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Father’s Day is set to be a fruitful event for e-merchants this year. 75% of American consumers, 81% of Brits, and 45% of Canadians plan to celebrate the holiday. Spending on Father’s Day gifts is also steadily increasing. In fact, in 2021 average spending reached an all-time high of $174.10.
Average spending on Father’s Day gifts. (Source: NRF)
Research has shown that consumers aged between 25 and 34 fork out the most money on gifts for their fathers. These consumers are also very likely to turn to social media during their shopping process. Let’s take a look at why you should and how you can make social commerce your marketing vessel for Father’s Day 2022.
Why turn to social media for Father’s Day?
Social media is playing an increasingly important part in the online shopping process. Revenue from social commerce is expected to reach $751 billion this year - that’s up by 28%.
When shoppers are on the hunt for gifts, they use social media throughout their shopping journey. 64% of them begin by looking on social platforms to find gift ideas. Once this inspiration is found, many are more than happy to purchase an item directly from social media. This is most pronounced among Millennials and Gen Z-ers with 77% of them shopping on social platforms.
As these younger shoppers tend to spend more on gifts for their dads, there’s no denying how valuable the social commerce activities will be over this holiday. You can capitalize on this trend by implementing creative and engaging marketing campaigns in the run-up to Father’s Day.
Social Commerce Marketing Ideas for Father’s Day
Social media provides ample opportunities to put your products and brand in front of customers. For Father’s Day, we’ve compiled some top-notch marketing activities for social commerce to help you get started.
Engage shoppers through Pinterest
When thinking about social media for commerce, e-merchants’ minds are often drawn to platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Limiting yourself to only these platforms, however, can be a crucial misstep, especially over Father’s Day.
Did you know that 15 million Pinterest users save 45 million Father’s Day pins every year? This undoubtedly makes Pinterest the perfect platform to get your products in the minds of consumers at the start of their shopping journey.
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To provide inspiration for Father’s Day gifts on Pinterest, start by creating boards featuring a selection of your products that would make ideal gifts. To really drive engagement, try making different boards based on gift ideas for different types of dads. For instance, if you are selling a fashion product such as leather jackets, a Pinterest board featuring different jackets can generate thousands of leads.
It’s also a good idea to mix your boards up a little by including relevant non-product content from other sources. This could be a blog piece filled with activities to do with your father over the holiday, inspirational stories, dad jokes, or images of fathers interacting with their kids. This will go a long way in giving an emotional theme to your boards that capture the essence of the holiday, and stop it from feeling salesy.
(Source: Twitter)
Louis Vuitton took an interesting approach to Father’s Day marketing using Pinterest. They encouraged their Twitter followers to pin their favorite gifts from the Louis Vuitton store to the brand’s Pinterest board.
This was a great way to forge a relationship between the brand and its customers. The campaign shone the spotlight on its followers and gave them the power to be curators. It was also useful in getting a wide range of their products in front of many shoppers, thus putting the brand at the forefront of their minds for Father’s Day gifts.
Encourage and showcase UGC
User-generated content (UGC) on your social media platforms is a must if you want to attract the high-spending Millennial Father’s Day shopper.
UGC appears to be woven into the fabric of Millennial consumers. 84% of them use it to make purchasing decisions, and 70% of UGC is in fact created by Millennials. This high affinity for UGC is boiled down to its authenticity, and the humanized connection they can make with the brand and its products. So how should you use UGC for Father’s Day?
It’s a good idea to use UGC as a tool to foster an emotional connection between your customers and your brand. After all, this holiday is about the love we have for our fathers!
Consider inviting customers to share photos of their favorite memories of their fathers, or ones showing their dads being heroes for your social feeds. Use a branded hashtag so your business is also in the limelight. You should incentivize UGC by offering a discount or giveaway so you can really gain some traction. This method is all about driving awareness so do your best to get as many people on board.
Read more:
- How to Utilize the Benefits of User Generated Content
- Visual UGC: The Power of Photos and Videos for eCommerce
Honda India used this sort of approach by tying in their brand with our appreciation of dads. They invited their followers over Twitter and Facebook to share stories about driving with their dad’s for a chance to win a big prize. They managed to gain pretty high engagement rates during this campaign. They received over 150 entries, over 47,000 likes, and 86 retweets and shares. Resulting in a wide-reaching campaign that spread awareness of their brand.
(Source: Facebook and Twitter)
If you’d prefer a more product-centric approach, share visual reviews and testimonials of the gift items in your store. This works super well as consumers rely on UGC to validate their purchases.
