5 Holiday Story Campaign Ideas to Boost Reader Engagement for Publishers

Every holiday season holds tremendous potential when it comes to reader engagement. If you organize your marketing properly and align your branding with the holiday spirit you will significantly boost your readership. But, if you address the upcoming season half-heartedly, you will only get a lukewarm response and meager readership, at best. So, to help you stay ahead of the curve, we will outline 5 holiday story campaign ideas that will help you boost reader engagement.

Holiday story campaign ideas

A common mistake that people make during seasonal marketing is that they simply make superficial changes. Apart from adding a couple of images, or seasonal-themed messages, everything else stays the same. While this is the easiest way to approach the holiday season, it is also the least effective. Just imagine how many brands will post the generic "seasonal greetings..." or "have a happy so and so from everyone at...". These messages, while better than nothing, will do little more than crack a smile from your readers, and then pass into obscurity.

Instead of this, we have more dedicated campaign ideas that should not only spark the interest of your readers during the season but also have them engaging with your brand after it. In our view, the holiday season can be a great period to both get new readers and reengage the old ones. And to make that possible, you need to be a bit more creative than a seasonal greeting. Just make sure that you prepare your mobile app before you do so.

Holiday-themed UGC

Holidays are usually seen as times when we connect with the people we care about. So, why not use this as a segway to connect with your audience? What we have in mind is that you encourage your readers to share their holiday experiences. This can be their favorite Christmas traditions, festive recipes, or DIY decorations. You can run a hashtag campaign on social media and feature the best submissions in a dedicated story or newsletter.

You can look to add a contest element by offering prizes for the most creative entries. Separate contests into different categories, to further motivate content creation. This is bound to boost the interest of your viewers as they will have a further incentive to collaborate with your brand. Know that UGC creates a sense of community and fosters interaction. If you also introduce contests as a way to encourage participation.

Gift giving

Another holiday spirit you can make use of is the spirit of gift-giving. This can be done in a couple of ways. For one, you can create a series of interactive holiday gift guides tailored to specific reader interests or demographics. For example, you can feature "Gifts for Book Lovers," "Tech Enthusiast Must-Haves," or "Best Sustainable Gifts." Make these guides engaging by allowing readers to filter by price, interest, or recipient. Besides providing guides on gift giving that are relevant to your niche, you can also look to provide gift options. This will depend on the type of monetization that you rely on. If, for instance, you are a publisher that uses a subscription model, you can look to package subscription deals into gits.

These gifts can be discounted for you premium members, or they can come in a bundle (for instance you can sell multiple subscriptions at a reduced cost). By doing so you will tap into the holiday shopping craze while providing value to readers, boosting engagement and potential conversions through affiliate marketing.

Holiday nostalgia stories

The reason why we have so many emotions tied to holidays is because we've tied memories and experiences to them. Family meetings, holiday shopping, special occasions... These are all fond childhood memories for most of your readers. So, why not encourage them to submit or share their favorite holiday memories, whether it's a special Christmas, Hanukkah, or New Year’s moment? Compile these stories into a series of feel-good features or interactive content. You can further enhance their content by adding photos, audio clips, or video testimonials and creating a multimedia experience.

This feeling of nostalgia resonates strongly during the holidays, thereby giving you a way to draw an emotional connection with readers. It fosters a sense of community, and readers are more likely to share their own stories, driving engagement. If you choose to enhance their content, you can also look to make it more in line with your brand. Just be sure not to make it too on the nose.

"Behind-the-Scenes" holiday content

Behind-the-scenes content is always effective in capturing the viewer's interest. On the one hand, we all have an innate interest in what goes on behind the scenes. We are all aware that there are certain things that companies do that aren't outright obvious but have a profound effect on the end product. As such, people are far more likely to view it than standard content.

The idea here is that you use the behind-the-scenes content in tandem with holiday marketing. Give your audience a behind-the-scenes look at how your publication celebrates the holidays. This could include your team’s favorite holiday traditions, a virtual holiday party, or even bloopers and outtakes from holiday-themed content production. Include real-time updates through Instagram Stories or a live blog. If you are working on special holiday editions, you can give your viewers an overview of the process and explain the obstacles you hope to overcome. This personal touch humanizes your brand, making readers feel more connected. Readers enjoy seeing the people behind the publication, and it adds a layer of authenticity that boosts engagement.

Holiday travel series

Lastly, it is worth noting that many people travel during the holidays. So, the last of our holiday story campaign ideas is to create a holiday travel series featuring the best winter getaways, travel tips, or holiday traditions from around the world. You could offer guides on budget travel, eco-friendly holiday trips, or unique cultural experiences. You can even collaborate with travel influencers to increase reach and engagement. Travel content taps into the desire for adventure, especially around the holidays. Readers who travel can relate, while those who are staying home might be inspired to dream about future trips. Featuring influencers or experts adds credibility and social media engagement.

Final thoughts

The aforementioned holiday story campaign ideas ought to give you an inclination on how to consider the coming season. We are sure that we will see a ton of generic seasonal greetings, AI-generated content, and overall lazy marketing. What we advise our clients is to avoid these common pitfalls of treating your marketing as an afterthought. Instead, consider carefully how your brand relates to your readers and pick one of the strategies that best suits your needs. The great thing about modern marketing (saturated as it is with AI) is that even a bit of honest content and hard work is quite refreshing. And if you need any help in creating such content know that StorifyMe is more than happy to help.

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