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!