Team up with influencers
Getting influencers on board is another great strategy to bolster your social commerce. It’s proving to be a hit with Millennial shoppers in the US and UK. More than half of American Millennials say influencers sway their purchasing decisions, and around 40% of British ones agree. Collaborate with the right influencer for your brand and you could see big bucks coming your way for Father’s Day.
Micro-influencers on Instagram or TikTok who match your product niche are good options. Have them promote your Father’s Day gifts by:
- Having them say why it was a great present for their dad or father figure
- Filming their reaction to the gift
- Showing the product being used
(Sources: Natasha Nafrini and Summer Shores)
Wonderbly is an excellent example of how brands can use influencers to promote Father’s Day gifts. The children’s books brand teamed up with mom influencers to promote their personalized books as a gift idea. These heartwarming posts resulted in almost 3000 unique interactions as shoppers were able to see the bond fathers and their children were able to have through the gift.
You could also consider having influencers take over your social media accounts for a set period of time. Make this collaboration father-themed by having them make a series of posts that shows their relationship with their dad and use of your products.
Make use of Instagram stories
A visually stunning and inspiring post on Instagram may go a long way, but have you harnessed the power of Stories? 1 in 3 Instagram users are more interested in a brand or product after seeing it on Stories. This suggests that consumers have an appetite for creative, short-form content from brands. It also means that Instagram Stories is a great discovery tool.
Create fun and interactive images or videos to share on Instagram Stories. This could be ones that show your product accompanied by a poll, funny dad scenarios, and top gifts that are made more interesting by using filters and stickers.
If you’re using UGC as part of your social commerce strategy, post some of your favorite entries on your stories alongside information on how to take part. You can also use Instagram Stories to promote any limited-time offers you’re running for Father’s Day. Create a sense of urgency by adding a countdown timer to your story.
Social media ads
Social media is a great space to run ad campaigns, especially when it comes to promoting gifts. One study found that 52% of consumers feel inspired to buy gifts as a result of seeing a social media advertisement. They’re also more than happy to purchase the gift directly from the ad.
When crafting a social media ad, you need to make sure that it is captivating enough to stop scrollers in their tracks and pay attention to it. Emotive video campaigns work really well here, and if they can make use of UGC then that’s even better. Gillette’s Go Ask Dad campaign is a brilliant example of this.
(Source: Facebook)
Gillette used this ad to highlight the disconnect between young men and their dad’s in the modern era. The emotive video shows the love and wisdom father’s have. It also prompts people to ask their dad’s questions rather than using modern devices. This ad does not explicitly promote a Gillette product but instead tries to foster a warm feeling for the brand from their target market in the wake of Father’s Day.
This turned out to work exceptionally well for the brand. The video earned 19.4 million views in just two weeks, and searches for it reached 4000. However the most notable result of the campaign was the positive impact it had on consumers’ feelings towards Gillette. Brand equity shot up by 4% between the months of May and June thanks to the ad.
You can also use social ads to promote Father’s Day gift guides. Make a galley featuring a selection of top products from your guide. Ensure that they are shoppable so consumers can buy directly in the app.
Promote socially conscious shopping
A growing number of shoppers expect brands to be socially and environmentally responsible. This is most pronounced in younger demographics. 52% of Millennials want the brands they do business with to align with their own purpose-driven values. These consumers also view social media as the most appropriate place to address social issues.
Branding your business as a socially responsible and conscious one is a long-term venture. If you’re yet to align your business with some socially conscious goals, a gift-giving holiday is a good time to start. Alternatively, you can use Father’s Day to expand on your brand’s social responsibility.
An option that is quick to get off the ground is to donate a portion of your Father’s Day sales to a charity of your choosing. Charities and organizations that help underprivileged fathers are a good choice. Some notable one include:
- Dad's House - a UK charity that offers accommodation, food banks, a buddy scheme and legal help to single fathers.
- Dad's Evoking Change - a US-based organization that helps under-resourced and low-income fathers navigate through the family courts system.
- Dad Central - a Canadian organization that supports fathers from all walks of life to provide the resources they need.
Use social media to share the great work your chosen charity does, and if possible include images and quotes of how the charity has helped real people.
Final Thoughts
Social media is a powerful sales tool, especially during gift-giving holidays. It provides plenty of opportunities to connect with shoppers, and build sentiment for your brand. With consumers increasingly turning to it to discover and purchase gifts, there’s huge potential for it to be a key source of sales this Father’s Day.
Try one or even all of our top marketing ideas for social commerce and you’ll capture the hearts, minds, and sales of shoppers.
