Black Friday Marketing Strategy: Trends, Tips & Ideas

The biggest shopping days of the year are quickly approaching. These five days include Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Super Sunday, and Cyber Monday.

Attention business owners: You need to start putting together those marketing campaigns early.

You might question whether it’s all worthwhile given the state of the economy. Food prices are up, gas prices have increased, rent rates are through the roof.

“Are people going to spend over the holidays?” The short answer is, yes!

The data indicates that the deals will be better this year than they were last. Just keep an eye out for Amazon’s Prime Day deals. The online giant’s average order value rose by more than 16% the year before, meaning that people are in a buying mode.

We’ll focus on marketing campaign ideas you can use for your Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions.

Black Friday: What is it?

Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping days of the year for both traditional and online retailers. Black Friday is a holiday that originated in the United States and both brick-and-mortar stores and online shops observe it by holding significant in-person and digital sales.

Since it gained popularity, between 50 and 60 percent of the world’s nations now observe this shopping holiday.

Black Friday offers brands a chance to kick-start Christmas sales, so you should not ignore it.

It’s time for your brand to benefit from those sales, especially given that despite hyperinflation, consumers are expected to spend a great deal between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday this year.

Cyber Monday: What is it?

Cyber Monday is a term used by online retailers to describe the first Monday following Thanksgiving. Online retailers have a great opportunity because there is an extra 24–72 hour window for purchases after Black Friday.

Online sales from Black Friday can carry over to Cyber Monday, but it might also:

• Last the days following Cyber Monday
• Launch into December Christmas sales
• Bring new leads with discounts and promotions
• Be the perfect opportunity to encourage purchases from customers with items in their cart

When are Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

Knowing exactly when Black Friday falls on the holiday calendar will help you start planning your brand’s Black Friday social media strategies given all of the fantastic sales opportunities it brings for businesses.

Every year, the Friday following Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday, and the following Monday is known as Cyber Monday.

This year, Black Friday is on Friday, November 25th and Cyber Monday will be on Monday, November 28th.

Social media and other online marketing strategies

Given their influence as consumer holidays, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it’s time to start improving your brand’s social media campaigns for this year.

Here are my top Black Friday & Cyber Monday marketing strategies:

1. Begin campaigns before the storm

As they say, the early bird gets the worm, and marketers are no exception! Your current buyers will learn about your Black Friday promotions the earlier you launch them on your website or social media pages.

Create countdowns, previews, and deal reveals for your audience to get excited about in order to raise anticipation for your campaign.

An example of this is the big box department store brand Target, which starts its Black Friday marketing in early October, giving them plenty of time to send their customers massive deals prior to the big day.

The main advantage of starting your Black Friday campaigns earlier is that you’ll stand out from the competition, which is especially true for advertising campaigns!

2. Direct funds to support customers

Consider reducing the number of posts you create to promote your offers and the platforms you choose to post them on. Do you really have time to respond to messages across Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, in addition to comments on numerous posts if you are a one-person business?

Bad customer service is not just being rude to customers on a phone call.

When they are not able to have their questions answered or situations resolved because you lack the time, that is also bad service. You may choose to hire an assistant just for the holiday season to help with customer calls and placing orders.

Never take on more than you can handle.

3. Set deadlines to make offers more urgent

Including these phrases in your social media captions during Black Friday weekend will help you turn followers into customers and increase sales:

• Limited access
• While supplies last
• Limited-time offer
• Last chance
• Sale ends Friday
• Download today

Fashion retailer ASOS used this exact strategy to promote its Black Friday sale on Instagram.

Additionally, since Cyber Monday is already a 24-hour event, you can run a few countdowns all day long with different time-limited promotions. This brilliant hack will keep your audience interested all the time.

4. Implement retargeting emails

Whether you have a limited budget or are willing to spend thousands, Cyber Monday is the day to concentrate on dynamic retargeting emails.

Email retargeting is sending emails to people based on their behavior and interests online. Email retargeting helps increase conversion rates since the emails sent as part of a retargeting campaign are more relevant than the typical marketing email.

Because of this, your Cyber Monday promotions should focus on retargeting customers who have browsed your online store or who have started adding items to their cart but have not yet made a purchase.

The time is right to encourage them to move from “added to the cart” to “purchased.”

5. Use hashtags to reach more people

Using hashtags to expand your reach on social media has been around for a while. Fortunately for business owners, they work well on TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Use hashtags in your brand’s Black Friday social media campaigns for a variety of reasons. For instance, hashtags can help your brand become more visible and draw in new followers to your accounts.

2020 saw the launch of beauty brand NYX Professional Makeup’s very own hashtag, #NYXProfessionalMakeup, for use in Instagram promotions. This was a wise decision because it increased the post’s organic reach and helped the brand maintain its distinctive identity amidst the flurry of sales and promotions taking place that day.

6. Create and schedule content early

As a business owner, your job involves a lot of creating and organizing, especially when marketing campaigns are underway.

To stay on top of your priorities as Black Friday approaches, be sure to lay out your brand’s content strategy in advance using a social media calendar.

In order to save time and eliminate the tedious task of individually posting to each social media platform, it is also worthwhile to invest in a social media scheduling tool like Planoly.

7. Share the start and end dates of your promotions

Always include a note or disclaimer stating the start and end dates of your promotions in your content or caption to avoid confusing your customers.

Similarly to this, let your customers know if your company intends to extend its promotions through Cyber Monday.

Observe how the retail chain Bath and Body Works specifies the exact times that their Black Friday sales begin and end so that customers are prepared to go into the promotion.

8. Utilize specific platform features

The many distinctive features of each social media platform can be utilized by business owners to truly make this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday unforgettable for your brand.

• Why not try out Instagram Video by using Reels or Stories to create your brand’s promotions?
• Given TikTok’s amazing organic reach, you might consider using it to advertise your deals.
• To find out what kinds of deals your followers would like to see from your brand, you could also make a poll on Twitter.

Every platform has its own set of features you can apply. Do not be afraid to experiment and try something new. You may discover a new and effective way to share your brand with the world.

Final words

These two shopping holidays present a massive opportunity for brands to generate sales and new customers. While your social media should play the most significant part in your Black Friday marketing strategy, don’t forget to incorporate other channels like your website and email lists.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are just the starts of the holiday season. After all, Christmas is only a month away.