Summer is fast approaching. To compliment the hot weather, your brand will want to add some summery and fresh ideas to its Instagram & Facebook pages. The sunny season provides numerous new and exciting opportunities for social media content and techniques to create a real buzz around your brand. In fact, there are so many ways in which your business can utilise the hot weather for your social media platforms – you do not have to be a swimwear company to benefit! Here are some topic ideas to think about when you’re creating your summer social media posts.
1. Incorporate Summer Imagery into your Feed
The summer season generally creates the most buzz and excitement for consumers. When thinking of summer, so many different locations, activities and products come to mind. So, get some new photographs of your product is some summery-settings. Whether this be pictures including the beach, a BBQ or even simply a sun-lit garden. Simply photographing your product against a backdrop of freshly-cut grass can transform the theme of your social media posts. Make sure the colours are vibrant and maybe even snap your employees in Hawaiian shirts. Associating your product with the summer environment will provide more context and will inspire people to view your product in a summery light.
2. If you’re aiming for Teen/Student Market, Promote School Holidays Deals/Discounts
Summer is perhaps the best time for students. They are able to enjoy a few months off for their summer holidays; during this time, students are at their most active, spending more money and looking for activities to do with their friends. Consequently, summer is prime time to target this market and take advantage of their increased spending habits. Use your social media platforms to promote a school-holiday themed discount, competition or local event. You can tease or document your discounts on your social media platforms.
3. Summer is a Time of Music & Festivals, so Jump on the Festival Trend
Music festivals are a staple of summer culture. Remember the key festival dates and make sure to tie your brand into the summer festivals that are going on. You can take many different approaches. As a clothing brand, you can encourage your customers to buy a new, essential summer wardrobe for the party season. Superdry, for example, have posted summery images of models wearing their products at events such as Melt festival in Germany. Alternatively, design a spoof of your product as one of the festival Headliners or recreate a song name from one of your products.
Think about any music events your audience would be interested in and try and tie it into your posting strategy. Just be careful not to associate yourself too strongly with one particular event as this could be misleading!
For example, think about how you could take influence from these events: BST British Summertime Ball (8th June), Glastonbury Festival (26th - 30th June), Reading Festival (23rd – 25th August).
4. Subtlety Place your Brand into Summer Lifestyles
Summer offers us a multitude of different lifestyles to embrace. Take a minute to think about what summer means for your customers. Are they having BBQ’s at home with friends and family? Going on holiday or visiting the beach? Perhaps it’s a time where they look forward to Wimbledon.
Think about the summer habits of your customers and find a way to add your brand into these lifestyles. For example, if you’re a barber, create a social media post about getting a new haircut ready for the BBQ or travelling season. If you’re a healthy restaurant, invite your active audience to cool down from their exercise under the sun with a light-hearted, refreshing lunch. Your product itself doesn’t need to be specifically catered to the summer market. Interestingly, Krispy Kreme launched a campaign in the summer of 2018 relating to a new line of milkshakes.
An effective method employed was to associate these products with Wimbledon through the application of tennis-related images and hashtags. You don’t have to be a brand like Pimms to market your product in line with certain summer lifestyles!
5. Participate in Throwback Thursday
Thursday can be an active and reflective time for social media users. Every Thursday, the infamous #tbt surfaces on nearly every social media platform to invoke a sense of collective nostalgia. Brands worldwide can utilise this growing trend to create an exciting link between their products and the summer months.
For example: having a particularly hot week? Throwback to a time when it was colder! If you’re a fashion brand, perhaps you could write a post about how people use your products now versus 6 months ago. Not only does it help people reflect and appreciate the summer season, it also makes your brand look more substantial by offering products based on the season.
6. Help Customers Travel with your Brand
Summer is the most popular time of year for travel. In 2017, there were 72.8 million visits overseas by UK residents. Recent surveys reveal that city breaks are the nation’s favourite travel destinations (48%), followed closely by beach holidays (40%). Using this information, your brand can effectively diversify its social media postings by helping customers take part in the most popular summer activity, travelling.
If you have got a large budget, you could run a travel-based competition – allowing your customers to potentially win a lucrative holiday prize by interacting with your posts. For those who cannot rely on a big-budget, position your brand or product in a way that helps consumers travel, either physically or mentally. Use your posts to give customers the idea that when they use your product, they can be transported to another part of the world. Let’s say you’re a cosmetics brand. You can demonstrate or visualise how a certain colour of lipstick makes you feel like you’re in the Caribbean. Sometimes it can be a bit of a stretch, so make sure not to overdo it!
Successful companies such as Cuba Revolutions promote their range of summer cocktails by promising consumers a ‘getaway without getting away.’ Mentally, customers find themselves ‘escaping to Cuba’ through the smell, taste and sight of their exotic food and beverages.
To Conclude
Summer is the one season of the year that generates the most conversation and thrill. Not only is it a great time for the general public, but also for companies that embrace the power of summer in their social media strategy. The six ideas detailed in this article will help emphasise the relevancy of your brand, even if it does not directly relate to the summer season.
Most importantly, implementing these techniques need not be a strenuous or expensive exercise. Through utilising summer imagery, hashtags and activities, your company can actively engage in the growing summer market. Does your company need a refreshing set of imagery or an updated social strategy ready for the summer season? Shoot us an email or follow us on Instagram @doubleupsocial.