This period is the most lucrative of the year. And the stakes are higher than ever before. Retail holiday sales are slated to grow more than 5% this year over 2017, according to Deloitte. This creates ample opportunity for retailers to gain market share.
However, consumers are faced with countless options for shopping – making competition high. In order to convert shoppers, your holiday campaigns need to cut through the noise. They must demonstrate value, resonate with folks, and look visually appealing.
Feeling like you’re down to crunch time and your Facebook & Instagram ads still aren’t up to par? There’s still time to create thumb-stopping, sales-driving campaigns.
Consider running these easy-to-execute ads to drive revenue in-store, online, and in-app this year.
Shoppers who view video are 1.81 times more likely to purchase than non-video viewers, according to Adobe. And people on Facebook view a lot of video during the holiday season. There were more than 450 million views of Black Friday related videos over the 2017 Thanksgiving shopping weekend.
Facebook recently launched its video creation kit – making it easier for businesses to create mobile-first video ads with limited resources. This capability pulls images from the product feed to create Instant Experiences (aka Canvas ads). This feature cannot be used across the entire product catalog for dynamic ads.
StitcherAds uses dynamic creative capabilities to create engaging videos for all of the items in your product catalog—instantly. Built from Facebook's slideshow ads, this solution can even be used in dynamic carousel ads to catch attention and increase conversions.
Here are three ways to leverage dynamic video in your Facebook and Instagram holiday campaigns:
Some 40% of people make New Year’s resolutions, but it’s no secret that most do not accomplish their goals.
Create product sets featuring items that will help people achieve their resolutions: athletic apparel for people who want to work out more frequently; cookware for aspiring chefs; books for those who aim to read more; wellness products for people who want to lead healthier lives. The possibilities are endless.
This could work well from both a prospecting and retargeting perspective.
For prospecting, use broad audience targeting to reach consumers who have shown interest in products similar to yours, even if they've never visited your website. People in this audience will automatically see products from your catalog that might be relevant to them.
For retargeting, make sure your pixel is set up to capture the standard events: Add to Cart, Add to Wishlist, Search, and View Content. View Category is not a standard event, but if you set that up, you can retarget users who viewed certain categories of products.
Once your audiences are in place, feature resolutions-related products within carousel or collection ads. Don’t forget to include encouraging copy to pump people up.
Roughly half of holiday shoppers buy gifts for themselves, according to Deloitte. Take this as an opportunity to remind your audience that they deserve to treat themselves, too.
Lookalike audiences would be a good bet here. Surface lookalikes of people who have previously purchased your best-selling items. Then, reach them with ads highlighting those products. Don’t forget to include copy that will compel shoppers to buy a little something for themselves.
Is your brand launching any limited edition products during the holiday season? Use Instagram Stories ads to heighten the feeling of exclusivity. More than 300 million people view Instagram Stories every day, and seeing ads in this placement can feel more personal than it does in other settings.
For a winning ad:
Don’t let a poor strategy impede your ability to maximize sales this season. There’s still time to create stunning campaigns that will delight shoppers into choosing your brand.