Madalyn Sklar

Making Seasonal Changes on Twitter

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Making Seasonal Changes on Twitter - #TwitterSmarter chat with Carla Jenkins - September 3, 2020

The holiday season is almost upon us! But has the spirit caught on with businesses yet? After all, we’ve all been sheltering in place for pretty much most of this year anyway, so why not start getting into the holiday mood already? We invited personal branding strategist, Carla Jenkins to talk about how businesses can make seasonal changes on social media.

Here’s a summary of our chat.

Guest: Carla Jenkins
Topic: Making Seasonal Changes on Twitter
Format: Eight questions directed at the guest. Everyone’s welcome to share.

Q1: How often should you review your profile and make changes?

Our guest suggested reviewing your profile once a week. She does that, looking through her analytics, interactions and retweets she’s received, and the engagement from her email list and followers.

Megan talked about how she changes up her profile quite often. Pinned tweets are great to showcase any upcoming events or latest content you. Use that space to get the most out of your content. Similarly, as Megan said, consider also reviewing your bio every now and then.

That said, however, don’t overdo it. As Christine pointed out, there’s little chance that changing your profile every two or three days will give you a big boost in engagement or follower count. Instead, it’ll drain your mental energy quite a bit. Make sure that you’re updating it to keep it recent and relevant, but don’t stress over it.

Q2: When is it appropriate to start Christmas/holiday messaging on Twitter?

Interestingly, our guest mentioned that she’s started seeing holiday messages as early as August, even though most people would wait until after Labor Day, when summer officially ends in the US. As for our guest, she usually begins her holiday messaging in October.

You don’t need to stick to it as a headfirst rule, though. When to start your holiday messaging depends on your business and audience. Most people tend to get into the festive spirit towards the end of October to accommodate both Halloween and Christmas shopping. This is also the time the season changes, bringing on a craving for warmth. Remember though—that feeling is highly specific to the United States. If your audience is based in the southern hemisphere, even though it’s still Christmas time and the holidays, it’ll be summer time and your messaging should change to reflect that.

As Madalyn suggested, if you sell tangible items, use the gift-giving season to remind people of your offerings.

Q3: It’s almost autumn in the US. Should you change your Twitter profile to reflect the season?

This is a personal choice. Even though it’s a good idea to occasionally change your Twitter profile—including your theme, banner image, profile picture, your display name—you don’t have to do everything every time. As our guest suggested, you can change your banner images every month if you wanted to and that’ll make a great, refreshing change to your profile.

Lance made an interesting point about how your profile changes depends on the type of business you run. As he said, if you offer snow removing services, don’t let your cover image be a picture of a snow-covered front deck during the first half of the year.

Q4: What are some ways to implement seasonal changes on social media?

A great way to make seasonal changes is to update your banner image. Add in relevant details like yellow leaves, pumpkins, Thanksgiving platters, and Christmasy decorations. Madalyn also suggested changing up your profile picture—perhaps with a spooky mask for Halloween and a Santa hat for Christmas. All of that will show that you’re active on Twitter and that you’re constantly checking to make sure your content is in line with the times.

Chris also shared some other helpful tips. For instance, you can create custom, season-specific hashtags for your content and change your tone and phrasing to reflect the holiday spirit. He also added the importance being aware of potential trends in the new year and resonating with your audience’s preferences. And of course, if you’re in the UK, people will certainly resonate with you if you moan about the cold, cold winter.

Q5: What are the benefits of making seasonal changes?

One of the biggest advantages of making seasonal changes is that it makes you more likeable and credible at the same time. On one side, it’s fun and makes people look forward to what you do next. On the other hand, it’s a sign that you will go the extra mile to remain current on social media. This assures people that when they follow you, they’ll only hear the latest news and that you’re not one to disappear from social media for long periods of time.

As Jignesh added, changing your profile to match the seasons also invites people to engage with you. It’s almost impossible not to respond to someone who’s so enthusiastic about the holidays. What’s more, you can also use this as a way to promote any seasonal products, services, or offers.

Q6: What metrics should you keep an eye on when making seasonal changes?

Even if you’re making changes to your profile quite often, you don’t need to check all metrics all the time. Instead, keep an eye on any seasonal offers and promotions you run. For instance, if you’re offering a Labor Day sale, or Thanksgiving or end-of-year offers, follow the activities of those hashtags and links primarily.

In addition to that, as Smita said, allocate time to also follow up on your usual metrics like engagement rates, follower spikes, and click through rates.

Q7: Name some brands that are great at making seasonal changes.

Starbucks is renowned for making seasonal changes that customers love. Aside from online marketing messages, they also make big offline changes like new menu items and cups. This seasonal, limited offers also create a sense of urgency, enticing customers to buy more.

Juliann mentioned Coca Cola who run seasonal commercials that we all look forward to every year. Their Cola polar bear is known and loved world over.

Q8: Are there any changes you shouldn’t make on your social communications?

Of course. Never change your values, your mission, and what you stand for as a business. Every other seasonal change you make should be an extension on your core messaging. Your ideal audience gravitates towards who you are as a business, and if you change that, you risk losing your primary audience.

As Marianne also emphasized, don’t change who you are. Being consistent is a key requirement to being successful on social media.

Well, folks, that’s all from me this week. Thanks for reading and for more great insights from our chat with Carlar, have a look at this Twitter Moment that Joana put together. And if you have some time to spare on Thursday, join us at 1pm ET for the next #TwitterSmarter chat.

 

About me, Narmadhaa:

I write all things—technical and marketing copy to fill the pocket; haiku and short stories to fill the soul. A social media enthusiast, I’m a member of the #TwitterSmarter chat crew, and always happy to take on writing gigs.

Say hello: Personal blog | LinkedIn | Twitter

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