What do you do with your blog at Christmas? Do you put it on hold for a week or two? Do you carry on as normal or do you create seasonal content?
If you want to create seasonal content but don’t know where to start I’ve got 10 Chirstmas blog topic ideas that will help you get started.
If you write a post as a result of reading this post I’d love to see it. You can leave a link in the comments section or join my Small Business Bloggers group on Facebook and share it with us there.
Listen below for my 10 Christmas blog topic ideas
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Today as this Podcast goes live it’s Thanksgiving, tomorrow is Black Friday, the day when Christmas shopping starts in ernest in the US and the rest of the world.
In Ireland we have just over a week until ‘The Toy Show’, a special Christmas edition of the popular ‘Late Late Show’ that traditionally marks the beginning of Christmas. With time racing by and Christmas just around the corner I thought it was time to address the seasonal content issue.
If you are winding up or winding down for Christmas you may be tempted to put your blogging on the back burner. But don’t! Plan and create your content now and you’ll be able to kick back over the holiday knowing that the content is being published and updated it as you munch into your mince pies.
A Challenge
Today I’ve a challenge for you. I’m going to give you a bundle of content ideas for your seasonal content and I want you to start writing, vlogging or podcasting now. Get your seasonal blog posts out of the way now so you can put your feet up when Christmas comes. Don’t forget to share your results and I’ll give them a shoutout on my social media channels.
Old Content
Before we get into creating new posts take a look at your old content. What did you write this time last year? The year before? Is it seasonal? Is it still relevant?
If the answer is yes, take a look at it, update it if necessary (here’s my guide for updating old content) and then promote it over the Christmas season. It’s a simple way to get new readers to your site without havign to write something brand new.
Now you’ve updated your seasonal content take a look at your Google Analytics (or other measurement softward) to see what content performed well last December.
For me, amongst the usual popular posts I found that my Facebook contest advice posts performed well. I need to spend time updating and promoting these over the Christmas period.
Themes
The type of content you create over Christmas should depend on the audience you want to reach. A post on the best children’s party games to play over the break would look out of place on my business to business blog but would sit well with businesses serving a family audience.
That doesn’t mean I can’t write about family though. Business to business brands just need to handle it differently. A post titiled ‘How to make time for family in the midst of the Christmas rush’ could suit a blog targeting small business perfectly. I might even write it myself.
Family is one theme you could tie into for the holiday season but there are many others. Themes are great for focussing your attention and that of your reader.
Here are some Christmas season themse you could consider:
- Cold
- Family
- Gifts
- Food
- Decorations
- Celebration
- Relaxation
- Loneliness
- Religion
Of course, you don’t have to stick with a theme. Perhaps you just want to throw a few Christmas posts into the mix.
10 Christmas blog topics
1. Christmas gift list
We’re all desperately trying to decide what to buy our friends, family and our customers this time of year. There may be hundreds of gift guides out there but if you can create one that is hyper-targeted at your audience you could attract lots of readers.
Think about the type of gifts your customers want to buy. Will they want to buy local? Are they looking for the ideal corporate gift, Are they looking for the top bargins?
If you sell Christmas gifts yourself don’t be tempted just to write about your products but include them with others in your review. I did this last year to help sell copies of the We Teach Social, 365 Social Media Tips book.
2. Feature a charity
Christmas is a time for giving and that includes giving to a good cause. What charities align with what you do? Which ones are you customers interested in?
Get in touch with the causes you want to support and see if there is someone available for an interview or if they have information or statistics for a specific campaign they are running.
This makes you feel good and helps your readers see you as generous. You could end up driving some donations too.
3. How To
How to posts make highly shareable content, they always feature highly in my top posts of the year.
Make a list of how to posts you can write. Maybe you can create a series of posts on how to eat healthily over the holiday period, show people how to gift wrap using recycled products or give them a cheat sheet on how to manage their budget.
When you create a how to post be as detailed as possible. Take a step by step approach, become a resource that people will return to again and again.
4. Things to do
Tap into the family audience by giving people a list of activites they can participate in over the break. This could be games they can play on Christmas day, events they can attend locally or films to watch on Netflix. Maybe you can inspire someone to take up a new hobby, start a project or simply have more quality time with their loved ones.
Last year I created a post showing people how to take more interesting Instagram photos over Christmas.
5. Review post
What products or gifts can you review? I thoroughly enjoyed Conor Bofin’s post about shop bought Mince Pies last year.
If food isn’t your thing, what about a book people can read? A film they can go and see in the cinema? Automation software that will help the office keep working when you aren’t there?
Take time to create a full and honest review, your readers will trust you more if you point out the good and not so good.
6. Nostalgia post
Nostalgia is a very powerful emotion. if you tap into it, you could attract lots of readers and shares. What was Christmas like for you as a child? What Christmas gifts did you get that your audience might remember? What ads do you remember? What bizarre foods did you eat in the 80s.
Go and have a rummage in the attic, have a look at old social media posts and find something that will provoke a shared nostalgic moment with your readers.
7. Storytelling
In Ireland, after the Toy Show the Barry’s Tea ad is the next milestone in our Christmas calendar. It’s the story of a father (or grandfather) reminissing about a train set he recieved as a child. The story encompasses nostalgia, sentiment and a good cup of tea.
It’s a wonderful tale and it’s been running since 1994. I look forward to hearing it every year. That’s the power of a good story.
As humans, we are fascinated by stories. What story can you tell? Maybe it’s the story of your first Christmas in business. The story of a customer (real or imagined) that you have helped, or the story of what inspired you to start out in business. A story keeps people reading until the end, they will want to know what happened.
As it’s a Christmas story you’ll need to add a huge dose of sentiment. Think Dickens, think Barry’s tea.
8. Trivia – Did you know…
Collect a series of quirky seasonal facts relating to Christmas and your business.
For example, did you know that Christmas Day hasnt’ always been a day off? Delve further into that story for a B2B post.
Gift providers might focus on the cost of the 12 days of Christmas. If you bought all the items in the song it would cost you $1.3 million apparently.
If you are in the romance business what about delving into the origins of kissing under the mistletoe?
You’ll find more facts like that here.
9. A Naughty & Nice list
Imagine you are Santa? Which industry related topics, people or themes are on your naughty and nice list?
For example, I might put Twitter on the naughty list for getting rid of share counts and Facebook on the nice list for delivering so much traffic to my website.
This could be a fun post to write.
10. All I want for Christmas is…
What industry changes would make your life better? What struggles do you share with your customers that you can write about?
If you are a tourism business in Ireland you might wish for a warm summer, if you are a farmer it could be a rise i milk prices. If you are an online marketer you might just want a bucket of Facebook reach.
Make a wish list for you and your customers. You could even crowdsource your answers by posting the question in a Facebook or LinkedIn group or run a Twitter Poll.
So that’s 10 ideas for you. Which one will you take on? I’d love to see any posts you write as a result of listening so leave your links in the comments or join my Small Business Bloggers group of Facebook.
I’ll look forward to seeing what you come up with.
Before You Go
Do you believe in Karma? If so I recommend that you go over to iTunes or Stitcher and leave a review on this podcast. You never know what wonderful things might happen in return.
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