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Timing your promotions and content to line up with holidays and events is a great way for eCommerce businesses to boost engagement and conversions. Deal-savvy shoppers often know to expect sales around holidays and will likely be looking for the most exciting promotions. With time-sensitive Story content, you can help shoppers stay entertained and engaged while giving them opportunities to deepen their investment in your brand.
To help you stay on top of your content and promotions calendar, I’m introducing the monthly Inspiration Hub! Starting with this month, I’ll be rounding up the most important upcoming holidays, events, and occasions and giving you content ideas for celebrating them with Stories! Check back each month for fresh inspiration to keep your audience coming back for more.
Let’s get started!
Groundhog Day, Feb 2nd
After the bustle and fuss of the winter holidays have passed, and everyone’s had a chance to relax and recover, it’s natural to start wondering when spring will arrive. Well, the American Pennsylvania Dutch community has a fun way of answering just that question; by asking a groundhog. And not just any groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, who has been in the care of the Pennsylvania Groundhog Club, since its inception more than 100 years ago. (I assume Punxsutawney Phil is an inherited title since the average lifespan of a groundhog is around 7 years, but let’s not ruin a good story with too many questions, ok?)
Anyway! Tradition has it that if the groundhog comes out of his den on the morning of February 2nd and seems to be enjoying the sunshine, spring will soon arrive. If he sees his shadow, however, he will retreat back to his den, indicating six more weeks of winter.
Groundhog Day is a great opportunity to ask your audience about their favorite seasons with interactive polls that let them vote for winter or spring. With Storyly’s CRM integrations, you can easily segment your audience based on their answers and offer relevant responses and offers with targeted Stories.
Grammy Awards, Feb 5th
The 66th Annual Grammy Awards will be held in Los Angeles on February 5th. Hosted by Trevor Noah, the Grammies are the biggest award in music, and celebrate the creations and accomplishments of music makers across multiple genres from opera and classical compositions to hip-hop, R&B, and spoken word poetry.
To take advantage of the Grammy hype and excitement, try creating some interactive Story quizzes to let your audience flex their music history knowledge, or vote for their favorite artists. Quizzes are a fun way to get your users more engaged with your brand and help them feel a part of the conversation. This is also a great time to highlight any music-related products or offers with embedded CTA’s that boost conversion.
Super Bowl Sunday, February 11th
If you’re a fan of American Football, then Super Bowl Sunday just might be the best day of the year. And even if you’re not, the ads, the halftime show, and the snacks are all as big a draw as the game. Since no one wants to be without their favorite foods and beverages during the big game, but no one wants to leave either, Super Bowl Sunday is a huge day for food and beverage delivery apps and websites!
Help your customers get their favorites in time for the game to start, or reload the snack table and cooler before halftime with notifications for Story offers! By tapping through, users will go directly to a shoppable Story showing them the best deals, and likely inspiring some new cravings.
Pancake Day, February 13th
Otherwise known as Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day celebrates the last day before the traditional Catholic fasting season of Lent. Since the core ingredients of pancakes, like butter, eggs, and milk, would not be allowed during the fast, Shrove Tuesday became a day to indulge in pancakes and other sweets.
Even outside of Catholic tradition, it can be fun to celebrate Pancake Day because who doesn’t love pancakes? Get your audience involved in the fun by featuring your best (or wildest!) pancake recipes, making it easy to get the ingredients with grocery delivery, or, let them skip the cooking altogether and satisfy their cravings with food delivery.
You can even host a virtual pancake-flipping contest with Moments, Storyly’s solution for user-generated Stories! Let users share their videos of flipping pancakes, and engage your audience by letting them vote for the best (or funniest, or most creative) pancake Stories!
Valentine's Day, February 14th
Romance is in the air on Cupid’s big day! Valentine’s Day is a day for celebrating love in all its forms, but romantic love is usually front and center, with couples celebrating each other with traditional luxury gifts like flowers, chocolates, and wine, or by going out to a special dinner for two. Valentine’s Day can also be celebrated as a day to honor friendship, and even children often exchange cards and candy.
Valentine’s Day can be a day for gifts of all kinds, especially specialty foods and sweets, but the real gift is in the sentiment. Help your users get ready to share their affections in just the right romantic words with a love note contest! You can use question stickers on Stories to hand over the microphone to your audience. When there is a prize involved, it is easy to get motivated to write down the most romantic love note. After the contest, you can also share the best examples to inspire all your customers.
Another great way to spread the love during Valentine’s Day is shareable promo codes that you can add to your Stories. You know what they say, sharing is caring… Your customers can copy these codes and send them to their friends, which will bring more people to your store for Valentine's Day shopping.
Singles’ Awareness Day, February 15th
Sure Valentine’s Day is fun, especially if you’re in a relationship, but let’s be honest, the red and pink day of hearts and flowers also gets a lot of eye-rolls and groans, especially from single folks. February 15th is an unofficial holiday to celebrate singles and is an ideal “Treat yourself” day for retailers. Help your single customers spoil themselves with special deals for Single’s Day!
London Fashion Week, February 16-20th
All eyes are on the catwalks for London Fashion Week, when more than 250 designers will showcase their new collections before an international audience. Far more than a traditional trade show, London Fashion Week is more of a celebration of wearable art, with both traditional runway-style fashion shows, as well as pop-ups and installations that have made it the place to see and be seen by anyone in the design world. For influencers, fashionistas, celebrities, tastemakers, and trend-setters, London Fashion Week cannot be missed.
Get your audience engaged with highlights from the runways, and create opportunities for interaction with quizzes and polls. Not only will audiences have fun seeing Fashion Week through your brand’s eyes, and participating in the conversation, but you’ll gather zero-party data on their opinions on upcoming trends.
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