“You own your own business now, that means no days off at all, especially not summer.”
Pfffft… says who??
Listen, you got into direct sales for a reason, right? And I bet it wasn't so you could spend your entire summer break working instead of with your family.
So how can you market your direct sales business over the summer without sucking up all that good weather or losing all your time with your family? And how can you make sure people are even seeing your posts when they're probably on vacation themselves?
Keeping Up with Social Media During the Dog Days of Summer
Summer is a great time for beach vacations, pool parties, and backyard barbecues. But for businesses that rely on social media to reach their audience, it can also be a challenging time. People are more likely to be outdoors or on vacation, which means they are less likely to be scrolling through their feeds.
Maintaining a consistent social media presence during the summer is crucial for keeping your business top of mind with your audience. This is especially true for direct sales businesses like yours.
It allows you to connect with potential customers and build relationships with your existing ones. By creating engaging content and sharing it on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, you can drive traffic to your website and increase sales.
But summer can throw a wrench in that plan.
Some people may take a break from social media altogether during the summer months. Others may be distracted by all the fun activities going on outside. Heck, you might even want to go to some of those parties. This means that keeping up with your social media strategy can require some extra effort in order to maintain consistency and keep engagement levels up.
Plan Your Summer Social Media Marketing Ahead
I don't mean like plan a couple weeks ahead, I mean months. Summer has a tendency to sneak up on us without warning much faster than we ever think it will. Start planning that content out in February:
- Create your seasonal arcs
- Create your graphics
- Pre-write your captions and posts
- Pre-record your videos
- Leave placeholders for seasonally-dependent photos
As you do this, keep a list of any photos that you know you're going to want to take a little closer to in-the-moment. For example, if you have an arc planned for Memorial Day, but would rather post a photo of you wearing sunglasses and drinking a mai tai instead of wearing a sweater and drinking a hot chocolate, then get the entire rest of the arc prepared, add the photo to your list, and once you get closer to summer take the photo.
Even if you don't get that photo done ahead of time, you'll find it a lot easier (and faster) to snap one quick photo to insert into an otherwise fully-prepared arc than it would be to write and plan out an entire content arc.
One way to plan ahead is by creating a content calendar for the summer months. This can be as simple or as detailed as you like, but having a general idea of what content you want to post and when can save you time and stress down the line.
Use tools like Google Calendar or Trello to create a visual representation of your plan. Once you have your content calendar in place, scheduling posts in advance can help ensure that you remain consistent even when things get busy.
You can also use scheduling tools to publish posts at designated times. This will not only save time, but will also give you peace of mind knowing that your social media presence is taken care of even if you're not able to actively post every day.
And before you ask: no, Facebook will not punish you for scheduling your posts in advance.
Planning ahead may take some extra effort upfront, but the benefits are well worth it in the long run. Don't let summer interrupt your social media momentum – take control by creating a solid plan today.
Get Creative with Visuals
Use Summery Graphics and Images to Grab Attention
As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. This is especially true on social media, where users are scrolling through their feeds at lightning speed. To make your posts stand out, use graphics and images that capture the colorful and carefree spirit of summer.
Incorporate bright colors, beach scenes, or fun summer activities into your visuals to grab attention. But be careful not to go overboard with too many visuals.
You want to strike a balance between eye-catching graphics and overwhelming your audience. Use images strategically and ensure they align with your brand's overall aesthetic.
Incorporate Videos and GIFs for Added Engagement
Visual content isn't limited to still images – you can also incorporate videos and GIFs into your social media strategy for added engagement. Videos can showcase products or services in action or provide behind-the-scenes glimpses into your business.
GIFs can add humor or personality to your posts. Make sure any videos or GIFs you use are high-quality and relevant to your target audience.
Keep them short (under 30 seconds) so they don't lose viewers' attention spans. Overall, incorporating creative visuals like graphics, images, videos, and GIFs into your social media strategy is an effective way to capture attention during the summer months when users' feeds may be more saturated than usual.
So get creative! Think outside the box and have fun with it – after all, isn't that what summer is all about?
Engage with Your Audience
The key to a successful social media presence is engaging with your audience. This means responding promptly to comments and actively seeking out opportunities to interact with your followers.
Respond Promptly To Comments And Messages
Don't be the weird salesy friend who only shows up online to post about a sale and then disappear so no one can even ask you any questions.
This is especially important during the summer months, when people engagement is already going to be a wild card because of changing schedules and vacations.
Make sure you're checking your accounts regularly throughout the day so that you can respond quickly. If someone has a question or concern, try to address it as soon as possible – this will show your followers that you value their feedback and are committed to providing excellent customer service.
If you need help, you can also hire a community manager to help you with this engagement. Community managers can cost a pretty penny (several hundred dollars a month for a part time manager) but it can be worth it for a temporary manager overseeing the engagement and responses on your page or in your group to protect your customers' journeys.
It's important not only just acknowledge comments but also respond appropriately in an empathetic voice towards negative ones that seem like an opportunity for dialogue instead of response which immediately shuts down any conversation leaving issues unresolved.
Take Advantage of Summer Events
Share content related to holidays, festivals, and other seasonal events
Summer is a time for celebration, with plenty of holidays and festivals happening all over the world. As a social media marketer, you can take advantage of these events by sharing content related to them on your social media channels.
For example, if it's Memorial Day weekend in the US, you can share posts about the history of Memorial Day or share photos of how people are celebrating in their communities. If there's a major festival happening in your area, you can share information about it or even attend and share photos and videos from the event.
Sharing content related to summer events not only keeps your social media channels fresh and interesting but also allows you to connect with your audience on a personal level. By sharing posts that focus on their interests and passions, you're more likely to capture their attention and build stronger relationships with them.
