Once Christmas has passed, New Year’s Eve comes and goes so quickly that it can be difficult to plan a promotion around it. All it really takes to create a great New Year’s promotion, though, is a little forethought and planning. You can easily get your brand off to a great start with a creative New Year’s Eve marketing campaign. We’ve got four fun suggestions to get you started.
Find a Partner in Crime
The most successful social brands have partners that they won’t tell you about (and why would they?). In the last few years, agencies known for social media content have cropped up. With the rise of video as a standard tool, agencies like NOTICE have been receiving accolades for work with well-respected social brands like Macy’s, Restoration Hardware, and Lululemon. Don’t be afraid to find a partner to share ideas, as they may have identified common conditions that create success.
Midnight flash sale
Even homebodies will be staying up until midnight to watch the ball drop in Times Square, so take advantage of this by creating a special flash sale to appeal to those night owls. A flash sale only needs to be a few hours long, so a sale that lasts from midnight to 3 am or 11 pm to 2 am would be perfect. Be sure to promote through email and your social networks, but be careful to communicate the times clearly. If your brand has a national audience, be sure to clearly communicate the hours of the sale, and which time zone you’re measuring it by, so that there’s no confusion.
New Year’s resolutions wishlist
Once the the ball has dropped and the partiers start heading home, thoughts start to turn to New Year’s resolutions and trying to maintain them. Engage your fans by asking them to share their own New Year’s resolutions, or take it a step further with a themed wishlist. Invite your fans to create a New Year’s Resolution pinboard that details what their resolution is, how they plan to achieve it and how a service or product you provide can help them achieve it. You can then reward the most creative or inspirational submission with a discount, gift card or some similar prize that encourages them to see it through. Just be sure that participants share their pinboard links with you.
Learn how Lululemon created an army of brand ambassadors with our in-depth analysis.
Create a themed playlist
If you’re looking to engage fans rather than run a sale or promotion, help them throw an awesome New Year’s Eve party by creating a great playlist. If your brand has a YouTube account, go ahead and create a playlist using music videos, or, if you have a Spotify account, go ahead and create it using their impressive array of songs. You can then share it through your social networks and invite users to share their own playlists or suggest other songs to include.
Create a digital time capsule
Invite your fans to help to capture a moment in time. If your brand already has a presence on Instagram, or has incorporated it into your Facebook profile, take advantage of it and ask your followers to take and share a pic of themselves right at midnight, whether they’re at a party or spending a night at home. Make sure to create and use a unique hashtag so the submissions are easier to track. You can then create a Facebook album, a pinboard or a blog post showcasing all of the entries.
Interested in other ways brands use fun or creative tactics to engage with fans over holidays? Check out our list below:
