To post or not to post during the holiday season? That is the question! And the answer really depends on who you are, your business, your lifestyle, and your specific circumstances. 

Let’s dive into it!

If you’ve been in the social media game any length of time for your business, you probably know this time of year typically sees engagement dips. Why? This is BIG revenue season for large companies with MASSIVE marketing budgets and their ad spend skyrockets. So your amazing connection-focused organic social media content gets bumped further down the feed. It can feel somewhat defeating because you put so much time and effort into your content creation. You don’t have to let it defeat you! How? 

Two words – Content Repurposing.

Think of it like you’re re-gifting your already rockstar content back to your audience in fresh packaging and a shiny new bow. It’s completely OK to do that because everyone these days has a memory like a goldfish…less than 9 seconds long.

If you’re not repurposing your existing social media content, take this as your sign to start now and I’ll show you how! 

Content Repurposing – How-To’s

My favorite way to repurpose content on social media is to start by looking at those metrics. So head into your insights and filter content based on type. Then break it down by comparing which had the most REACH, SAVES, SHARES, and COMMENTS; these engagement metrics will show you what the people want.

Now that your top-performing content is narrowed down, you can look at the original format and decide how you’re going to switch it up. If you started with a talking head reel, you can repurpose it into a B-Roll video with half the transcribed audio as text on your screen and the other half shared as your caption. 

Want to see an example IRL? Check out the one I did on the ‘Gram HERE! Another option is to share that transcribed audio as a carousel post. Both formats are different than the original post and will feel like “new” content to your audience.

My second favorite content repurposing format is to find those juicy captions from back in the day that still apply and then talk them out in a reel. Think of this approach as the reverse of the first one. But still as effective!

Holiday Content to Skip

What I’m not suggesting you do is feel obligated to share those family pics or “Happy Holidays” generic graphics just because everyone else seems to be doing that. If it doesn’t fit with your business, don’t do it. If you want to get a little more personal during this time, share those types of content to your stories. Your audience can still see the person behind the business and engage with your content, but it doesn’t need to have a spot on your feed forever.

Holiday Content – Striking the Right Balance

If you’re reading this and thinking, “I really just want to check out and take a break over the holidays…can I do that?”

The answer is YES, you can! Log out of those apps and don’t worry until the holiday hype has wound down. You will not go to social media jail for taking a break and shutting up shop for a few days. You can even set up an auto-reply message for your DMs if you don’t want to leave your audience totally hanging. This quick-read article from the Huffington Post breaks down the positives of taking a social media break over the holidays. 

For an approach that sits somewhere in the middle (think showing up just enough to keep the momentum you’ve worked so hard for going), you can create some juicy carousel content and schedule it out in advance. Then sit back and have your break by not worrying about rushing to comment and reply to DMs right away. The key to making this work is actually pre-scheduling everything so you don’t have to be “on” for posting in the moment.

This may be a controversial take and there are some “experts” out there who will say this hybrid option of posting and chilling is going to make your feed look like sh!t and if you’re not responding to comments right away, then you shouldn’t bother posting at all. My advice goes back to what I said before…do a gut check for YOUR business If it doesn’t feel right or a fit for you, then you don’t have to do it even if other people are. Let go of the pressure of doing what you think you “should do.”

Holiday Content – Find What Works for You

You have permission to make this time of the year work for you. It doesn’t need to look like last year either. I remember one year I was super on top of everything, crazy organized, and had all my content scheduled out and ready to go. Then, when the holidays came around, I got into a hella creative mode and decided to roll with it! It worked because I only had set plans for Christmas Day that year and the rest of my time was pretty free and open. Not every year is going to look the same, so being flexible will help whatever approach you choose for your social media work out.

Trust that whichever way you choose to show up (or not) on social for your biz this holiday season will be the right choice and commit to it. 

Happy Holidays (& Content Repurposing)!

Your Social BFF,

✌️Sarah