How to Use Seasonal Content Effectively

Blog Description: Brands, small businesses, and content creators are capitalizing on seasonal content to connect with their followers. Seasonal content can be an effective way to up your engagement, boost your reach, increase your following, and importantly, convert your audience. In this article, we show you how to incorporate seasonal content into your social media strategy and utilize it effectively.

During the winter months, social media is bursting with content: eggnog recipes, fashion trends, Christmas tree decoration ideas, and much more. Brands, small businesses, and content creators are capitalizing on seasonal content to connect with their followers. Seasonal content can be a very effective way to up your engagement, boost your reach, increase your following, and importantly, convert your audience.  We’re about to show you how to incorporate seasonal content into your social media strategy and utilize it effectively.

What is seasonal content?

Seasonal content is content that you create around a specific time of year. This can be a season, like summer or winter; an annual holiday; or an event or niche, such as the Olympics.

How can you use seasonal content to your brand’s advantage?

1. Plan in advance

Seasonal content is time-sensitive, so it is important to start brainstorming your content early and avoid scrambling to post at the last minute.

Pro-tip: Make a list of relevant holidays, days of note, and events, and pick out which will work best for your audience. By doing so, you can map out your content a month (or more) ahead.

2. Design your content especially for the season or event

Since seasonal content is purposed especially for an event or holiday, it might look different from your regular content – and that is fine.

HelloFresh

HelloFresh, a subscription meal kit service, did a great job of creating seasonal content for the winter holidays.

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This post sets a fun Christmas vibe with the peppermint candies and pinecones. It shows off their peppermint bark hot chocolate in a way that’s effortlessly seasonal. They have even managed to incorporate a second seasonal holiday, National Cocoa Day, and used a seasonal hashtag to capitalize on two holidays simultaneously.

3. Use seasonal hashtags

Research which hashtags are relevant and trending in regard to your seasonal content, and then use those hashtags to reach a larger audience.

Pro-tip: You can do this research yourself by manually searching on Instagram, or you can use our "Curated Hashtags" tool in the app. You’ll find hashtag groups for a variety of holidays, events, and days of note, compiled by the Hashtag Expert team and ready for you to use.

How can seasonal content help you meet your social objectives?

Creating great seasonal content can help your account perform better. Optimizing your social media is essential for marketing because it gives you the opportunity to reach a larger audience: Instagram alone has over 500 million daily users! Posting seasonal content is just one more way for you to reach more people on social media.

Gain new followers

Take advantage of the fact that many people are ready to engage with season-specific content. This is a great time to reach new users who have never seen your content before. You can capture their attention initially with your seasonal posts, and then keep them engaged by regularly posting your other strategic content.

Increase engagement with current followers

Create interactive seasonal content that will encourage the followers you already have to engage with your account. Stories with polls, quiz and reaction stickers, and posts that ask questions are great ways to encourage your followers to interact with your account.

Wayfair UK

Wayfair UK utilized the "question" feature on Instagram Stories that allows followers to respond directly. This is a fun way to engage your followers, and it also provides great content for your account. You can post what followers shared in your Story, or create new content based on insights from their answers.

How can seasonal content help you meet your business objectives?

Leverage your seasonal content and turn it into sales. Capitalize on the fact that you can reach new accounts with your seasonal content and incorporate your business goals into your posts. Whether you are selling a product, offering a service, or looking to drive traffic to your website, you can create seasonal content to meet business objectives.

Apple TV

Apple TV seamlessly integrated a call to subscribe into their seasonal content by using an image of Snoop Dogg from Mariah Carey’s Christmas special and letting everyone know they can stream it on their app.

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How is seasonal content being used in your niche?

Some seasons and events will be easier to incorporate into seasonal content for your niche than others. But every niche can and should utilize seasonal content. To find out how this type of content is being used in your niche, search for similar accounts and see what they are doing on their feed. In the tech industry, for example, seasonal content is being used in creative ways.

Microsoft

Microsoft posted memes on Instagram for Halloween that are funny, seasonal, and promote Microsoft Teams.

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IBM

IBM tweeted an intriguingly informative post for World Food Day. The company used a seasonal hashtag to reach new accounts and posted a relevant article to drive traffic to the IBM website.

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How will seasonal content help you reach your ideal customer?

Use seasonal content to reach your target demographic by tailoring your seasonal posts to your ideal customer. Every target demographic has different needs and interests; get to know yours so you can create content they will want to engage with.

If you are trying to reach young people, for instance, you can make funny and eye-catching content. If you are trying to reach business executives, use an appropriate tone and keep your content concise and informative. Leverage your seasonal content to gain new followers who are your ideal customers, and keep them engaged with your regularly scheduled content.

As we've shown, seasonal content is a fun and effective way to reach your social and business goals. It can help you reach a larger audience and gain new followers. You can utilize seasonal content across all your social media accounts and tailor it specifically for your niche to reach your ideal customer.

So take a look at your calendar and see what holidays and events are coming up ... then get started planning your effective seasonal content.

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