How to handle your social media accounts during the Holidays

The end of year for businesses is a hectic time without adding the pressure of remaining on top of their social networks. As the year rounds out and people take vacation time to spend their time with their loved ones, there doesn’t seem to be much time left for social media.

Even though the Holiday Season is a forgivable time of year, people will still be using them and your communication still needs to be up to par, even if you are in the middle of adding cranberry sauce to your dinner plate. It is moments much like this that need to be included within your initial social media strategy, but in case it isn’t here are some ways you can remain active in social media without sacrificing your brand’s reputation or time spent with family.

Schedule for your supper

You need to find and use a dependable scheduling service that can help you share photos, videos, links and written status updates so your content remains fresh and of course varied. One tool I often suggest is the Buffer app and dashboard that can both be used online and on your smartphone. Load it up while surfing the web throughout the week easily and find great content that is related to your Industry, the Holiday Season and throw some fun in there with a cute picture or funny viral video. With that said there are many other free services that can help you in a pinch.

Unwrap the Holiday hours

If you are a brick and mortar store you want to be sure to relay your Holiday hours with your online communities, you can do this with a video, as a photo or within a blog post. Yes, you should share it as a status update, but it is best to have something more appealing to share repeatedly in various ways, so they know what you are doing and do not become frustrated that you failed to inform them. Customer Service is still a necessity.

Provide customer service blessings

If you are going to be closed at some point during the Holidays be sure to let the people on your social networks know when it is you will be returning to your regular hours or how else they can find and receive help, perhaps it is through an FAQ section on your website or blog, or maybe you will have a person assigned to be on-call, either way, anytime something changes you need to inform your online community in numerous ways and at different times throughout the day prior to the actual time. Do not post something the day before and expect for everyone to see it, you need to amplify your customer service about your well, customer service.

Carve some time to socialize

You may not want to, but it is necessary to have a peak over the Holidays on your social sites so you do not miss anything that may deem important. It would be nice to share a photo of some turkey carving or even have an ugly Christmas sweater contest just for fun. Just because it is the Holiday Season it will not prevent people from being online or from continuous purchasing, so prioritize a little bit of time, even if it is to add responses.

Mostly, you want to be able to enjoy your Holiday time so if you haven’t already, you need to begin planning a Holiday Season Social Strategy so you remain constant, consistent and relevant as we head into a new year.

[social media holiday via Reachli]