Holiday Content Strategy: Getting the Most Out of Your Posts

This time of year, everyone is in full holiday mode. Houses are being decorated, red cups at Starbucks are flying off the shelves and bloggers have their calendars filled to the tippy top with fun holiday posts. Gift guides, recipes, holiday tips; the list is never ending! Which is exactly why it's super important to make your posts stand out, but also to get them seen in the most effective ways possible. A lot of this has to do with knowing where your posts perform the best, but it also has a lot to do with how you promote and how you write your posts. This time of year most especially, consumers are looking for time savers; cleaning hacks, hot gift ideas, great and original holiday recipes. The thing is, everyone is doing this. Everyone is sharing their favorite recipes, gifts and cleaning hacks but finding ways to stand out amongst the rest is the key. Here's how:
Plan everything out ahead of time. Having an editorial calendar that you 100% stick to is easier said than done (trust me! ;), but the more you use one to work off of the better off you'll be. Sales and talks of the holidays started back in mid October, and early November starts the craziness. So these holiday posts have been lingering for a while! I could never complain, because they're my favorite types of posts to read *and* write! The more you write about the holidays, the better. The more you'll be seen. Having a long term holiday plan is crucial to your posts' success. It's sort of like how shopping earlier rather than later pays off! See what I did there? ;) You'll have more time to decide what sort of posts you want to put out and do your research on them. You'll have time to find the best gift ideas (that are different than the rest) and to create some trial-and-error recipes while being totally original with them.

Go over last year's holiday content. Assuming your blog has been around for over a year, you likely have holiday content from last season that you can refer to. From here, you can analyze each post to see what performed best with your audience and what didn't do as great. In my case, last year was my first holiday season as a blogger. I did a LOT of holiday posts (without a lot of planning...) because I love this time of year and because I had so many ideas. My magic cookie bars recipe, cold weather essentials post and the round-up I put together of 16 amazing holiday desserts were three of my top performing holiday posts from 2015. I used Google Analytics to find out my top posts from this time of year, and from there I've been able to put together my editorial calendar for the holidays based around some of these ideas. Being able to analyze what your readers respond to the most is probably THE best way to get increased views on holiday content!

Do your research. Next to knowing what your readers specifically like seeing the best, knowing what other consumers - who aren't yet a reader of your blog - like and want the most is crucial for success! With a couple of super simple Google searches, you can find out what's 1. trending 2. in high demand and 3. working for others. For example, if you Google "Christmas dessert recipe", millions of results come up. 33,800,000 to be exact! This is a super broad search term yet likely something that's looked up SO many times per day. Can you imagine your post being on the front Google page of a search like this? The views you would have would be outrageous! From a search like this, you can take the sorts of posts that are performing at the top and try to (in this case) come up with a recipe that compliments those at the top. The same goes for every category in every niche!

Use keywords in your title and post. This is where having basic knowledge of SEO and it's importance for your blog is *so* important! Even if you're not an SEO expert (like myself - the basics are where it's at for me!) it's pretty simple to figure out the importance of keywords. In your post's title, in your post, in your post description - everywhere. Key words are HUGE. This is how people will find your post and therefore, your blog. This is also information you can find from Google Analytics, and searching for different key words also will help you to figure out what type of posts perform best with which specific words and when you can use similar wording also.

Have a great pinnable image. Having a Pinterest optimized image for every post, all year round is so crucial since Pinterest is huge for bloggers; but Pinterest during the holidays is even bigger. Last holiday season, there were over 37 MILLION people pinning all sorts of holiday content. Whether it be for a DIY ornament, a great dessert recipe or holiday party ideas - Pinterest is always the go-to for all sorts of holiday ideas. Now, think about your daily scrolls through Pinterest. What sort of pins do you gravitate toward? Strive to make your pins stand out and ones that you could see yourself pinning to a board. Have a clear and concise title; nothing too long and no super bright text. Work on your images and watch the pins and post views roll in.

Start using a holiday themed hashtag. The majority of hashtags you use are ones that are made by other online creatives/influencers/bloggers/biz owners. #ABMlifeiscolorful, #flashesofdelight - you get the picture. Make a hashtag up to promote your holiday content and/or your posts in general and share it EVERYWHERE! Work on making it well-known, watch the posts roll in on Instagram and find other creatives to connect with. This year, I started using #DDOG and #dailydoseofgifts on Instagram to promote my gift guides. It's not a super popular way of promotion, but it could become one!

XOXO -A