Let's get in the holly jolly spirit with creating a content strategy for you this holiday season. Our gift to you this season is helping you create a successful holiday content strategy. 

As you prepare to get stuffed full of holiday goodies and spirit, you can also load up on a content calendar full of holiday-ready ideas. And, if you choose not to plan out your content calendar strategically, you may be left feeling like Ebenezer Scrooge when it comes to your holiday content strategy. 

Simply put, it is never too early to start planning your content out. So whether it is Black Friday, Hanukkah, Christmas, or New Years, each holiday presents you with an opportunity to rise above your competitors and bank in on that holiday traffic. 

Level up this holiday season with a content game plan, so you won’t be stressing but rather enjoying time spent with loved ones. Now let’s get started on a holiday advent content calendar of your own.

Expect Holiday Trends 

While the holidays come around each year, you may have been in business for years or just starting out, you will want to look into the yearly trends of your marketplace. Also, it is important for you to take a look into the studies and stats from previous holiday seasons to see what could work particularly well for your business. 

For instance, look into what device your audience is using and where they go to find you-- from there, create content that targets your ideal customer. 

But you will also want to consider marketing trends, ones that have been effective for you in the past, or worked well for your competitors. By expecting and planning for trends in your marketplace, you can more effectively to plan what type of content to create in conjunction with your audience. 

This could be anything from: 

• Does your content need to be mobile optimized?
• Do you need to have more discounted items/steal of deals?
• Are your intended users searching for holiday gift ideas or guides?

Once you have that data in front of you, you can decide what content you will create and how to better connect it with your audience. 

Last but not least, don’t forget about including seasonal Google Ads. Last holiday season, Google released a brand new ad unit specifically geared towards helping advertisers run more effective holiday campaigns. 

Through these promotion ad extensions, advertisers are able to highlight specific promotions within their text ads without having to cut down on their valuable character counts. 

Simply put, by using promotion extensions you have more opportunities to attract prospects with various value props. 

Another Google ad extension you do not want to forget about is lead form ad extensions, since these are used to capture the interest of a potential customer searching for your company, products, and services on Google. This holiday season use Google Ads to drive traffic and sales to your site. 

Ask for Your Audience’s Advice 

If you cannot find holiday trends in your industry, simply ask your audience what they want. Many marketers and content creators skip out on doing market research since many they think they already know what their target audience expects or wants from them. 

So, before you even start creating your holiday content strategy, send out surveys to your audience about what kind of content they are hoping to see during the holiday season. While the responses from the survey may not tell you outright what content to create, these surveys will help you in laying the groundwork for you to brainstorm ideas. 

Something you will not want to forget about when asking your audience for advice is asking them what challenges they face. Then, from there you will want to create content geared those challenges or even changes they are wanting to make. 

Since content that resonates with your user creates an instant connection, and most likely a customer who converts. You will also want your content to develop a sense of empathy among your audience and urgency that compels your user to act. 

Check out Your Existing Content 

Before you start creating new content, check out the content you already have and see how it can be updated. 

If, in the past, you have created content for the holiday season, you may either want to update your content or completely start from scratch. 

When considering whether you should start from scratch or simply just update your content, determine whether or not your content is current enough. Does your current content fit in with the tips, gifts, news ,and trends that consumers are currently looking for this holiday season?

You may also have to build a new list of links and keywords so your tips and products (content) are not outdated. 

Last, but not least, think about how you can use your content to drive traffic to other internal pages within your site. 

Start & Strategize Your Content Schedule 

Once you have some new data on your hands, and data from your existing audience, you can now get into the holly jolly joy of content planning for the holiday season. 

You first might want to start by doing keyword research. You may also want to see what holiday-related terms work well together, and how they can work for the content already on your site. But now is your time to start and brainstorm content ideas that are relevant to the holidays. 

You can create content for other marketing channels, such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram, and email marketing. 

Another marketing channel you will not want to forget about while creating your holiday content calendar is your Google My Business. You can  use your Google My Business to promote your holiday sales and promotions. Your Google My Business can be used to let your customers know you are involved in a community event, such as a Thanksgiving 5k, or a visit with Santa. 

If you are running a sale or promotion on your site, Google will automatically add a “view offer” button to your post, which is perfect for drumming up interest in limited time offers. 

So, using your Google My Business is crucial when you are curating your holiday content calendar. While you start building out your content calendar and choosing where you want to place your content, you will want to consider topics will grab your audience’s attention and help you stand out from the competition. 

Position & Prioritize Topics by Timeliness 

Not only does your content calendar have to be on point, but it also has to be on time, meaning you should be strategic and thoughtful of the content you are putting out there. 

Do not simply put content out into the world, or on your site, for the sake of being festive. So  focus on positioning and prioritizing your content based on timeliness. Not only do you want your content to be ready for launch before the actual holiday season, but your content should make sense in progression. 

Since many people may be stumbling upon your content, you will want to make sure it is positioned in a strategic and coherent way. One thing you will not want to forget about is having your content support your business goals, such as having content that promotes holiday deals and attract your ideal customer. 

If you have not started positioning and prioritizing your content topics by timeliness, the time is now. 

Promote Your Content Across Platforms 

When it comes to your content, do not stick to just one platform— promote your content across multiple channels like Facebook, Instagram, Paid Ads, and email. 

You will also want to map out your content and plan and a calendar that includes such things as when and how you plan on posting and promoting your content across various platforms. 

Some helpful tools you can use to structure your content calendar are Buffer and Hootsuite, since you can write your captions and arrange your feature images well in advance. 

Before you start promoting your content, look at the top trending holiday searches for the season on platforms such as Pinterest because people start searching for holiday inspiration as early as June— yes, you heard that right. 

So, first look at what people are searching for this holiday season and see whether or not your content matches up with those searches. If it does not, then just look for ways you can seamlessly and sensibly add in those search terms. Then, you can start scheduling out your content ahead of time and won’t be left scrambling to post content throughout the holiday season. 

Pair Your Topics with Your Goals 

A part of creating your holiday content calendar and strategy is pairing your content topics with your business goals. 

Think of ways your content can generate more organic traffic. So when you are pairing your topics with your goals, ensure they align with your existing business goals and that you know how to execute them successfully. 

Last but not least, start looking at whether or not your topics are paired well with your business goals, because you do not want to be overwhelmed when it comes to the holidays. 

A Festive Touch for Your Content 

If this is not your first time creating a holiday content strategy, then you may already have a couple tips and tricks under your belt from previous years. Also make sure to avoid making the same mistakes twice. 

And, if this is your first time creating a holiday content strategy, you will want to make sure your holiday content strategy is aligned with your business goals, and that it adds a nice festive touch to the holiday season.