By Guest Blogger Deanna Zaucha, Senior Specialist of Content Marketing for Webs and Pagemodo
Independence Day will come and go, but it never fails to 
set the momentum for the holiday season to come. For marketers, holidays are a great time of the year to drive traffic and encourage engagement with customers. However, we’re often faced with outdated and stagnant social media campaigns.
For your marketing campaign to stay ahead of the curve and stand out in a crowd, it should be memorable, unique and most importantly, engaging. Whether you’re revamping your current campaign or starting from scratch, these five takeaways can help enhance your presence this holiday season.
1. Use a fun and creative hashtag
Designating a hashtag should be one of the first things you determine when creating a social media campaign. Not only do hashtags encourage people to interact with your brand, they also help you track who is interacting and when, resulting in a more targeted campaign. Hashtags are also the perfect way to generate conversations between your company and its customers.
For example, Coca-Cola tweeted, “Create your own sparks on the 4th of July & share a Coke with your favorite person #LifeLibertyAndThePursuitOfFizziness,” to incorporate its “Share a Coke” campaign into Independence Day. The play on words in the hashtag and embedded video of Coke bottles shooting off fireworks resulted in more than 400 favorites and sparked conversation among followers. Creating and using a hashtag alongside your company’s product is a simple way to integrate your brand into your followers’ feed.
2. Make your web presence consistent
The overall goal of any social media campaign is to enhance your social presence and drive traffic to your website, however, when you focus all your efforts on social media and not on your website, visitors lose interest. When you create your social media campaign, always make sure the message is consistent across all platforms, including updating the company website. This will keep your customers engaged and likely to return.
3. Incorporate a contest
Nothing intrigues an audience more than the opportunity to win something. Try tying different holidays into contests to win a free product or service that is appealing to your audience. Your contest should be simply outlined, easily shareable and promoted across your website, Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms. However, it’s important to make sure your contest is time-relevant. A contest promoting pictures with Santa Claus in March might not pick up many interactions.
California Avocado, for example, engaged customers who enjoy cooking through its “4th Annual All-American Recipe Contest.” Customers were asked to submit their favorite Fourth of July recipe for the chance to win two shipments of California Avocados as well as a California Avocado gift pack.
4. Get people involved
Use your holiday campaign to get your audience and employees involved. There’s nothing less motivating for customers than a social campaign with little to no engagement. Word of mouth is the strongest promotional tool at your disposal, so it’s important to encourage company employees to share pictures, use the holiday hashtag or even contribute to the contest themselves. The more exposure and engagement your audience sees, the more likely they are to participate as well.
5. Be visual
Visual posts have taken precedent in our on-the-move society that relies on mobile devices to keep up with social media. This is why you should implement visuals whenever possible – they’re short, sweet and eye-catching.
Zappos’ successful implementation of an Independence Day visual featured an American flag created with red, white and blue Converse sneakers and a short “Happy 4th of July” caption. More than 4,000 followers liked the Facebook picture, while 418 shared it. Encouraging your audience to share your photos can also help to increase exposure, as people are more likely to click through a picture on Twitter than a wordy link to another website.
Campaigns can flourish through the holiday season, as it is a great time to bring your customers, employees and brand together. Implementing a creative social media campaign that revolves around various holidays and celebrations can engage both current and potential customers while creating exceptional results for your business.
Deanna Zaucha is the Senior Specialist of Content Marketing for Webs and Pagemodo, and also manages the social media presence for both. She can be found on the dance floor, or on her iPhone keeping up with trends in marketing and tech.