No matter when you hang those Christmas lights or set up your tree, this is the moment to engage in some intensive social media salesmanship. Holiday marketing is both glamorized and charged with action from folks who have become used to shopping with the click of a button. Take advantage of that!

Business News Daily predicted a surge in social media advertising at the start of 2022, and they weren’t wrong. Have you noticed all those ads popping up in your Facebook feed? I have! And I’ve shopped at a few of them, proof that it works. They projected revenue for social marketing to increase by 15% in 2021, and to grow from there. Whether you’ve taken advantage of social marketing in the past or not, it’s time to up your game.

In a recent guide for social marketing, seven steps highlighted a successful strategy. Let’s explore a couple of them. Begin by looking at the marketplace. What are you seeing? Look up the Facebook pages of competitors and investigate what they’re promoting and what their ads look like. It’s just a little friendly undercover work, and it’s essential.

Choose your platform. Personally, I love Facebook. TikTok isn’t my style. Whatever you choose, speak that language. Look at the range of users of the various platforms. Consider if you want to go heavy with graphics or if words matter to you. You can choose one or several. Just don’t choose none.

• Ask customers to like your page.

• Post fun and funny things. Every. Single. Day.

• Don’t forget to host a few contests.

• Touch hearts and minds.

• Create a presence drawing others to you.

• Use eye-catching hashtags. Do some research: hashtagesareyourfriends, hashtaggenerator

With all of this in mind, now create some colorful graphic-intensive advertisements. Remember that social media appeals first to the eye, and then to the mind. Colorful pictures are key to building an advertising campaign. Don’t begin with advertisements. Begin with people. Then supply what they need. Plan at least one advertisement per week. Yes. Just one.

I keep a planner for Facebook campaigns and track what types of posts I’m using, which dates, and when to insert ads. It may sound like a lot of work, but it’s the way you drive results to turn clicks into cash. You can sell on your site or bring them to your brick and mortar store…but Amazon has elevated impulse buying to whole new stratosphere, so consider the value of the buy now click of a button.

Holiday marketing is for everyone. Most of my Christmas shopping is done, but I’m always looking for more: We celebrate five, count them, FIVE January birthdays in our family…so yes, I’m still buying. So are a whole lot of other folks. Capture a few of those sales for yourself!