There is much dispute about whether Halloween is a ‘real’ holiday.
While in the UK Halloween is nowhere near as high up in the holiday stakes as Christmas (9 weeks to go!) there are millions of people across the country that plan to mark the occasion in one way or another.
You might not be celebrating Halloween this year, but are you sure your readers are doing the same?
You may not have given 31 October a second thought, but if your readers have, they could be disappointed when you don’t provide any seasonal content.
There are a number of readerships who are likely to be celebrating this time next week: mums are busy creating costumes for their kids, the cooking community are thinking up spooky baked goods for trick-or-treaters and students will no doubt be using the event as an excuse for a party or five.
Like other trending or seasonal topics, Halloween provides a valuable opportunity to engage readers with a blog post, infographic or other piece of content which relates the occasion to a brand’s products or services.
Here’s how to ride that Halloween wave all the way to pumpkin town.
Tailor your costume content
A key aspect of content marketing is tailoring your content to your audience, and it’s no different for Halloween. You already have a topic but how can this be broken down to provide value for your audience?
Think about what the holiday means to your buyer persona and put yourself in their shoes. Are they parents planning on taking their little monsters out for a spot of trick-or-treating? Or are they more interested in how to incorporate pumpkins into seasonal recipes?
Spooky social media
As well as using social media channels to distribute all your cool seasonal content, Halloween provides a great opportunity to think outside the box and experiment with different media and ways to engage your readers.
If the team have got into the spirit of Halloween and have decorated the office accordingly, why not take a snap and upload it on Twitter? Readers love a cheeky behind-the-scenes look at the brands they follow. Plus, it’s a great way to show the ‘human’ side of your brand.
You could also ask your followers about their Halloween plans and encourage them to upload images of costumes, baked goods or whatever is most relevant to your brand.
Halloween is one of those lovely times of year when brands have a bit more freedom over their content. The creative license that comes with annual holidays means that you can be as quirky as you like, so have fun with it!
Just remember not to go too Halloween crazy. You don’t want to bombard people with seasonal content, so intersperse ghosts and ghouls with your usual stuff and you’re onto a winner.
Jenny Maclean
