The Best Instagram Christmas Marketing Campaigns of 2018
It’s the most festive time of the year. Consumers are on the lookout for party clothes, gift ideas, and other things that make Christmas enjoyable. In response, brands are clamoring for the attention of these consumers, and what better platform to do this than on Instagram?
Window shopping these days involve scrolling through Instagram photos in the hope of seeing something you like – whether it’s a dress, trousers, or jewelry, or even a lampshade. Companies understand this consumer behavior and create marketing campaigns on Instagram just for Christmas. Let’s check out and learn from the best Instagram Christmas marketing campaigns this year.
Starbucks
Aside from the Starbucks planner that people wait for during the Christmas season, the company is also promoting its Starbucks cards and regular products with a holiday twist. Take a look at the coffee chain’s Instagram account and you’ll see that it’s well-curated with Christmas-themed photos which they started posting as soon as December began.
These photos aren’t all from Starbucks though. Some of them are actually regrams from other Instagram users, and Starbucks tags the photo owners and asks permission from them too.
The company also uses product-specific hashtags on their posts. What’s even more impressive is that Starbucks takes the time to reply to comments, and this shows that the company is doing its best to communicate with their customers. Starbucks didn’t stop there. They also use stories and story highlights in their marketing campaign, even going as far as creating one story highlight dedicated for the holidays and named it as such.
H&M
H&M kicked off their campaign even before November ended with the off-shoulder jumper with reindeers on it, as featured in the video below. H&M has been posting Christmas-themed photos multiple times a day since then.
Like Starbucks, H&M also has a story highlight named “Holidays” which shows off party outfits, accessories, and gift ideas. When viewers swipe up, they’ll be redirected to H&M’s online shop.
The majority of their posts use their brand-specific hashtag; #HM. They also work with models and artists, and tag them in the posts. They even encourage followers to tag them on photos so H&M can regram them. This is a great way to establish a relationship with the fans.
Victoria’s Secret
Victoria’s Secret is the second most followed brand on Instagram next to Nike, and they’re one of the Instagram accounts to learn marketing from. It’s no wonder then that they made it to our list of the best Instagram Christmas marketing campaigns of 2018. They went to work on their Christmas campaign even before the uproar over the VS Fashion Show died down, with this photo:
It’s brilliant that Victoria’s Secret created three story highlights dedicated to gifts, and this is consistent with their #GiftingSecrets Christmas campaign.
They have CTAs on almost all of their posts, asking followers to tap on an icon to view the products, or to go to their online shop for more products. They also use Instagram posts to announce promo discounts, most of which are exclusive for online shoppers only. These strategies draw a lot of followers, leads, and ultimately sales for the luxury lingerie brand.
Kate Spade
Kate Spade’s Instagram isn’t as large as the other brands featured here, as they only have 2.5 million followers. However, their Christmas marketing campaign is quite impressive, and they started it as early as December 2 with their iconic mug.
From shoes, gift ideas, Christmas decorations, and mugs, Kate Spade posts attractive photos with fun captions such as this one:
Admittedly, Kate Spade can learn from the big Instagram accounts and start using a hashtag strategy, stories and story highlights consistently throughout all their marketing campaigns. What’s great though is that the brand knows how to build relationships with their followers by responding to comments.
Aldi USA
Here’s another Instagram account that is still growing, but has an impressive Christmas marketing campaign. Aldi is a grocery store chain that started in Germany, but now has 1,600 stores across 35 states in America. It’s Instagram account is well-curated and does a great job of suggesting Christmas recipes, gifts, and decorations. The company definitely knows how to create engaging content, and that’s a good start.
They started their Christmas campaign with a regram from a follower. As a matter of fact, they encourage followers to post using #ALDIHaul so that they can be featured on the company’s Instagram account. Aside from this specific hashtag, Aldi uses general hashtags in the majority of their posts.
Aldi USA created a story highlight dedicated to the holidays, which features the products that customers can buy from their stores.
They also have someone who responds to customer comments, which drives more engagement and helps them build a relationship.
Christmas marketing on Instagram
Businesses will definitely see a boost in their sales and popularity when they market on Instagram, and the best time to go all out is on Christmas. All you need is some creativity and basic growth tactics. Take it from the brands we featured here. Their Christmas marketing were some of the best in Instagram this year mainly because of the following:
- Creative and high-quality photos
- Well thought out captions
- Brand-specific and general hashtags
- Engagement with the followers
- Stories and story highlights
- Tagging of partners and followers
- Exclusive promo announcements
If you go back up a bit, you’ll notice that all large accounts featured here – Victoria’s Secret, H&M, and Starbucks – make use of every tactic enumerated above. They have a clear understanding of how important hashtags are in establishing their brands even further. They know that their followers are on the lookout for discount deals and other promo announcements. They take advantage of the power of stories and story highlights, since they are one of the first things that a follower will see when they visit an Instagram account.
Kate Spade and Aldi, on the other hand, need to employ these strategies more consistently in order for their Instagram accounts to improve. Their successful Christmas marketing though indicates that they are on their way. Finally, for those who are still growing their Instagram accounts and establishing a brand name, these strategies are just like the message of Christmas – simple yet powerful.
Date: December 27, 2018 / Categories: Marketing, / Author: Rich Drees
