Sweet Summer Time and the trends of Social Media!
Social media marketing is a full time job. It is an ever changing and evolving entity that takes continuous education, experimentation and upgrading. That being said, you should consider your social media marketing plans for just one season at a time so that it all doesn’t seem so overwhelming! Let’s just work on summer social media campaigns. Looking at upcoming trends will help figure out a direction for posting and interacting.
Summertime offers many opportunities for businesses that are different than the rest of the year. Everyone everywhere can easily go out of doors. People are on vacation. Kids go off to summer camp. And, it is the perfect time of year to fix all those issues in the yard, garage or the exterior of the house. Companies can take advantage of these summertime situations with certain strategies that they need to launch their summer marketing campaigns.
Every town has a festival or carnival or even a fair. Local events are special for small businesses because it can surge your search engine optimization (SEO) and gain traffic to your website. If you share photos of your visit to the central park art show or of your employees riding the ferris wheel, you can write a line that says where you are and any search using the name of the event will pick it up and you and your photo will be right there. You need to figure out how to reach the people who are local and drive them to your website and to your physical store or office. Take advantage of local events by creating a Facebook live event where you are on location and interview some of the vendors. Promote your live broadcast a few days in advance so that everyone who follows you will have a heads up on the time. Post every few hours the day of the event right up to your actual show. This can easily become a regular weekly event. Many have found that the “Friday night Happy Hour” on Facebook live are very well attended and increases their sales. Use Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day and Back to School as events that you piggyback your promotions. Post pictures and comments on all of your social media accounts using the words of the holidays. The more you post, the more interaction you will get.
There are many opportunities during the summer that you can connect to in your local market with your social media sites. Flowers are blooming so try a Facebook Live walking tour of the neighborhood featuring all of the fabulous gardens. Post closeup pictures of the flowers on Instagram. Ask your clients and customers how they spend their summers and find creative ways to connect with what they are doing. As boats get put into water, go down to the docks and take pictures of your clients sailing or their kids swimming. Connect your business to these activities. Offer summer specials on your picture postings.
Try some new avenues in your advertising during the summer months. If your town has B&Bs, hotels or lots of visitors, offer those people a babysitting service by way of your company. Perhaps a family has come from out of town with the kids and mom and dad would like an evening to explore more adult entertainment. Make these offers on all of your social media sites and ask people to share. Through your business or your website or Facebook page, they can book a babysitter. Make this offer to your customers and clients. Also, offer a house cleaning service. Partner up with a local cleaning service and offer after visitors leave cleanup! Also partner up with a pet boarding business and offer boarding or dog walking. Vacations create openings for a wide range of services.
Social media and responses to it depend heavily on good images. Photos are vital to attract attention to your message. These postings with pictures also get shared more often than long content posts. A Twitter post without a photo will just get lost in the feed which moves very fast. Because summer is about cooking outdoors on the patio, post pictures of gorgeous backyard picnics and a simmering grilled steak. Share recipes for both dinner and for drinks. Again, depending on what your business is, tie your postings into the picture by using words such as “sizzle”, “hot” and “splash” for a strong SEO boost. Make sure that when you post on Facebook that you also post the same thing on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
There is a different attitude that happens in the summertime. A light hearted, breezy feeling covers the land. People want to have fun and enjoy the warmer weather. So, make your postings about your business match that feeling. An upbeat one liner with a silly picture, a photo of someone relaxing on raft traveling down a lazy river and a shot of an outdoor party with laughing people makes the viewer happier and more satisfied. Summer equals fun, so post fun posts!
Another way to engage on social media for business during the summer months is to play games! Summer time seems to bring out the kid in us. Put a few games on your social media platforms to get your community engaged with fun, lighthearted content. Start a caption contest where you post a silly but fun picture of your company and staff doing something behind the scenes. Ask your followers to submit a caption! Fill in the blank is another fun online game. Use a summer theme such as “My happy place is ”. or “My favorite summer vacation spot is __” and “My favorite cookout food is ___” . Post pictures and have your followers guess the location. Take unique pictures of familiar places around town like the central park, the library and the grocery store and of course, your business!.
A successful social marketing season is looking at the big picture and to try new ideas. Keep it warm, sizzling and fun! The key to spreading your online visibility and establishing business credibility is a well-built website that reflects your products and services in an organized, modern, and aesthetically pleasing design. We at Everest Direct Mail and Marketing, can help you boost your online presence by creating an original website, fit to your business’ specific needs. We know that no two businesses are alike – so we won’t just throw your content into a basic pre-created template. Our experienced web designers will work with you to make sure each page reflects your products, services, and anything else you’d like to include. We guarantee we’ll provide you with a website you will be proud of, that reflects your professionalism, pride, and hard work you put into your business.








