**Guest post written by Cyber PR, originally featured on the Cyber PR Blog.

As an artist, there is no better time than the HOLIDAZE to work on building engagement and connections with your fans.

Below you will find 7 tactics to first activate your fan base around holiday music promotion and ultimately build engagement, generate sales, or both.

Holiday Music Promotion Tip #1: Create & Share Holiday-Themed Music and Content on Your Socials

Get social and get in the spirit at the same time! Use your favorite social channel (or all of them) to show your own holiday spirit.

Record a holiday track – use this as your main content and supplement with holiday memes, videos or art that you create! This post will be your guideline to holiday music promotion.

TIP: If you are recording a holiday classic make sure you have all of the necessary licenses!

Facebook: Post holiday-themed photos and videos or ask holiday specific questions (polls are always fun!).

Instagram: Make sure to share all of your Christmas decorating on your Stories! Put your own music in the background to get some hype around it. You can also pose Holiday-themed questions in your Stories. Reels are HUGE now – if you can make an easy, short dance for your song – post it and challenge your followers to post their own!

Twitter: Use holiday-themed hashtags. And remember – Twitter is all about humor. Post and retweet some holiday memes!

Spotify: Create holiday specific playlists to share with friends and followers.

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Holiday Music Promotion Tip #2: Crowdsource Fan Contributed Content

Give your fans an opportunity to join in on the fun! Pick a holiday theme (i.e. ‘All I Want For Christmas Is…’), and then request content from your fans that can result in a single, crowdsourced project. You can also refer to the tip above to create a dance challenge for your Holiday song to get the ball rolling! The result would be something that everyone can enjoy!

• Ask fans to upload photos/videos to Facebook and tag your Page. Track all submissions and then create a collective Holiday Photo Album, or fan video!
• Create a video announcing the project and ask your fans to submit their content – share on Instagram, Youtube, TikTok, and Facebook.
• Create a collaborative Spotify playlist and ask your fans to add their favorite songs based on the chosen theme. The end result is a playlist that can be shared with your entire fan base and collectively listen to throughout the holiday season.

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Holiday Music Promotion Tip #3: Create a Cool Contest

Creating a contest is an excellent way to not only engage your fanbase but also create a strategy that showcases your merch without being overtly self-promotional! It is important that your contest be worthwhile in order for it to work, so make sure you set up a prize that offers something exclusive and valuable (examples: some holiday-themed merch, a free download, etc.).

1. Wishpond – Compatible on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Utilizes Live Promotions for contests.
2. WooBox – Compatible with Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, and Websites. WooBox uses Constant Contact in order to create extremely successful contests.
3. Shortstack – FREE Application that integrates with many platforms such as WordPress and MailChimp to run your contests.

Holiday Music Promotion Tip #4: Create a Holiday Hangout!

If you have a large enough fanbase, why not create a live streaming event for them? Use Facebook Live or stream on platforms like Stageit. Stageit will allow you to either charge a set ticket price or use the pay-what-you-want-to model. Play holiday songs mixed in with an acoustic set right from the comfort of your own home!

+Stay Streaming: The Instagram Livestream in the COVID-19 Era

Holiday Music Promotion Tip #5: Create Bundles & Experiences

A brilliant tactic for boosting sales is offering a bundle released on Black Friday that you can offer to your list through to the end of the year. Fans may be less likely to purchase your album because they can stream it but may be far more likely to purchase if you bundle it with other cool things.

Here are a few levels of bundles that could work well:

Low-Price Level idea: Album + Merch

Low-Price Level idea: UBS Drive of full anthology of albums (possibly even including exclusive, previously unreleased content)

Mid-Price Level idea: Album + Tickets to an upcoming livestream show (if your livestreams are free, maybe replace this with a shout-out during the livestream!)

High-Level idea: Album (or USB Drive) + Tickets/Shoutout + Merch + Phone call / Skype Call with Fan

The best way to make these bundles effective is to create multiple price points, with each one increasing in exclusivity.

Holiday Music Promotion Tip #6: Send A Dedicated Holiday Newsletter

You already know the importance of your mailing list. During the holiday season, create a special holiday edition newsletter where you can include an exclusive video, unreleased track on a private SoundCloud Page, or create a funny card featuring the whole band. Remember that your newsletter should be extremely friendly, so talk about something fun – maybe your favorite Holiday memory. And if you ask for them to send their favorite memory back to you, it keeps them engaged with your list. ?

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Holiday Music Promotion Tip #7: Associate With a Charity

Hold a drive or a holiday show and get your fans involved. There are so many wonderful charities you can collectively support. Here are some to get you started!

Here is a full guide we posted – The Musician’s Guide to Holiday Fundraising.

Charity Water – donate.charitywater.org

Toys For Tots – toysfortots.org

Musicares – grammy.com

ACLU – action.aclu.org

Sweet Relief – sweetrelief.org

World Hunger Year – whyhunger.org

Have A Fabulous and Productive Holiday Season!

The foundation for making these 7 holiday tips work is having a crystal clear vision of how (and who) to talk to which will ensure that all your efforts will resonate.

Make sure you’re as prepared as possible with our Music Publicity Checksheet!"

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