Give the Gift of Good Content This Holiday Season

Sharing Content During the Holidays

We spend a lot of time thinking about how we can help our partners create content that will be valuable for their customers.

And there’s no time of year that lends itself to fun, interesting content quite like the holidays.

Here are some digital content ideas that you can implement this holiday season:

Create a gift guide or gift suggestions – This is easy to do if you are a retail business.  But service and experience companies can do the same.  Let’s say your business is cabin or lodging property.  Besides mentioning a night at your place, create a gift guide that includes a luxurious robe, a relaxed pamper routine with a dermaroller, a unique hot chocolate, and a fun movie on DVD.  Be sure to include links to the items you’re suggesting.

Or compile a list of items that you know your demographic will enjoy.  For example, if Digital Relativity was going to put a list together, it would include a subscription to Spotify, a Livescribe Pen, and an iPad.  And probably coffee.

Recipes  – You don’t have to be a restaurant to share a recipe (but if you do happen to be a restaurant – share away!).  Ask employees for their family favorites or traditional holiday dishes.  Share a recipe that is unique to your business, your industry, etc.  If you can include a photo of the finished product (or the progress), do so.

Memories – Encourage customers to share photos from Holidays past.  Are there old holiday photos you can share from your company or the people who work there?  Share them and encourage your customers to do the same.

Photos – Do you host a holiday party for employees?  Decorate your business for the season?  Snap some photos of the party that can easily be shared via Facebook, Twitter, and Google +.  Loyal customers love to see the folks they know enjoying the season, and everyone likes getting a behind-the-scenes glimpse of your company and the people they work with.

Special coupon or discount – This may be obvious, but customers are actively buying at this time of year and a coupon or discount makes great content.  Just make sure that it truly is valuable and gives them a reason to buy.  When I see a coupon that is “10% off if you spend $150”, it’s typically not going to motivate me to make a purchase that I wasn’t already planning to make.

Video  – There are a lot of possibilities here, and video could be folded in with some of the other suggested content ideas.  Show video of your employees ‘behind-the-scenes’ getting ready for Christmas, singing a holiday song, working on a DIY craft, cooking a holiday dish, etc.

How to guide (either photo or video) – Show your customers ‘How-To’ do something.  It can be related to your business or just generally holiday-themed; just remember, it should be useful or interesting to your customers.

For example, show customers the best way to set up a  Christmas tree, how to make eggnog, how to make a nice bow for a gift, etc.  Don’t be afraid to let your brand personality show through.

Let’s say you sell kayaks, and this time of year lots of them are being purchased as gifts.  Well, create a video showing first-time kayak owners how to care for their boat, how to store it, how to get it ready for it’s maiden voyage.  Upon purchase, include a QR code or URL that the gift giver can share with the gift recipient to learn how to use their present.

We’ve taken on a few of these ideas ourselves to share with you this year.

What other content are you sharing this holiday season?  Tell us in the comments.