Holiday Social Media Strategy for Handmade Businesses

Ok, it’s November now, which means THE HOLIDAYS ARE HERE! Honestly it’s a little late in the game to be talking about your holiday social media strategy. But I believe there are still things you can do to get your customers engaged. Plus, you can save this page and come back to it next year (in September, okay?).

Disclosure: some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Whether you have been following along with me for awhile now or you are just hopping in, here at Bloom we are ALL about getting your handmade business up and running with some good holiday momentum.

We have spent lots of time prepping and now it’s GO TIME!

With a large and exciting digital sales season coming up, now is the time to really lean into your online community. It’s time to get your social media channels buzzing. Hopefully you have already established your business name and have set up your social media pages (I take a deeper dive into that here in this blog post). 

It’s no secret that people buy from who they know, who they like, and who they trust. 

As handmade sellers, we usually have an advantage in this department because we sell at art fairs/craft shows. Our customers get to meet and see us in person.

In the age of online shopping, however, we are going to have to rely on our content to nurture and forge those relationships.

What does that mean for your holiday social media strategy?

? You have to “show up” (post) consistently on your social media channels. Once a week won’t cut it this season.

? You have to be posting and sharing relevant, valuable content that your audience wants. This means mixing in info/posts about your products alongside posts that your target audience will like and will engage with.

? You have to be coming back to these channels to continue conversations with your audience. When someone comments on a post, answer them back. Facebook is all about authentic engagement and conversations…so the longer you can converse, the farther your reach will get!

Now you might be thinking, 

“Ok Lucy, who has time to do all of this posting when…HELLO…I need to be MAKING STUFF!

My friend, not only am I in the same boat, I am captain of that boat. I’m running two full-fledged businesses on top of regular daily life (house, husband, child, etc). So to me, efficiency and planning is a prerequisite for any of these ventures to be successful.

To get my social media active and feeling good, I use the scheduling app Later to schedule out my social media posts and my Pinterest pins. I set aside 2-3 hours once per month to create graphics in Canva and then draft/schedule my posts in Later. 

Those 2-3 hours are enough time for me to get content scheduled for an entire MONTH. Boy, does that feel awesome.

Once I have this “base” of posts scheduled, I make it a point to pop in with live posts throughout the month. These check-ins keep content fresh and relevant. If I’m making jewelry, for example, I’ll snap a few pictures and pepper those into the mix throughout the week.

I do give myself 10-20 minutes a day to hop in to my Instagram and Facebook accounts to respond to comments and engage. Let’s face it, we are all probably spending at least that much time on there anyway. ?

Holiday Social Media Strategy for Handmade Businesses

Take some time to plan out your social media for the holidays, and you’ll be thanking your past self. Because the Internet is loaded with businesses all trying to capture peoples’ attention, it can be overwhelming. But if you follow my tips above, and also remember to give yourself some grace – it can be done.

If you are thinking that creating those graphics is going to take foreverrrrr….I’ve got just the thing for you!

I have custom-created Canva templates just for crafty business owners, and they are GOLD.

Canva Templates for Crafty Businesses includes over 150 templates to help you quickly create social media posts, custom website graphics, Etsy banners, and much more.You can grab these templates here for only $27  and get started creating gorgeous custom graphics to grab your audience’s attention and boost your engagement!