In this post we are going to show you how you can use Social Media and Chinese New Year and produce some amazing campaigns.
Annual holiday celebrations provide excellent opportunities to create unique and compelling social media content that will drive followers to your networks and channels. One of the principle reasons for this is that during downtime, social media is one of today’s most popular pastimes.
An active audience is surfing the net looking for interesting things to read, do and pass on to their friends. They are ready and willing to be captivated by what you the business owner can offer them.
This isn’t the time to go into sales overdrive, but you can entice them with the occasional offer and provide engagement opportunities that can boost your credibility and earn you some big social media love.
The Chinese New Year is no different from other major holidays and in-the-know companies are already ramping up their engagement levels with a range of social media happenings. They provide excellent food for thought for the entrepreneur wanting to follow suit during the revelries. Here are some great examples to learn from:
The Swiss luxury watch manufacturer Rado has launched a social media campaign on Weibo “Open the Door of Time, Wish for a Good 2014”.
Followers are being invited to post their resolutions for the Year of the Horse as well as send goodwill messages to friends and family. As an incentive to take part in the fun, Rado is offering all those who write a post a chance to win a signed photograph from Taiwanese singer and actress René Liu.
Weibo is also the destination for a Chinese New Year social media campaign by the American fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger.
As with Rado, customers and prospective customers are incentivized to post resolutions and send good wishes. The campaign’s theme traces the tradition of the color red , which symbolizes good luck and fortune. Followers have a chance of winning a red-coloured gift from the clothing company.
Promotions and Events
Traditionally, shops do very well out of the New Year festivities as people splurge on gifts for their loved ones. To capitalize on this spirit of generosity and to coincide with its partnership with China Mobil, Apple Inc., held a special one-day sale on its Chinese website.
The American multinational knocked 350 Yuan ($57.83) off all of its iPhone models. There was also a huge discount on its MacBook range. Other Asian countries that celebrate the New Year such as Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan also had a similar promotional offer on their official Apple pages.
Bloomingdales is another American company that’s celebrating the New Year with its customers. Although most of the activities are offline, the upscale chain of department stores has created a branded hashtag for the event, #BloomiesYearOfTheHorse to encourage sharing and participation.
Bloomingdales is ringing in the New Year with unique merchandise, special events, cultural presentations and a range of pop-up shops at various locations in the United States. The activities kicked off on January 10th and will run until February 15th.
A few participating stores will give customers the opportunity to try their luck with red envelopes, some of which will contain cash prizes.
“As a company rooted in family and tradition, we look forward to once again celebrating both the Chinese New Year and entire Chinese culture that is deeply rooted in history,” commented Tony Spring, Bloomingdale’s president and COO.
With such visible in-store and social media presence the company hopes to attract more Chinese shoppers as well as curious consumers from other backgrounds.
Red for Wealth and Prosperity
As can be seen from these examples, companies don’t have to be Chinese to recognise that a large percentage of their customer base celebrates the Chinese New Year (hashtag: #ChineseNewYear).
Launching new chinese new year social media campaigns to tie in with the Lunar New Year can foster a more powerful emotional connection that sells more products. It can be the social media equivalent of receiving a well stuffed red envelope.
From the MavSocial team – social media software for business
