Why Your Customers Love Valentine’s Day

Social Media use tends to spike around the Holidays (Nov.-Dec.) as more people are at home and on their phones. In fact, Facebook reports that it has seen a posting increase of 26% during that time frame. But does that increase in posting and engagement carryover to some of the smaller holidays? Let’s find out!

Opinions on Valentine's Day are divisive at best. Some love the pageantry of the day, basking in the boundless love and affection they are destined to receive. Others cringe at the thought of making reservations for what is certainly an overpriced dinner and trudging through the sardine-can packed store in search of chocolates and flowers.

Is Valentine’s Day Engaging?
No matter your individual feelings on the day itself, social media posts around the cupidesque holiday are well received, and the cheesier the better!

In the past few years, we’ve worked with our dairy industry client Lely North America to create cow-pun Valentine’s Day cards for people to download and share on Social Media.

On the image-centric platform Instagram, these legen-dairy Valentine’s Day memes significantly out-performed their counterparts from other, larger holidays in engagement.

In the past two years, Lely North America’s Valentine’s Day dairy pun memes say an increase in engagement by 52% over Christmas posts and 109% over Thanksgiving posts. Similar results were seen on Twitter, with Valentine’s Day outperforming Christmas by 18% and Thanksgiving by 85% in engagement.

Facebook was the only platform that differed, with Thanksgiving taking the bulk of the engagement. On that platform, Valentine’s Day engagement was 18% higher on Facebook than Christmas, but 17% below that of Thanksgiving.

What Does it Mean?
Social Media, for good or bad, has become an important part of everyday life. It’s a place for people to connect and share, and serves as a direct line between consumers and brands. It can be a vital part of any digital strategy and is a great way to share information and market goods and services to followers.

But at the end of the day, Social Media should be fun. If your post puts a smile on someone’s face, they will engage. Social Media users are bombarded by hard sells constantly, and according to the Chronicle Republic, if you offer value and entertainment, not only will you stand out, but you’ll be engaging in the longer-term soft sell and building brand loyalty.

But it’s Only Valentine’s Day…

That is true. You may not have anything to sell, and that’s OK! As we mentioned earlier, this isn’t a hard sell. Gasp…it isn’t even a lead-gen! It’s the beginning of the soft sell. You are providing entertainment and associating your brand with positivity…and that sticks!

Social Media is more than just communicating. It’s about connecting, and 81% of consumers say they need to be able to trust and build a relationship with the brand before purchasing. The soft sell goes a long way in establishing that trust.

So, take some time, think of a fun and engaging (non-sales specific) way to make your consumers feel important this Valentine's Day. You won’t regret it!

Need some help producing that new soft sell? Reach out to us. We’d be happy to help!