How To Keep Up With Your Social Media Strategy During Off Season

There are several companies out there that don’t have “year-round” services. This makes it crucial for these brands to focus on their most significant sales & successes when their products are in demand. For example, swimwear has a much higher demand during the summer. There are thousands of brands, that may have to go through what can be called an “off-season”. If your brand or business falls in this category, it’s still important that you keep up with your social media strategy when there is a lull in business. This will keep your brand fresh in the minds of audiences and can also help you make sales. Here are some steps to follow:

1. Focus On User Engagement

It isn’t challenging to create a product that’s relevant during a particular season. However, it is essential that you reach out to your customers during quieter months. This helps your brand build customer loyalty, which results in extending the life of your product. Also, you create genuine and relevant content that shows your customers that you’re a “year-round” company. By simply tapping into your customer base and requesting them to submit posts or videos, you’re generating user content. This is hugely beneficial as user-generated content shows your audience how to get the best out of your product. Besides, this also creates social proof, which is probably the biggest win. Go through all your social media channels and look for customers that have submitted posts. In case you’re stuck and don’t know how to begin, just think about the “Share a Coke” campaign which was hugely successful. Consider looking at your tweets and additional content, something that your customers have submitted themselves. You can use these to kickstart a conversation or even a social media campaign effectively.

2. Provide More Value To Customers

Offering discounts during quieter periods is a great idea. Even though it might seem like a dated concept, it is the way that modern retail works. Retailers always put up sales to indicate the start of a new season, and the old stock is sold at significantly lower price tags. In case you don’t have any new stocks coming up the next season, you can take a look at your product line and advertise a few discounts. This will prove to be extremely beneficial for your brand, and will undoubtedly boost sales during the quieter months. You can also consider running some competitions where you can ask your customers what type of product or service they like. You can then offer those products at discounted rates for a day or two. This will undoubtedly work as you’re tapping into the primary vault that your offering provides.

3. Create Better Content

If you have a brand that people don’t think about during the off-season, you can take this time to create an entire series of high-quality content. For example, create a set or series of high-quality blogs and videos. It shows your customers that you’re still around, and offering great products. Consider reaching out to influencers, as they can give you a clear idea of how to create excellent product-related content. This will help in setting up relationships that can efficiently pull in massive results once your products are back in season. Besides, you can also use this time to improve your product or service offerings. The effort will help your brand gain a better following once things start picking up.

4. Create Useful Content

Even though this might seem a little obvious, you should consider spending most of your time creating content that prepares you for the busier time of year. For example, if you’re a company that makes travel or sports equipment, you can use your time to create informative, high-quality videos showing how your products work. A series of posts that shows your product in action is instrumental in keeping your brand current and relevant. You can post content about the upcoming season as well. If you’re a brand that makes surf gear, you can create content around topics such as – “the best beaches to hit for surfing,” “how to effectively manage your board.” or “how to store a surfboard when the weather isn’t perfect for catching waves.”

5. Launch Contests And Competitions

Conduct frequent competitions or contests that stretch out into quieter months ensure that people are aware of your product and ensures continuous engagement. This is an incredibly effective way of keeping up the momentum of marketing your product. Instagram is probably the best example of a channel that has a constant flow of user photos. Customers can submit pictures of them using your product, or even show how they’re spending their time. In case your focus is on Facebook and Twitter, consider having a comments contest. For example, request your customers to comment with their favorite jokes or their ideal Saturday plans, this will help encourage engagement. The point is that if you have a seasonal product, it doesn’t mean that you have to stay quiet during your off-season. This free or slower time can be used to create better content, run competitions, and search for user-generated content that effectively increases engagement. When it comes to social media, there’s no such thing as “seasonal,” and this is an aspect you should use to your benefit. For any information about our digital marketing services, feel free to contact YourSocialStrategy.com via this online form, and we’ll reply within the next business day.