's Black Friday campaign. We gave our loyal customers the chance to get early access to our Black Friday sale. By publishing posts on the brand's Twitter platform, it encouraged followers to sign up for its email list, which gave them access to exclusive deals.
To run an effective early bird offer, define a specific period during which it will be available prior to Black Friday to create a sense of urgency and exclusivity. Next, create a compelling offer that entices your customers to take advantage of your special offer and roll it out across social media.
Are you ready to make the most of your Black Friday social media marketing campaign?
A well-planned social media strategy is essential for a successful Black Friday.
Plann gives you the tools you need to increase your revenue and brand awareness. Plann powers your This Black Friday campaign with everything you need to easily reuse content, plan a clearly defined and measurable strategy, and increase brand awareness.
Plann's AI Caption Generator speeds up content creation and generates high-performing captions that drive compelling calls to action for your audience. More importantly, you'll be sure to get all the hashtags you need during the Black Friday sales period.our visual content planner It's also super convenient and gives you a bird's eye view of your calendar so you can plan your entire campaign across social media and easily drag and drop content.
Similarly, EasyLink by Plann It's perfect for your Black Friday social media marketing campaign as it provides a seamless shopping experience. Visual bio links and timed links can drive conversions on autopilot through your social media channels.
continue, Take advantage of a 7-day free trial of Plann Plus. If you don't like it, keep using Plann for free.