Facebook Holiday Marketing Guide: How Consumers are Gifting in a Pandemic

In this 5-part Facebook Holiday Marketing Guide series, we will provide you with a stats-backed map for your business to successfully navigate proper approaches to advertising and e-commerce during this greatly changed holiday season.

In Part 1, we dove into the demographics of 2020 shopping habits and what they mean for your brand.

Now, Part 2 focuses on the -how- of Canadian consumers’ e-commerce activity; how are they spending money (and for whom)? Plus, how you can create specialized ads that inspire, and inquire about, their shopping desires.

One for You, Some for Me

With so many traditions, outings and human connections meeting major roadblocks in 2020, self-care and finding reasons to be happy or celebrate have been major mantras for individuals across the board, and both carry over into how people are shopping online.

In a Facebook-commissioned study by YouGov, 74% of those surveyed globally admitted to researching holiday gifts for themselves. 78% also researched online about gifts for other people.

The best descriptor found within the study is that a luxury purchase didn’t necessarily mean the item was big or expensive. To these shoppers, luxury meant something of excitement or value within their own individual financial comfort zones. These purchases ranged from ice cream to desired makeup additions to electronics.

These results highlight that despite heavy losses of income in multiple industries and communities, this doesn’t mean all potential target audiences are only shopping cheaply right now.

Consumers will pay in a pandemic what they’re comfortable with and it’s not up to your business to decide, it’s up to your business to provide.

Here’s how you can make your business’ demographics more at ease with their research and shopping decisions, however big or small, expensive or affordable, they may be.

Holiday Catalog Dynamic Ads

Facebook Dynamic ads allow potential customers and previous website visitors to discover for themselves products in your inventory that may be of interest to them, featuring more than one in a single ad moment.

If your Page and Business Manager is already set up, create a catalogue, select the catalog type (e-commerce is the likely choice), add your products (via upload or connection to your e-commerce site), name it and voila; there’s your catalog.

Once you’re ready to put some paid advertising behind certain products, you’re going to need to create a set, whether made by filter or manually selecting the products yourself. Once the set is created, you can advertise it directly from your Ads Manager.

Throughout this process, simply ask; “What could my customer love?” Inspire them!

Ask, Then Tell

Before giving ideas or telling customers what they may want, you can use advertising to ask. What better source of “what do people want?” than the people themselves?

Facebook Poll Ads not only crowdsource your desired info, they also simultaneously work with other objectives you’d typically select when working within your Ads Manager (reach, traffic, conversions, brand awareness).

These poll ads can also have images and videos embedded, keeping the aesthetic on-brand, approachable and potentially as idea-inspiring as a regular product, service or catalog ad.

Keep Them Safe After They Click

As always, we like to remind businesses to keep safety and peace of mind at the forefront when completing any transaction. If targeting local customers, if possible, offer contactless or curbside pick-up options for added consumer comfort. If the products are to be shipped, provide transparency in every step along with easy, accessible tracking, return and exchange information.