Content Marketing To Fall In Love With This Valentine’s Day
Did you know that Americans purchase 6.5 billion greeting cards each year? Second only to the Christmas, Valentine’s Day is a critical holiday for greeting card companies, with 145 Million units sold in the U.S. in 2014.
Using our platform’s content filtering tools, we analyzed the top-performing marketing content from a sampling of leading greeting card companies. With its rich visual content, Pinterest proved the ideal battleground for these companies to engage audiences and drive card sales in the lead-up to February 14th.
With Valentine’s Day approaching, there’s a lot that content marketers can learn from the strategies employed by greeting card companies on the network. Here are a few key strategies that drove above-average engagement this season!
Content Is In The Cards. So Why Not Take Them Digital?
In 2015, it’s impossible for paper card companies to survive without some sort of digital presence. Some of the most successful content from greeting card companies this Valentine’s Day found success by translating the content from physical greeting cards into engaging digital fare.
Hallmark, for example, had several successful Pins that used this tactic to reap twice their average engagement on Pinterest.
Note that this Pin also uses a call to action to strategically put its Pinterest audience a click away from purchasing similar greeting cards directly from the Hallmark website.
Some of these Pins incorporated touches of physical media. Whether it it looks like it was just stenciled into a chalkboard or printed on distressed card paper, these pins blur the line between the online Pins and their physical counterparts.
Looking For DIY Valentine’s Ideas? Look No Further.
When a holiday is so intertwined with romance, personal touches are all the more important. Our trending-topic analysis found that greeting card companies made the most of this romantic season with their Pinterest content by posting clever DIY tips to make that special someone feel extra special.
Shutterfly saw above-average engagement with their content by posting Pins that add DIY twists to their products. This adorable DIY tip for a children’s Valentine’s Day card, for example, saw 6x the brand’s average engagement on Pinterest.
Shutterfly also added some inspiring DIY decorations when featuring their custom calendars on Pinterest. The resulting Pin drove interactions 65 times greater than their average on the channel.
Cardstore from American Greetings is another company that saw massive engagement on Pinterest with DIY-inspired Valentine’s Day content. Amazingly, Cardstore reaped 46 times their average Pinterest interactions with this Pin offering print-at-home love notes.
Since these customizable love notes were originally introduced on the Cardstore blog, this Pin also a stellar example of the benefits of a channel-specific approach to content marketing.
Rather than just broadcasting the blog post across all of their social channels with the same messaging, Cardstore found a unique way to introduce this free product to their Pinterest audience with a clever caption: “Want to do something extra for your Valentine this year? Hide these free printable Valentines Day love notes around the house for a fun & sweet surprise!”
Valentine’s Day Inception Marketing
In addition to taking card content digital and sharing DIY tips, many greeting card companies struck at the heart of the season by selling the Valentine’s Day experience itself.
From Pins featuring romantic desserts and handmade jewelry to beautiful bouquets and date ideas, these brands planted the seed that you better bring your A-game to your Valentine’s Day gift this year. And what’s more essential to the perfect Valentine’s Day Gift than a thoughtful card to go along with it?
Putting the idea of gifts inside Pinner’s heads in an inception-style Valentine’s Day marketing tactic. Minted drove exceptional engagement with this strategy — the Pin above, for example, saw 9x their average engagement on Pinterest.
Conclusion
When approaching the Valentine’s Day content marketing zeitgeist, it’s important to find natural ways to blend the big day with what makes your brand unique. Taking your content marketing just outside your product can go a long way on Pinterest, where DIY is king, and the ornate is always appreciated. These brands have proved that it’s important to get ahead of the herd in the holiday season with inspirational content that will help your audience make that special holiday extra special.
Want more inspiration for seasonal content marketing success? You might like Valentine’s Day Content Marketing Showdown: Flower Retailer Edition or How Ellen Degeneres Hijacked Halloween With Evergreen Content Marketing.
