BROADCASTS.com

Still over six months away from Christmas, which means we\\u2019re just 4 months away from the shopping season for Christmas. Doesn\\u2019t feel quite so distant now does it! What can you do now to prepare your online activity for the holiday season?

\\xa0

This is Clickstarter, the Australian Digital Marketing podcast. I\\u2019m Dante St James.

\\xa0

What should we be doing now in preparation for the Christmas season?

\\xa0

1.\\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0Looking at what toys, gifts and spending trends are happening right now

2.\\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0Discovering what TV shows, movies, music and online trends are happening now

3.\\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0Doing everything we can now to grow our engagement so we can leverage it from October

\\xa0

Let\\u2019s start working on our Christmas plans!

\\xa0

\\xa0

The advertising and marketing world is already locking in licensing for popular music, celebrities and influencers, and creative elements for the holiday season. That\\u2019s right. In June. It\\u2019s too late to get on top of the trends just emerging in October when you need ads and things locked in well in advance.

\\xa0

The toys, games and electronics that will be huge this Christmas will be starting to appear on the unboxing influencer videos on YouTube, Facebook and TikTok right now. New gaming controllers, accessories for Playstation and Xbox, mobile phones and TV shows are already hot right now.

\\xa0

What is being talked about constantly on tech reviewer channels right now is going to be a big seller at Christmas. For example, reviewers of mobile phones like my favourite, MrWhoseTheBoss, have gone quiet on the current crop of flagship Samsung and Apple phones lately, and have swung their attention towards the hot stuff that\\u2019s coming, like the next iPhone, the next Samsung and an interesting flurry or rumours around the next Google Pixel phone. All these phones get their releases from August and September in time for October and November retail rollouts. So all the chatter right now on phones, look for the brand and models that are being mentioned and make mention of them yourself. You\\u2019ll sound more on-trend and in touch.

\\xa0

The same goes for the TV shows that are hot right now. The Disney Star Wars animation, Bad Batch is huge. Marvel, DC Comics and other superhero franchises are releasing masses of new TV shows and movies now that cinemas are opening up again around the world. Expect there to be huge chatter around the many delayed movie releases like the new James Bond, film the reimagined Dune with Timothe Chalamet and a rash of new megaprojects from Hollywood stars that we had almost forgotten about during the pandemic.

\\xa0

It\\u2019s time to see what kids, teens and cool people are talking about in June because that\\u2019s what the bulk of us will be all over from October to Christmas.

\\xa0

\\xa0

Right now, is the time to be going the hardest on everything that will encourage your followers to comment, like and share your stuff. June is the single most important month for this because it\\u2019s when your engagement levels for the Christmas shopping season are really starting to be noticed. June also gives you a nice gentle run into October when the shopping starts to take off. You can use June to do your research into what people are responding to, build your plan in late June to build channel engagement, then in July launch your push for lots of content that is aimed at doing one thing only \\u2013 getting people to respond!

\\xa0

Your plan to get engagement up needs to keep engagement up in July through to November to get the full impact for the Christmas season. Naturally, you want to be doing this kind of thing all year round, but if you\\u2019ve found, like many have, that your social reach has dropped off the last few months, then this is your chance to build a powerful strategy to bring home the bacon for the second half of the year.

\\xa0

By doing this now, you have time to use July as a test for all kinds of ideas, see what works, and then double down on what is working best. Then in August, bring your best ideas forward, add a few more little tests of new styles of content, then repeat the process through to November.

\\xa0

Thankfully the holiday season comes just once per year, but the planning for it begins right now.

\\xa0

To learn more about digital marketing the Australian way, jump into the Learn section at clickstarter.com.au and start on the road to helping your Australian small business to get known, get found and stay known.