November is a fruitful time of year for brands. The month when shoppers are feverishly researching gifts and filling their baskets. Full of excitement and cheer, it’s when the Christmas count-down really begins.  In fact, one in two people on Twitter* genuinely look forward to seeing Christmas ads.  An opportunity ripe for taking, here’s how to create impactful Twitter ads to get the for maximum value.

Set your goals

Successful advertising campaigns are ones that align with specific business goals. For example, your objective might be to acquire new customers, boost brand awareness, or increase sales. Understanding what you want to achieve will not only shape the format and style of your ads but also enable you to set metrics and track their success.

Know your audience

You can't optimise your ads without understanding who you want to reach and what makes them tick. Define some audience personas and include their location, gender, age, occupation, and interests. The more granular you can go, the better. Consider the best time of day to reach them and the content formats that will resonate most. Twitter then enables you to tailor your ads to reach these specific groups of consumers.

@mercadona showed it understood it's shoppers needs by Tweeting about its range of gluten-free products.

Create a healthy balance

You don't want your brand to appear pushy, so it's important to maintain a balance between sales content and content that adds value. This could be as basic as a product guide or recipe, or simply emotive, uplifting content that will shroud your brand in a warm, fuzzy feeling.

@jlandpartners used the heart-warming tale of a friendly monster to delight Christmas shoppers and show the brand's emotional side.

Add urgency

There's nothing like the fear of missing out to get shoppers to put their money where their mouth is. Including a sense of urgency to ads can convert an ambivalent consumer into a rapid purchaser. This could be through limited-time offers, displaying products low on stock, or time-bound deals.

@WHSmith tapped into Advent and coupled urgency with a giveaway, to further lure consumers towards a purchase.

Include a call-to-action

Whether it's to your website, to buy a specific product, to read content or view a video, let consumers know what you want them to do and be up-front. Make it as easy as possible by directing or guiding them to take the next step.

@Harrods, the UK luxury department store, merges urgency with a clear call-to-action, telling consumers exactly what to do and when they need to do it. 

Test different types of ads

There are lots of advertising options on Twitter that suit different business needs, so decide the format that best fits your goals. For example, Twitter videos increase an average lift on purchase intent by as much as 34%. This makes them a great investment for boosting brand sales at this fertile time of year.

@Dreioesterreich experimented with two versions of the same advert, by switching-up content and format. This form of A/B testing is simple to do and really effective, as even minor tweaks can drive big changes in engagement.

Give to get

It is the season of goodwill after all. Spirits are high so ride the wave of good tidings and offer freebies, discounts, and special deals. Christmas shopping can be overwhelming, so stand out from the crowds and make purchasing from you, over your competitors, a no-brainer.

@Aldi_Ireland, a branch of the German food retailer, offered shoppers a free tablet simply by asking shoppers to share the message. A great way to quickly boost reach!

Show don't tell

If an image speaks a thousand words, then a video will practically sing to your consumers! Use great imagery, live video, and video clips to bring your company to life and give it a personality. Visual content is great for forging deeper, more emotional engagement and interactions with your brand. It might be a how-to video, behind-the-scenes footage, or an example of your products in action.

@Orange_France showed shoppers what it's virtual reality headsets looked like with this amusing video. 

Test, test, test

Define metrics and measure adverts against these. It might be you want to increase sales of a product or drive more traffic to your blog. Track engagement and if your adverts aren't helping you to reach your goals then change them up and experiment with new formats or content types.

Be human

Finally, dare to be different and show your brand's human side. While Christmas is a time for friends, family, love, and cheer it is also a hectic and busy period full of amusing cliches. Sometimes going against the grain can turn heads and make consumers chuckle, so don't be afraid to be a little risque from time to time!

@cocacola-ca injected some humour into its Twitter Christmas ads by understanding that for many, Christmas can be as tiring and stressful as it can be fun and exciting!

*Twitter Insiders UK, 2017