This past year, Media Soil had an opportunity to help a fireworks business based in Nebraska redesign their website and revamp their social media presence. The whole experience gave me a new understanding of a seasonal business. I had never before considered that business can and will be lost throughout the off season. We are still learning, but there are several approaches that help ignite interest and traffic throughout the whole year.
Our work with this company started approximately 6 weeks before their tents were scheduled to open. We had lofty goals to obtain in a short timeframe, but were able to meet them with lots of late nights and communication. My husband and I double team most of our projects. I focus on all the social media platforms and the content creation for the websites while he uses his skills to shape and form a new site around either a professional design layout or a client created list of inspiration designs. While I tackled the Facebook page, the website started taking shape. Instagram was next for me, as well and making sure the homepage content was refreshed and well written.
With approximately 4 weeks till opening, we started creating content for both Facebook and Instagram. I love how you can cover both bases with a single post. We reintroduced the business and highlighted some of the past years best sellers. Then we started creating engagement content requesting favorite products or types of products. We saw the most traffic when the owner and his associates engaged and shared the content created. It’s amazing how powerful the network this small business has created was in spreading awareness about the coming fireworks season.
With two weeks to go, we shared new products coming to the tent and gave sneak peaks at potential sales and specials the customers could expect. The website was almost done, but a product reservation service was needed for “Covid procedures.” Typical engagement posts continued to surface every few days.
The week of opening, social media had new posts everyday. The product reservation feature of the site had been tested and pushed out live. The tents were set up and employees were ready to work. The four selling days were a whirlwind as all the posts created for social media went live to strategically market popular items or items that had little to no awareness.
Most seasonal businesses don’t continue the same posting pace during the off season and this one has decided to slow things down as well, however you will see engagement posts going live throughout the year. People love to continue to connect even when there isn’t an actual business to visit. The off season is the perfect time for a business to connect on a personal level. Each holiday is an opportunity to wish your patrons well and explore how they celebrate with their families. We also make sure to keep the memory of fireworks fresh and push out fun business related posts that bring a smile to customers’ faces.
If you have any questions about marketing the seasonal business, feel free to contact us!