3 Top Tips to Plan for the December Holidays

by | Nov 17, 2022

1. Schedule your posts ahead of time

 

I’ve found this to be a real life-saver in business. When I first started my groups, I never used to pre-schedule and I would panic on the day, trying to think of content on the spot, and my mind would go blank. Scheduling takes away all that stress. So even if it is just for the December holidays, try to schedule as much content as you can. This will allow you to still present for your audience, without having any time out of your holidays to work. This may include:

  • Written posts about Christmas – ask your audience how they’re getting on over the festive period
  • Tips for your audience, within your niche (and if it’s holiday-related – all the better!)
  • If your audience are used to seeing live videos of you, you could pre-record some videos and schedule these to go out on the days that you would usually go live (although this isn’t essential – Just as you are wanting some time-off with your loved ones, your audience are likely taking time away too).
  • Engagement Posts – It’s a good idea to sprinkle some engagement posts within your groups, which will help with the algorithm and ensure the engagement level doesn’t drop too low. For example, ‘show me a picture of your Festive dinner’ etc would work well at this time of year.
  • You may also decide that having daily themes would work well for your audience. For example, in my free Facebook group, we have ‘Talk Tuesday’, ‘Share your offers Thursday’, plus lots more. If you’d like to join this group CLICK HERE.

 

2. Inform your audience of your time off

 

Your audience will understand that you have a family and a life, but it’s a good idea not to just stop communication without explaining why you won’t be as visible as you usually are. Just pop a post or a live onto your social media channels and in your groups, letting them know when you plan to take any time off – perhaps give them a return date, so they know when to expect to see you again.

Your audience will really appreciate being kept in the loop, and if you feel comfortable doing so (or would like to), one or a couple of the days whilst you’re off, you could post a picture showing your audience what you’ve been up to. People love to feel included, and they will also feel trusted, being given some insight into your personal life. Plus, who doesn’t love having a good nose at someone they enjoy hearing from!

Giving your audience notice of your time off will also enable them to reach-out with any questions before you take your holiday. You can let them know that any messages or queries sent while you’re on holiday will be dealt with upon your return. If you can, set an automation on your Social Media pages and email, for an ‘out of office’ reply.

 

3. Write and Schedule Blogs

 

Now is the perfect time for you to plan and write your next few blog articles before the holidays. Perhaps write 2 or 3 and then schedule them to be published sporadically throughout your time off. Often, by writing the blog articles first, you can create many content posts from the one blog article, so that tackles two birds with one stone! These blogs can also be used as the content for your email newsletters, with links to the full article within them.

It can be easy for us to believe that everyone will see everything we post, but the reality is, they won’t. Don’t worry about sounding repetitive – your messaging should be something that is repeated, and you will be the only person to see ALL of your content, meaning it will sound far more repetitive to you than anyone else (apart from perhaps your VA – but if they see repetition, it’s a good sign of consistent messaging!).

 

If you can incorporate my 3 Top Tips to Plan for the December Holidays, it will ease the pressure of showing-up for your audience and for your loved ones. There doesn’t have to be that feeling of being torn between the two, if you plan ahead for it. Allow yourself to fully-recharge over this Festive period. It can be the best possible thing for you, your family, and also your business. When you’re rested, you’ll likely come back full of new ideas and raring to go – wanting to get stuck-in with your 2023 goals.