Attend local events and share photos on social media
Another way to leverage summer events for your social media marketing is by attending local events yourself. This allows you to capture unique content that other brands may not have access to. Take photos or videos at the event and share them on your social media channels with relevant hashtags or geotags.
When attending an event, it's essential to remember that you're representing your brand. Be mindful of what you post online so that it aligns with your brand values and resonates well with your audience.
You want to make sure that every post reflects positively on your brand while still being authentic and engaging. Taking advantage of summer events is an effective way to keep up a consistent presence on social media while also showing off the more fun side of your brand personality.
Summer offers plenty of opportunities for businesses across many industries through creative marketing strategies. However, leveraging summer events takes social media marketing to a whole new level. By sharing and attending local events, businesses can create compelling content that is engaging, current and relevant to their audience.
It’s important to create a strategy that enables you to leverage the power of summer events for your social media marketing goals effectively. By doing so, you will help take your brand awareness and customer engagement to the next level during the summer months!
Collaborate with Other Direct Sellers
Partner with Other Direct Sellers who align with your brand values
Hair care and skin care go hand in hand, right? So if you already sell skin care, maybe you can find someone in hair care to collaborate with.
- Clothing and jewelry
- Hair care and Hair styling
- Makeup and jewelry
- makeup and nail art
- Food and Kitchen
- Cleaning and Kitchen
- Cleaning and organization
- Peanut butter and jelly…
As always, pay close attention to your company's policies and procedures and make sure you're not breaking any rules. You always want to remain compliant as long as you want to stay with that company.
But if you can find a way to work out a collaboration with another direct seller who aligns with your brand values and sells a complementary product, than why wouldn't you?
Host Page, Group, or Newsletter Takeovers
It's always a lot easier to take a break when you know your people are being taken care of. And who better to take care of your people than your friend from another (complementary) company who aligns with your values?
They can write a newsletter edition (or two) for you to send, takeover your group for added training or Q&As, provide your team with unique training perspectives as a guest trainer, and more.
Analyze Your Performance
When it comes to social media marketing, analyzing your performance is crucial. It's essential to know how your posts are performing and what kind of impact they're having on your audience. This way, you can adjust your strategy accordingly and make sure you're getting the most out of your efforts.
One of the best ways to analyze your performance is by tracking your social media metrics regularly. This includes metrics like engagement rate, reach, impressions, clicks, and conversions.
By monitoring these metrics regularly, you can get a better understanding of what kind of content resonates with your audience and adjust your strategy accordingly. It's also important to track how often you're posting on each platform and when.
You may find that certain days or times perform better than others. By adjusting the frequency and timing of your posts based on this data, you can improve overall engagement rates.
Track Your Social Media Metrics Regularly
Use a social media management tool that provides analytics tracking features. Most scheduling tools will include these, so it shouldn't be an issue, but look for them just in case. These tools allow you to see how well each post is doing in terms of likes, shares, comments, impressions etc.
You should use these insights to make informed decisions about future campaigns or content strategies for summer months as well as throughout the year – do more of what works well and less of what doesn't work at all! Another way to track performance is through A/B testing different variations of content such as headlines or images for instance – which will help inform which type(s) resonates best with audiences over time.
Adjust Your Strategy Based on What's Working And What's Not
After analyzing performance data collected from various metrics (as we discussed in the section above), it’s time for action! Here are some considerations for adjusting your social media strategy:
- If a particular type of content is resonating more than others, consider doubling down on that and creating more similar content
- Adjust the frequency of posts and/or timing based on when your audience is most active
- Experiment with different visuals, formats, or story themes if you notice one type of each element outperforms others.
- Finally, continue studying your metrics regularly to make sure you're staying on track and adjusting as needed to maintain consistent engagement.
By analyzing your performance regularly and making adjustments accordingly, you can ensure that your social media marketing efforts are not only effective but also consistent throughout the year. Remember, consistency is key to maintaining a strong social media presence that resonates with your audience!
Final Thoughts on How to Put Together a Sizzling Summer Social Media Marketing Plan for your Direct Sales Business
Consistency is key when it comes to social media marketing. By continuing to engage with your audience over the summer, you can maintain a strong online presence and keep your brand top of mind.
Remember to plan ahead, get creative with your visuals, engage with your audience, take advantage of summer events, collaborate with influencers, and analyze your performance regularly. Summer can be a challenging time for businesses to stay consistent on social media.
It's easy for posts to get lost in the shuffle as people go on vacation or spend more time outdoors. However, by planning ahead and creating a content calendar specifically for the summer months, you can ensure that your posts are being seen consistently throughout the season.
Visuals are an important part of any social media strategy, but they're especially effective during the summer months. Use bright colors and summery images to grab attention and make sure your content stands out from the rest.
Incorporate videos and GIFs whenever possible for added engagement. Engaging with your audience is crucial for building relationships and keeping them coming back for more.
Take the time to respond promptly to comments and messages – even if it's just a quick thank you – as this will show that you value their input. Hosting summer-themed contests or giveaways is another way to encourage interaction and keep things fun.
Incorporating seasonal events into your social media strategy is a great way to stay relevant throughout the year. Share content related to holidays or festivals that are happening in your area – or even create some of your own!
Attending local events can also provide opportunities for unique photo ops or behind-the-scenes glimpses of what goes on behind-the-scenes at your business. Social media marketing is an ongoing process that requires dedication and consistency; but you already know that.
By following these tips, you can maintain a strong online presence throughout the summer months and keep your brand top of mind among your followers.
So don't be afraid to get creative, experiment with new ideas, and most importantly – have fun!
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