How to Appropriately Celebrate a Holiday on Social Media

Halloween week is upon us - a week full of #tbt costumes from the 90's and your Woman Crush Wednesday of Bette Midler as Winifred Sanderson from Hocus Pocus.  Not only is Halloween one of my favorite holidays to celebrate, it's also one of the most fun to work with and use on social media.  It's definitely fun from a personal standpoint, but why can't big companies have some spook-tacular fun this week too?  Here is a list I have comprised for companies to use as guidelines for having a successful holiday social media campaign.

1.  A little fun never hurt anyone.
Halloween is known for its scary movies and gruesome characters, but why not make a little light out of this darker holiday?  Everyone likes to laugh, and Halloween is the perfect holiday to draw some funny jokes on.  All ages will love the Halloween twist on pop culture too.  Take Disney blogs, for example, they just posted a Disney Villains song to the tune of OneRepublic's "Counting Stars" to play on the evil side of Halloween.  It's hilarious and after being posted for less than 24 hours, it's already trending on Facebook.  Also, my favorite Instagram account Oreo is doing an "Oreo Laboratorium" account and posts where they create "frightening" creations (most resembling an Oreo cookie... curious...) much like Frankenstein's creation.  It's super cute and fun for this week to see what the Oreo Lab will create next!

2. Reminisce on holiday traditions
What's better than a company just talking on social media?  Starting a conversation of course!  If on your Facebook page you ask your followers to post or comment their favorite Halloween tradition, people will not stop talking about it!  Everyone loves to share their own stories, and a social media platform is the perfect space for people connect together over how they gave out candy the same way.  If people make connections on your page, they will associate your brand with good customer relations.

3. Holiday-themed contest anyone?
Everyone loves a good contest, and why not put us in the holiday spirit as well?  To coordinate well with #2, have a contest to engage with your customers on traditions or ways for them to be creative about Halloween.  Julep, an online beauty box company, posted on their Instagram for a #JulepInstaGRIM contest, where any follower could paint their nails in a Halloween theme, and post with specific hashtags in order to win a year of beauty.  Most of their followers (young women who are makeup and nail aficionados) are most likely going to paint their nails this week in a spooky fashion, so why not post them on social media and try to win?  This is perfect to spread some brand awareness too!

4. Do not smother us with pumpkins
We all love Halloween, so it is not necessary to shove it down our throats.  Subtlety is key here people.  Every single post does NOT need vampires, pumpkins, and orange in your face, but  little hints every now and then are good to keep the campaign flowing smoothly.  Dunkin' Donuts is aware of this, while most of their last posts have had something Halloween in them, most are subtle in the background or not even there.  There are only a few posts that have the main focus as Halloween, which is nice for viewers to not see the same holiday constantly.

5. If all else fails, add some orange
If you're reading this and thinking, well my product is kind of difficult to pair with a jack-o-lantern, never fear!  As long as you show your support in some way of the holiday, people will appreciate it.  For example, Allstate Insurance is kind of hard to dress up as a mummy.  But, on their Facebook page, they have a cover photo with a family playing in the Fall leaves.  Not every company can be 100% Halloween themed, which we as consumers understand, but we don't want to associate your brand as the Scrooge of holiday fun.  Show some kind of activity that is relevant to the holiday, and you can pat yourself on the back.

Hopefully these tips are useful, it's very fun to watch companies get in the holiday spirit just as much as I do.  Halloween is a great to celebrate being frightfully awesome as a brand, so why not try it!

#FreeGurley

October 9, 2014.  A day that will be long remembered.  Just over a week ago, the University of Georgia's star running back Todd Gurley was indefinitely suspended for possible NCAA allegations, and boy, did the social media world freak out. Within five minutes of ESPN posting the story online, I have my roommates crying in despair, my dad calling me from a work conference, and the Twitter world exploding with sadness.  Everyone and their mother was using the hashtag #FreeGurley and posting pictures of vigils or memes expressing their hatred for the NCAA.  That hashtag was not only trending on Twitter, but on Facebook as well.  Even after the first day of shock, Facebook had Todd Gurley as one of the trending topics.


Having social media react the way every UGA fan did can be a powerful force.  Not only has the trend of Todd Gurley been talked about through the university students, but as well with big broadcasters, such as ESPN and College GameDay.  Both those entities have been using their social media platforms to connect with knowledge-craving fans and relate as much information about the investigation as possible.  This is why social media is so crucial in this day and age - it connects us all together in times of "crisis." People can vent to the audience, start a conversation, and get creative all about some trending topic.  The social media movement about "Free Todd Gurley" (mind you, he is not arrested) has definitely gotten the NCAA's attention.  With fans tweeting, football players Istagramming, and even people making up new theme songs about Todd Gurley, the NCAA has to address the issue of college football players receiving money.  This outcry from the public has grown so much and it's all because of social media.  I can't wait to see how the social media world reacts when a decision is made, but at least for now we get some entertainment by people's creativity to #FreeGurley.

Why Doesn't Reese's Have an Instagram?

Let's be honest - Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are arguably one of the greatest creations in the candy & chocolate world.  I could just rant about their perfect ratio of chocolate to peanut butter, but that's not the only great part of Hershey's popular brand.  I've always been impressed by Reese's marketing campaigns; just think of how frugal they are!  Reese's current advertisements are just orange backgrounds with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups moving and cleverly doing something in relation to the season.  Reese's doesn't have to pay for actors, a studio, and any of that part of normal live-action advertising; all they need are some technologically savvy workers that can make some Reese's animate.  I am in no way saying that is an easy process, but that it is definitely saving loads of costs.  Plus, the majority of Reese's TV ads are fifteen seconds, whereas most brands have to have a minimum of thirty seconds just to get their stories across.  Cutting TV time in half probably saves Reese's a good chunk of cash, and yet Reese's commercials are super effective in their short time frame.

So Reese's has got television down pat.  But how are they on social media?  On Facebook, Reese's is definitely one of the larger pages in the candy world with around 12 million followers, (their parent company, Hershey's, only has 6 million) but competitor Snickers is close behind with 11 million.  On Twitter, Reese's posts the same pictures and tag lines as their Facebook page, whereas Snickers has more of a conversation and "Twitter-only" posts.  It's not always about competition though, Reese's should focus on their competitive advantage - creative, funny and mouth-watering images, like the ones on their TV ads.  So why does Reese's NOT have an Instagram?  Their simplistic, yet super creative play on their peanut butter cups would be perfect for the Instagram world!  I was very perplexed when I was searching for them on Instagram, because you should know by now I do love food brands on Instagram (cough Oreo cough) and I surely thought Reese's would be Instagram champs.  I think the candy company is missing out on a good target market, with the generation that likes being creative and interactive.  If Reese's had an Instagram, they could not only be hilarious with their football-playing peanut butter cups, but create a Reese's community about sharing recipes and favorite ways to eat the beloved candy.

Instagram, where are you?

Reese's is brilliant at marketing, but I still feel like they are missing out by not having an Instagram account.  Creating posts that are original instead of copying from Facebook and Twitter and attempted to interact with the audience could really build some brand love and loyalty to this great brand.  So if you're listening, Reese's, just know you'll have at least one follower on Instagram and I promise I'll like every single one of your posts.