In a country that seems to grow more divided by the day, there’s one thing that brings Americans together: the love of Halloween. Every year, we spend more and more on costumes, candy, and creepy decorations for our homes. The National Retail Federation reports that this year, we’ll be spending roughly $6.9 billion on Halloween.

You may be wondering why this matters to you and your small business – especially if you’re not in the costume, candy, or creepy decoration business! Here’s the thing: Halloween presents an easy, simple opportunity to strengthen your bonds with your customers. If you know that your customers are already enjoying the ghosts, ghouls, and cute little black cats of the season – and the evidence does seem to bear that out – why not participate in the fun?

Giving your customers a reason to smile is smart business. When push comes to shove, and it’s time to make purchasing decisions, buyers tend to strongly favor those businesses they feel they have a bond with or connection to. Something as simple as celebrating the same holidays can strengthen your relationship with your customers. (This is something Hobby Lobby found out the hard way, when the chain’s refusal to carry Jewish holiday decorations caused an uproar online).

Now is the time to think about how you’re going to share some Halloween cheer with your customers. Social media provides an ideal platform for this type of messaging, but you do need to do a little preparation.

For example, you may want to:

• Create a Halloween-themed cover photo for your Facebook page
• Create a list of holiday themed Tweets to share during the days leading up to Halloween
• Collect brand-appropriate Halloween images to share on your Facebook, Google+, and Pinterest
• Grab snapshots of your employees in Halloween costumes and (with their permission!) share them online. This idea also works with pictures of your employees as kids in costume.
• Think about a Halloween-themed incentive: would your customers respond to “Spooky Savings?” If so, now is the time to create the offer.
• Schedule all of the above to appear on your social media networks at the appropriate time.

Social media is an incredibly powerful tool for building lasting bonds with your customers. If you need help establishing or maintaining a successful social media presence, give us a call! We’re here to help.