Happy October!
It's officially the start of the fourth-quarter, and you know what that means: Halloween is upon us.
The holiday is more popular than ever in the US; in fact, roughly 179 million Americans celebrated Halloween last year, spending a record $9.1 billion dollars on holiday purchases. The most popular products? You guessed it: candy, costumes, and decor.
But remember, if your brand wants a share of the Halloween candy, you'll need a solid Halloween social media campaign.
To help you with your Halloween campaign, we'll show you the best Halloween social media campaigns of years past in this article. Use these as inspiration for your brand's Halloween campaigns, and reap the benefits of increased sales and engagement.
Let's get started!
Hershey's makes awesome stop-motion DIY videos
Last Halloween, Hershey's posted a series of stop-motion videos to its Facebook page. The most successful video in the three-part series is the DIY video posted above. In this video, Hershey's shows us how to make a paper bat as a Halloween party favor.
And while it doesn't seem like much, the video went viral and has received nearly 1.6 million views and thousands of engagements. To replicate Hershey's success, show your audience how to do something this Halloween. Some things you can make include party favors, sweet treats, or even costumes.
Healthline raises allergy awareness
Why you should paint your pumpkin teal this Halloween. #tealpumpkin #allergies https://t.co/04pvgBrCqk pic.twitter.com/K3OdIgUZHk
— Healthline (@Healthline) October 26, 2015
In 2015, healthcare company Healthline started the #tealpumpkin Twitter campaign. This campaign encouraged houses giving out allergy-free candy to trick-or-treaters to paint their Halloween pumpkins teal. This alerted allergenic trick-or-treaters that they can eat their candy, so all kids can enjoy the Halloween festivities.
Take action for a cause close to your brand's heart this Halloween. Put the cause front-and-center in your Halloween posts, and encourage your audience to take action. You may even try raising money for a cause by giving, say, 10 cents to charity per use of your hashtag or retweet.
Starbucks goes the viral video route—and succeeds
View this post on InstagramYou go, ghoul. 🏃⚰ #ZombieFrappuccino (Available in the US, Canada and Mexico, while supplies last)
Last year, Starbucks announced a Zombie Frappuccino to kick off the Halloween season. This drink was only available for five days—and truthfully, it looked pretty bizarre. But this turned out to be the perfect storm.
How so?
Simple: the drink's weird-factor and limited availability made it a social media phenomenon. Soon, the #ZombieFrappuccino Instagram hashtag was filled with selfies and drink snaps.
Consider releasing a limited edition, time-sensitize promotion this holiday season. These are bound to create social media buzz through FOMO (fear of missing out). In other words: when one of your customers shares it on social media, their friends will follow their lead and try the promotion for themselves.
M&M's launches an interactive Instagram campaign
Last year, candy company M&M's launched an interactive haunted house Instagram campaign. Every day, the company uploaded a new scene to its Instagram account and asked its customers to vote on the main character's next move. The most popular choice was played out in the following episode.
This is an absolutely genius marketing idea from M&M's. Not only did the daily videos keep viewers glued to the M&M's Instagram page, but the brand got constant engagement on its Halloween posts because of the stream of comments. So if you have a talented design or video team, try making an interactive Halloween campaign of your own for tons of engagement.
Happy Halloween!
And there you have it: the best Halloween social media campaigns. In the comments, let us know what your favorite on the list. Or if you have a favorite that's not on the list, send us a link on Twitter. We'd love to check it out!
Need an awesome social media management tool for your holiday campaigns? Try Social Report.
