For many businesses, it’s already starting to look a lot like Christmas—and with good reason.

Combined sales from last year’s Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday neared $20 billion, including both brick-and-mortar stores and online shopping.

Online sales showed significant gains in 2015, but brick-and-mortar sales fell during this peak shopping period. Why? This is possibly due to businesses extending the holiday sales from Thanksgiving Day to the Cyber Monday finale. Online retailers typically have strong digital marketing strategies in place to promote their seasonal sales. Brick-and-mortar stores should also be taking advantage of how digital marketing can increase their foot traffic. 

Last year for the first time, sales on mobile devices edged desktop sales, and now more than ever that means businesses need to leverage their social media marketing efforts to take advantage of these trends.

From national chains to small boutiques and shops, every business can tap into the power of digital marketing to capture the attention of deal-seekers looking for Black Friday and Cyber Monday specials.

Timing, of course, is everything, and it’s not too early to start developing a social media marketing strategy. Last year, the first Black Friday ads emerged even before Halloween, potentially putting those businesses at the front of the line for early shoppers’ dollars.

So how can you maximize your sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday? To take advantage of the growing trend of online sales, particularly on mobile devices, these four areas of your digital marketing strategy should not be overlooked.

Mobile Website: 

Last year, purchases made on mobile devices (most often smartphones) peaked at 37 percent on Thanksgiving Day, followed by 36 percent on Black Friday and 26 percent on Cyber Monday. 

Optimize your website to provide a convenient browsing or buying experience across computers and mobile devices, ensuring your website is mobile friendly with a responsive design layout. 

Landing Pages: 

Nearly 40 percent of shoppers start turning their attention to Christmas purchases before Halloween, according to the National Retail Federation. To capture those early deal-seekers, create your holiday deal landing pages now to give search engines plenty of time to index them. Starting early will also allow for planning how best to track each holiday campaign through web analytics. 

You can also offer email subscriptions that provide exclusive deals to customers who share their email address on your landing page—plus you’ll get the benefit of another way to communicate with them digitally.

Social Media: 

Put Facebook, Twitter and any other social media platform your company is active on to good use - it’s free after all! Turn up the activity level with the goal of engaging your customers even more. 

• Offer contests, social media exclusive deals, giveaways and product promotions.
• Respond promptly to any requests and keep the conversation going. 
• Pay attention to what major retailers are hashtagging and follow suit.

Email Marketing: 

Don’t count out email just yet. Email marketing was responsible for driving up to 25 percent of online sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday last year. This is where capturing email subscribers on a special landing page can help. 

More than just pushing your holiday-related deals, create shopping-related content that provides great gift ideas or how to select gifts for specific people in your shoppers’ lists. 

Not only do these make great blog posts on your site that can be cross promoted on social media channels, but they can also be sent as email marketing messages to your subscribers.

Wondering how to get started or how to implement your social media marketing strategy? Our goal at BIS Designs is to build lasting relationships with customers and provide comprehensive and cohesive internet marketing solutions for companies of all sizes. Contact us today so we can help you develop your holiday marketing strategies and increase your sales.