Use Facebook to Capitalize on the World's Holiday Spending Trends. Find out what Boxing Day, Singles Day and social media have in common with U.S. holiday shopping days. Including easy to implement Facebook promotions to capitalize on the world's holiday spending. View original post at: https://blog.dlvrit.com/2014/11/social-media-strategy-with-key-holiday-trigger-dates/

1. How to Use Facebook to Capitalize on the World’s
Biggest Holiday Spending Trends
blog.dlvrit.com/2014/11/social-media-strategy-with-key-holiday-trigger-dates/
Debra Garber
Summary: Find out what Boxing Day, Singles Day and social media have in
common with U.S. holiday shopping days. As a bonus, we’ve added some great
easy to implement Facebook promotions to capitalize on the world’s holiday
spending.
(#WorkloadWednesday) Anyone in retail will tell you there is no rest for the weary,
especially in the final quarter of the year. Given the limitations on your time and
energy during the holiday season, you need to focus your social media strategy on
certain key dates.
From a marketing point of view, what are the key “retail shopping” dates? Twenty
years ago, the U.S. shopping date list, was fairly short. The season started the day
after Thanksgiving and ended Christmas Eve. Following Christmas, you could
expect shopping chaos until shortly after the New Year.

2. Now, both the length of the season and the number of important shopping dates
has expanded, with the addition of such artificial dates as Black Friday, often
regarded as the beginning of the holiday shopping season and Cyber Monday,
created by marketing companies to persuade people to shop online. Given the
international nature of the cyber market, this is what your short list of shopping
dates includes in 2014:
THE SHORT LIST – KEY RETAIL HOLIDAY SHOPPING DATES
Description Dates in 2014 Observed By
Early Holiday
Shoppers
September until
Thanksgiving
*Singles Day
November 11 Singles in China and rest of Asia
Thanksgiving November 27 U.S.
Black Friday November 28 U.S., Canada, United Kingdom and
Mexico
Small Business
Saturday
November 29 U.S.
Cyber Monday December 1 U.S., Canada, United Kingdom,
Brazil, Portugal,
Germany, Chile, Columbia, Japan
Giving Tuesday December 2 U.S.
Hanukkah December 16 – 24th Jewish observers
Christmas Eve December 24 Christians, many non-Christians
Christmas December 25 Christians, many non-Christians
*Boxing Day
December 26 United Kingdom, Canada, Hong
Kong, Australia,
New Zealand, and other
Commonwealth nations,
as well as Norway, France and
Sweden.

3. *These dates are not usually included in a U.S. centric marketing short list but,
depending on your market, you may wish to include these in your social media
marketing plan.
What is Biggest Day Ever for Online Retailers in the UK?
Boxing Day is traditionally the day following Christmas Day, when servants
and tradesmen would receive gifts, known as a “Christmas box”, from their bosses
or employers. In the UK, Canada, and some Australian states, Boxing Day is
primarily considered a shopping holiday, much like Black Friday in the U.S.
Statistics gathered by Experian Hitwise, the online competitive intelligence tool,
show that Boxing Day 2013 was the biggest and busiest day ever for online
retailers in the UK. British Internet users made 129 million visits to retail websites
on Boxing Day 2013, a 15 per cent year-on-year increase, making December 26
the biggest online shopping day ever. This was up from the 40% gain made on
Boxing Day 2012, the former “busiest day ever”.
What is the World’s Biggest Shopping Day?

4. Let’s go a little more global. What is the world’s biggest shopping day touting
sales near $6 billion USD last year? Care to guess? According to an article from
Forbes, it is Singles Day, November 11, sometimes referred to as 11/11 or one-
one-one-one.
“Fueled by Alibaba, the enormous, publicly-held, online marketplace, it’s the
biggest shopping day of the year. Bigger than Black Friday. Bigger than Cyber
Monday. It is the day when single people in China and the rest of Asia are out
shopping in full force. That’s an estimated 270 million shoppers whose
sales “obliterated” last year’s Cyber Monday. Although the numbers are not in yet,
this year’s Singles Day online shopping bonanza is likely to break all the records
set in 2013. If Alibaba can keep its pace, it may do more than $8 billion USD in
sales in 24 hours.”
UPDATE 11/11/14: From BBC News

5. Why Should You Care About Boxing Day or Singles Day?
As a small business, with limited time and money, do you care about Boxing Day
or Singles Day? You should definitely consider it! They are unique here in the U.S.
and a great way to educate your audience. Here is one easy to implement idea
from Forbes to promote your business and spread holiday cheer via social media
at the same time:
Offer your own discounts. Run a special “Singles Day” promotion on your
website and social media. Reach out to your international audience through
Facebook. Educate your American audience. But, more importantly, use the
occasion to wish your Chinese prospects and customers a happy “Singles
Day.” It’s fun and they’ll smile. How many other American companies are
doing that? Who else is taking the time to acknowledge a pop culture event
that’s being celebrated by a billion people on the other side of the planet
and virtually ignored here? Use this day to distinguish your company as
aware and interested in events that interest its foreign customers.
Do the same for Boxing Day.
What is Small Business Saturday?
A little know newcomer to the list is Small Business Saturday. Surprisingly, it is not
so small. Last year:
45 million people shopped on Thanksgiving Day
92 million on Black Friday and,
131 million on Cyber Monday
This year, the National Retail Federation will be tracking Small Business Saturday
for the first time and expects the sales numbers to be significant — more than 95
percent of retailers are small businesses operating a single location. In fact, a
survey conducted on behalf of the National Federation of Independent Businesses
and American Express identified that $5.7 billion was spent by consumers
aware of the initiative on Small Business Saturday in 2013 alone.

6. How do you encourage more customers to shop with you on Small Business
Saturday? Although a little late to implement this year, here’s a great example of 5-
week promotional plan for Facebook from Constant Contact. Bookmark, print and
save for next year.

7. Phew! I’m tired already. Now you know what key shopping dates need to be on
your radar. What do you plan to do next? Get an early start!
Key Takeaway: Start planning early. Your success depends on being ready.

8. Now it’s your turn. We’d love to hear from you! Do you know much about the origin
of Singles Day? What are your social media plans for the holidays?
Featured infographics from: Visual.ly