It’s the most wonderful—and competitive—time of the year as social media becomes a hub for festive Christmas content. With your target audience swarmed by holiday promotions and merry messaging, the challenge is to create a campaign that doesn’t stop at views but also leaves a lasting impression.
Brands and creators develop holiday content on every platform by tailoring their strategies to unique features and audience preferences. In this guide, we’ll look into how you can approach content creation across each one.
Facebook giveaways, contests, and gift guides
Facebook creators and brands effectively use giveaways, contests, and gift guides that boost engagement, increase visibility, and, most especially, drive conversions.
To start off, think about how you can build excitement and anticipation leading up to the holidays. Taking inspiration from e.l.f. Cosmetics’ Advent Calendar Campaign, you can create daily or weekly content that offers something special every time they see you in their feed, giving them a reason to check back frequently.
You can hack Facebook’s algorithm by planning out the details ahead of time so you never run out of posts. Structure your campaign by breaking them into:
- Daily giveaways. Offer new products, holiday-themed gift cards, and bundle deals each day leading up to Christmas. You can even implement the Filipino gift-giving culture of exchanging small gifts based on a randomized theme such as “something soft”, “something brat”, or “something shocking” each day.
- Contests. Run specific challenges, such as “Share your best holiday makeup look” or “Post your family’s favorite Noche Buena memory”.
- Gift guides. Curate daily gift guides, showing followers how to shop for everyone on their list using your products or services. Segmenting your audience also works wonders, whether it’s “Last-Minute Stocking Stuffers”, or “Best Gifts Under 200 pesos”.
TikTok’s user-generated content
With a bucket of interactive elements, TikTok creators and brands tap into the platform’s dynamic, short-form video format, making the most out of trends, viral challenges, and the platform’s fun spirit.
Just like Amazon’s #AmazonChristmasMustHave your first step is to pick a clear, relatable holiday theme. Whether it’s hashtags, playlists, challenges, or collaborations with lifestyle influencers, Amazon makes sure every part of the campaign is simple, memorable, and captures the essence of gift-giving.
Once your audience creates content around your theme, you’ll want to keep the momentum going by amplifying user-generated content (UGC). For Amazon, they would repost and highlight the best videos in their TikTok account. If you want to take it to another level, duet with your followers’ videos, comment, and engage directly with creators who are participating.
Don’t stop after the first day. You’ll want to engage with your followers throughout the entire holiday season. Post reminders about the challenge, share updates, and keep the excitement alive by showcasing new UGC daily or weekly. You can even add twists or mini-challenges throughout the campaign to keep it fun and fresh.
ALSO READ: Why are Filipinos so addicted to TikTok?
YouTube’s Christmas countdown
Vlogmas is a highly successful content series on YouTube because it taps into the excitement and anticipation of the holiday season, creating daily engagement and building a strong connection between creators and their audience. During vlogmas, creators post a new vlog every day from December 1st until Christmas, often sharing holiday-related content such as decorating, gift shopping, festive recipes, and personal traditions.
Nicole Laeno, a young multi-talented dancer and actress who participated in this Christmas countdown has seen approximately 25.7k new subscribers and accumulated an average of 699.8k views on her channel when she started vlogmas 2022. With a daily posting schedule, Nicole’s watch time increased as her audience had more to binge-watch.
In past years, she featured content like “Christmas Wishlist Ideas”, “Shopping for Holiday Decor”, and “Decorating My Room for Christmas”. Nicole, as a dancer, also incorporated some creative elements into her vlogmas, such as dance challenges and holiday-themed choreography.
Don’t forget to create eye-catching thumbnails with SEO-driven titles that will excite viewers to click. Bright colors, holiday-themed designs, and fun hooks will help your videos stand out.
Instagram’s virtual photobooth
With Instagram’s stickers, frames, filters, and effects, you can push the holiday campaign by engaging your audience with interactive content.
Augmented Reality or AR filters like snow effects, twinkling lights, and interactive features such as reindeer antlers that move with the user do well in making your audience participate. You can capitalize on these by creating content that ties into a trending holiday conversation.
For example, when people are discussing advance holiday prep or decorating, use holiday stickers to encourage your followers to post their own version with a branded hashtag. IKEA had a fun way of doing this by attaching a poll sticker to a trending holiday debate such as “Real tree or fake tree?” or “Best holiday movie?” to humanize their brand.
Vista Social observed that branded holiday filters and stickers lead to a 40% higher share rate than typical filters during non-holiday seasons. Interactive filters not only draw more interactions but also have a viral effect, as users love sharing fun ways to switch up their looks without going through the 2-hour make-up and dress-up session.
X is known for its fast-paced environment, where trends emerge and evolve in real time. Campaigns using branded hashtags can tap into ongoing conversations, particularly during events, product launches, or cultural moments.
You might have seen this with #TaylorSwiftErasTour and #GUTSWorldTourPH. When artists and concert organizers post the exact moment tickets go live, followers will immediately see the notification. This sense of urgency encourages users to act quickly, driving faster ticket sales.
You may remember the ad where Google partnered with actor Macaulay Culkin, the actor who played Kevin in the Christmas movie Home Alone. In the same ad, Google recreated iconic scenes from the movie and paired it with the hashtag #HomeAloneAgain, all the while showing how Google Home devices help Culkin’s character manage his day-to-day tasks while he was “home alone” during the holidays.
The campaign worked not only because they tapped into one of the most beloved Christmas movies and evoked nostalgia but also because it interacted with the fans by sharing behind-the-scenes content, memes, and GIFs.
Get creating!
Crafting standout holiday content on social media is both a creative and strategic endeavor. As competition heats up, the brands and creators that resonate emotionally and engage real time with their audience will leave a lasting impression, driving both a loyal following and conversions.
M2.0 Communications is a public relations firm in the Philippines that specializes in business, technology, and lifestyle communication. We offer a range of PR services including reputation management, media relations, social media marketing, influencer marketing, and video production. Learn more about our work on our case studies page.
