Social media engagement has become one of the most important ways for digital marketers to reach their targeted audience, because so many people engage, debate and make purchase decisions on these platforms. And that’s especially true on special occasions such as Valentine’s Day, which offers companies a date tailor-made for social media outreach through a smart, targeted campaign. But how do you create a campaign for Valentine’s Day if you’ve never done it before? It’s not as difficult as you might think, and here are three methods that can help you take advantage of this special day.

Target Families

One of the things marketers forget is that Valentine’s Day isn’t just for lovers, it’s really about loved ones. So what does that mean for your business? Well it means that you need to focus on marketing your goods and services that would make ideal gifts for family members to show their love for one another.

By ‘focusing’ I mean highlighting these products and services on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter in such a way that you frame them as ideal ways for customers to say ‘I love you’ to a special someone. So the most obvious way to do that is to put those items on sale or offer a two-for-one package, or tie a purchase in to some type of freebie. The point is that you shouldn’t sit on the sidelines on Valentine’s Day because your business isn’t geared to romantic gifts such as chocolates or flowers. Changing your mindset about Valentine’s Day and remembering that families buy as much on this day as lovers do, can help you optimize the products and services you sell for that special day.

Hashtag

I used to do a lot of work with a dating site that matched dog lovers together, because pets are such a huge part of the lives of single men and women, so why not use that as a starting point for a unique site?

And because we had a unique name (YouMustLoveDogsDating), it was very easy to create a hashtag campaign built around the website name. In fact, the hashtag was so popular that it actually got mentioned on Ellen, which doesn’t suck, but the point is this: create a great hashtag campaign built around your Valentine’s Day theme, and track the number of tweets generated by that hashtag. You can even boost the hashtag campaign on Snapchat and Instagram, asking followers to post pics and videos related to Valentine’s Day, which can help boost your social engagement on multiple platforms.

Promote Through a Contest

Social media platforms are an ideal place to hold a Valentine’s Day contest tied to your campaign. Contests are fun and light – which fits right into the theme of Valentine’s Day – and they also generate interest, especially if the contest is a little wacky or crazy, because people LOVE posting videos and images of them doing silly things. The big key with a social media contest is that you have to be willing to give away freebies, because it won’t work without participants feeling as if the contest is worth their time. But the cool thing is that your freebies should always be tied directly to the theme of your campaign, helping you achieve marketing synergy.

And one obvious benefit of a contest on social media is that it has the chance to go viral and generate a lot of interest beyond the platforms on which you choose to host the contest. Another tip: have followers vote on who wins, which increases engagement and makes the contest feel as if it’s follower-driven, even though you’re firmly in control of the entire process.

Seize the Moment

Social media campaigns tied to Valentine’s Day are an opportunity for you to generate revenue on a day in which consumers…well, consume. Valentine’s Day hasn’t reached the Christmas, Thanksgiving and Halloween level of commerce, but it’s still a date when people are more willing to spend, so why not take advantage of that opportunity with targeted and entertaining social media campaigns that engage and persuade consumers to buy your products and services?