Halloween themed social media posts get followers reacting and talking, and encourage them to share what they find interesting with their own followers, increasing your business’s exposure. As with most holidays, Halloween requires loads of visuals, so focus on how your social media accounts look and make sure to post and share plenty of images, video clips, and GIFs. When combined with interactive contests and helpful content, it’s easy to get spooky on social media.
Don’t just decorate your store, decorate your walls
Add a festive touch to your social media accounts with Halloween headers, profile pictures, and updated color schemes. This not only humanizes your brand, but every time you change these features, it pops up in customers’ feeds, resulting in exposure without overt marketing. Keep your brand’s aesthetic in mind when choosing these updates; if you run an upscale salon, goofy spiderwebs and cackling cartoon witches look gimmicky.
Ramp up visual content
Loosen up and have fun with images and GIFs during the weeks leading up to Halloween. Update photos of products you’re currently promoting with a few Halloween touches (think pumpkins, spiderwebs, gothic candle holders, and seasonal colors as backgrounds) so the rest of your Halloween content doesn’t seem out of place against your overall marketing. Respond to followers with spooky GIFs: offer up a happy, dancing ghost when someone says something nice or a laughing witch when followers are shooting out jokes. Share photos of employees and customers dressed up, with the latter’s permission, and share and retweet Halloween content your followers post to engage them. And don’t forget memes – as long as it fits your brand’s overall tone, followers will click that share or retweet button quickly.
Host loads of contests
Yes, you’ve probably seen ‘have a costume contest!’ on just about every Halloween marketing post you’ve read, but there’s a reason it’s always included: the contests are fun for followers, something they can easily participate in, and they dramatically improve your visibility. Also, it’s fun! Don’t want to do the same exact thing as your competitors? Understandable; instead, have pumpkin carving, yard decorating, interior decorating, Halloween recipe, or scary story contests. Make one requirement for winning following your page or signing up for a newsletter, and you’re adding to your customer database in anticipation of the upcoming holiday season.
Get playful with games
Followers love loads of content and contests, but they’re in a goofy mood and want to mess around, too. Instigate a one sentence collaborative story game, scary edition, and have followers take it from there. Get everyone to vote on what group costume your team should wear for the big day, or start a hashtag on Twitter and have people tweet out their favorite one sentence scary stories or Halloween puns.
Be helpful, too
Halloween is supposed to be fun, but add some value in there as well, looking for tips and ideas that will help your customers but fit your brand. Construction companies and hardware stores can share or tweet out tips for setting up outdoor displays safely, photographers could share ideas for getting memorable shots of kids in their costumes, restaurants can offer up recipes for parties, and the town watering hole might want to come up with a few Halloween cocktails.
Leveraging the holidays, especially fun ones like Halloween, gives you an opportunity to get followers talking and sharing. So, have fun, and don’t waste the opportunity!
