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December is here, and consumers are looking to surprise their loved ones with the perfect Christmas gift or make a head start on their new year’s resolutions by updating their homewares, appliances or wardrobe for the year to come.
How do eCommerce brands market more effectively during the highly competitive holiday season? By nurturing a genuine social media community around their brand and including content created by consumers in their UGC-based holiday marketing campaigns. Read on to learn more about UGC and how brands are mobilising their online communities with fantastic holiday marketing ideas during the festive period.
Content is king, and without the right content and social media presence, it would be near impossible for eCommerce brands to operate effectively, let alone achieve ambitious sales targets during a competitive time of year.
Instagram currently has 500+ million active daily users and Facebook (or Meta) is considered to be the most popular social platform across all age groups. The immense scope and reach of social media are as integral to marketing and eCommerce as ever before, meaning there is limitless potential available for brands willing to team up with the right UGC platform.
Hubspot found that 82% of marketers are actively using content marketing. The current trends in content marketing point more towards interactive, relatable, and ethical content as well as a consistent growth in the popularity of multimedia-based content like video formats rather than static images alone. One thing lies at the core of Instagram marketing in 2022 – 2023; interaction. User Generated Content gets consumers involved by encouraging them to create and share their own content, which leads to more unique and exciting results.
It was reported in the Hubspot State of Inbound Marketing Trends Report 2022 that the top marketing channels for the brands surveyed were social media at 46%, followed closely by website and blog content at 36%. Needless to say, the ways in which brands market on their website and interact with customers on social media is hugely important. User Generated Content platforms can create a consistent flow of content that can be used by brands, both on websites and on their social media accounts.
By gathering during this seasonal period brands can draw large amounts of festive User Generated Content and create exciting and engaging holiday marketing campaigns effectively. Not only that, but they can quantify the success of certain campaigns by obtaining key metrics, which is invaluable data that can be used to inform their marketing strategy for years to come.
Flowbox is a highly versatile platform that allows brands to go beyond simple festive social media posts around the Christmas and New Year’s Eve shopping period and actually integrate authentic and creative content made by real consumers into multiple touchpoints like their website, email campaigns, newsletters, social media accounts, and more!
Flowbox also boasts a holiday countdown widget that can open up more potential for conversions over the peak shopping period and generate more traffic on websites. The tool is customizable and can be adapted to fit a brand’s product range or message and the occasion at hand as well as incorporate User Generated Content into a holiday marketing campaign.
The Flowbox Countdown Feature allows brands to specify the number of mystery boxes and dates that they would like to include in their countdown, upload the image behind them such as UGC photos for example, as well as add captions and discount codes.
The benefit of the date-specific releases provided by the countdown feature is that it can keep consumers engaged by motivating them to head back to a brand’s website and unlock a deal or piece of information that is exclusively being released on that given date. The momentum that this feature brings ties in really well in the lead-up to the key dates of Christmas, Chanukah or New Year’s Eve for example, as consumers have these calendar milestones on their minds in advance already.
Advent calendar style holiday countdown campaigns are not restricted to the release of certain branded products alone but can also be used to promote events, destinations, causes and events. The city of Leiden have done something really interesting with their holiday UGC marketing campaign that sets them apart from the crowd.
The Leiden website boasts a beautiful advent calendar on their website during what they refer to as the Winter Wonder Weeks. An exciting new mystery box is revealed every day from the 1st to the 24th of December, and inside each one is a great promotion or discount from a Leiden entrepreneur. Campaigns like this one serve to engage website visitors more deeply and help to get them excited about the festive season. Take a look at the Winter Wonder Weeks advent calendar below:
The festive spirit can inspire consumers to produce more creative UGC photos and videos and get them involved. Mondial Tissus are a French brand with more than 40 years of experience in selling materials and machinery for making clothing, couture, decorations, embroidery, crotchet, and more.
Mondial Tissus’ seasonal UGC campaign exemplifies what can be achieved by adopting the right holiday marketing ideas. They have a dedicated widget on their website entitled ‘Inspirations de Noël’ that features UGC photos and videos made by their creative and talented consumer base. These images and videos show their products in use at the final stage of production – the stage at which people get to enjoy them! Take a look at the stunning Christmas UGC photos featured on their dedicated holiday widget below:
The Christmas period is an especially popular time to nest and decorate the home. Families and communities are coming together, especially at each other’s homes and many people take great enjoyment in livening up their living space with decorations or creating a cosy ambience akin to the Danish concept of hygge.
The holiday period is absolutely vital for eCommerce brands that sell homeware, interior design items and decorations. Many consumers look to the well-known homeware and furniture specialists IKEA, for well-designed, affordable and aesthetically pleasing festive options.
Social media users often share their efforts on platforms like Instagram to spread some festive cheer and show off their hard work. The fantastic thing about Flowbox is that when consumers create beautiful content like the image shown above on the IKEA Spain website and they use the right hashtag the content can be automatically collected and then the products will show up via handy clickable links that make the purchasing process quick and easy for consumers. This can lead to an increase in conversions and makes for a stylish and efficient digital shopping experience.
User Generated Content can be a great way for brands to encourage their happy customers to utilise and share their positive experiences with their products. This is especially true during the festive season, people are looking for ways to bond as a family or enjoy their time off and taking photos and videos together can be a lot of fun!
Family and dog friendly cargo bike makers, Babboe, are an excellent example of a brand gathering adorable winter and Christmas season content using their signature hashtag #babboemoment. The images are really fun to look at because the adults, kids and dogs pictured are all genuinely enjoying themselves whilst using Babboe’s fantastic products. Check out some of UGC images from their Flowbox widget below.
Best of luck with your festive marketing campaign journey, if you’re in need of more user content inspiration you can find more examples of UGC campaigns here or if you’re a brand looking to learn more about integrating user content into your marketing strategy then take a look at our dedicated guide to finding a high-quality eCommerce integration.
