With retailers bringing out holiday decorations and ads in late summer, it kind of feels like we’ve been in the “holiday season” for a while now. Even earlier this summer, searches related to Christmas were already a huge deal on Pinterest.
As the holiday season is upon us, this edition of “Social Media in the News” is also getting in the spirit of things (at a normal time of the year!) and showcasing holiday-related news and trends for your favorite platforms.
Yes, You Can Still Track Santa! 🎅
The coronavirus isn’t stopping Santa this year. NORAD will track Santa once again this year. Thanks to social media, you can join in the countdown to Christmas and track Santa on multiple platforms:
Facebook Launches 2020 Holiday Guide
If you’re plotting out Facebook ads and promoted posts over the next few weeks, check out Facebook’s advertising guide for the holidays. It includes tips on driving sales, checklists, and even what to do after the holidays to seek out new customers.
“People are forming new and lasting habits in media consumption and commerce,” Facebook says, “with Gen X and Boomers leading the charge. Globally, mobile purchases by these groups during the holiday season have grown on average by 50% or more year on year, while over 30% have messaged businesses.”
Twitter Offers Tips to Brands to Maximize Outreach
Twitter got off to an early start with the holiday season as “Christmas” was trending on Twitter on Nov. 1, thanks in large part to a tweet from singer Mariah Carey teasing her classic “All I Want for Christmas is You” song.
As the holiday season kicked off, Twitter released several suggestions for brands to stay engaged and maximize outreach.
This includes things such as refreshing your profile, updating your pinned tweet, adding urgency in ad copy, and using polls.
# Twitter tip: the platform known for changing the pound sign to “hashtag” wants you to … not use too many hashtags! Twitter does have a suggestion on 10 tags to use.
Pinterest Launches Holiday Gift Guide
As we mentioned, Pinterest reported that Christmas-related searches started surging in June. This year, the platform is trying to help make shopping a little easier.
A Holiday Gift Guide separates ideas into 10 categories to browse through.
Each list includes updated pricing and direct links to purchase from a retailer.
🎁 Gifting tip: Pinterest’s insight manager says “personalized Christmas gift ideas” increased 46% this year.
Spotify Tests Story-like Function on Holiday Music
The bandwagon of disappearing “Stories” has now hit Spotify. A Twitter user recently spotted the feature, which displayed stories behind holiday tunes from artists such as Kelly Clarkson and Pentatonix.
This actually isn’t Spotify’s first attempt at the story-like function. In 2019, “Storyline” made an appearance for musicians to share insights into how they make music.
Want to find out even more about what’s been happening across social media? Catch up on all of our Social Media in the News headlines HERE.
