We’re counting the days ‘til Christmas! As holiday shopping comes in full swing, more people are looking online to buy gifts for friends and family. This is the best time to engage more online shoppers by spreading some Christmas cheer on Instagram. Your virtual assistant can help you with Instagram.
Why Instagram?
Instagram is fast becoming the social media behemoth of our time, with over 500 million active users every month. According to a report, 74% of customers rely on social media to help with their purchasing decisions.
Instagram is a visual platform, which means it’s the perfect marketplace for online shoppers. About 80% of IG users follow at least one brand on the platform and a third of the most viewed IG stories come from businesses.
Instagram traffic is expected to reach an all-time high by the end of the year, which means this is the right time to beef up your Instagram marketing campaigns. Whether you’re a small business or an agency, planning should be top of mind during these last few months of the year, and you can prepare your campaigns with the help of your virtual assistant. Here are some Instagram campaign ideas you can plan out with your VA.
1. Make your feed festive
You’ll want to make sure your Instagram feed looks eye-catching. Your virtual assistant can prepare Christmas-looking templates for your Instagram posts. They can create visual content using Photoshop or use the readily available templates in Canva so you can simply fill them in with your own content. For Christmas, consider working around the usual holiday-themed elements like bells, candy canes, reds and greens and golds, snowflakes, etc. Just make sure your holiday designs will blend well with your existing Instagram brand aesthetic.
2. Run a holiday contest
Social media is all about engagement. And one of the best ways to get users to connect with you is through hosting a Christmas contest. This will encourage active participation from users and will help you start a conversation with them.
Contests are also a great source of user-generated content (UGC), such as when you ask users to share content featuring your product or brand. This strategy goes two ways: customers also love seeing their content repurposed by brands. Apart from getting free high-quality content, you were also able to credit your loyal follower, thus building a stronger relationship.
You can work with your virtual assistant in preparing the mechanics for your contest. Once posted, your VA can also monitor responses and make sure contest entries are within the rules that you’ve set. If you have scheduled a raffle draw, have your VA run a raffle randomizer to help you select winners.
3. Create a gift guide using product tagging
Instagram can make your gift guides more interactive and mobile friendly via the IG shopping feature. If you’re managing a business profile, you can enlist the help of your virtual assistant to set up Instagram shopping, which will allow you to tag products from your online store to your Instagram posts or stories. This will help increase sales as it will be easier for users to access your products on Instagram rather than browsing your online store. Have your VA categorize your posts/gift guides based on pricing, for boys or for girls, for friends or for family members, by color or by sizes. Make sure that important product information can be found on your Instagram product page.
4. Take advantage of IGTV
IGTV is the next big thing when it comes to Instagram engagement. According to a report from Vimeo, 80% of brand audiences prefer watching videos than reading a blog, and 82% would rather watch a live video. This is a great way to connect with users and build trust. Share some behind-the-scenes videos during the holiday season. Your virtual assistant can also help you feature tutorials or start a weekly holiday-themed show where you can showcase products or services on discount.
4. Run a holiday quiz
Quizzes and polls enable you to understand the needs and interests of your customers and audience in a fun and engaging way. Work on some questions with your virtual assistant, such as “What’s your secret Christmas wish?” or “Red or Green?” or “Yay or Nay.” You may also test their knowledge about some of your products or services. You can have your VA post your quiz on your feed or on IG stories.
5. Support with sponsored content
Instagram ads or sponsored content can help you widen your reach. Assign your virtual assistant to run Instagram ads targeting new audience. Your VA will also monitor your insights so you would know which campaigns will work for your future strategy. Ads are also a way to reconnect with past shoppers and make product recommendations. Ask your VA to create Custom Audiences and remind them of the items they viewed but didn’t purchase.
It’s never too early to plan your Instagram Christmas campaign. Planning ahead will help those creative juices flow and will put you in an advantageous position to carry out your Christmas marketing ideas efficiently. Outsourcing Angel’s team of virtual assistants are skilled and knowledgeable with up-to-date Instagram marketing best practices and can effectively execute all your holiday marketing plans.
