Wow, can you believe that fall is nearly hear. I'll be the first to admit that it has snuck up on me and I can't believe the summer is nearly over, which I am sure has all of you in holiday sales mod. And if not, then it should. The school sales rush is over and now it's time to set your sites on the holiday season and get your marketing in place before the holidays get here. And they'll be here before you know it.

With our ever expanding media channels to market from I see businesses are already contemplating what strategies will be the most effective for maximizing sales and I found some great statistics from Bizo that I wanted share with you. According to a survey from Bizo, 65 percent of executives claim that social media is the most important aspect for the upcoming shopping season, followed by e-mail at 46 percent and content marketing at 45 percent.

The survey also shows that 55 percent of executives measure social success based on their number of followers, and 19 percent of executives claim that they’ll improve content offers over the next quarter.

So I wanted to take a quick moment and give you a few options to take into consideration when preparing a social media campaign for the 2011 holiday season:

1. Sales - You should definitely be publicizing sales through social media that are specifically related to the holiday season. For example, you may want to post about early-bird specials, Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals or maybe even daily gift ideas.
   
   THE AHA MOMENT: Did you know that suggesting gift ideas is a really great way to get consumers thinking about what items they still need to buy on their gift lists, and can lead to more sales.
   
   
2. Links - Posting links to your website through social media during the holiday season is crucial. The links will drive traffic to your site and help maximize sales, but make sure you are linking directly to pages that are appropriate. Don't link everything to your home page. If you are talking about "Widget A" then link to "Widget A" on your site.
   
   
3. Stay Interactive - Yes, the holiday season is a time to focus on sales, but don’t forget that social media gives you an amazing way to interact with your audience and create brand loyalty. You need to engage your audience and get them talking about your product and brand. How do you do that? Well, why not post holiday related questions or polls to keep your fans and followers interested. For example a toy store could ask, “What it the best thing that you ever received for Christmas?” or “What toy do your children want this holiday season?” This kind of consumer interaction will keep your fans thinking about you and/or your brand.
   
   
4. Contests - contests are a great way to get more fans, bring consumers into your store(s) and steer them to your website. For example, “Recommend our page to your friends and get entered to win a gift card,” or “The first 100 guests to make a purchase in our store tomorrow get 25% off when they use this coupon code (insert code).” These kinds of contests will get consumers attention because everyone likes free things, especially during the holiday season.
   
   
5. Give - If you've never heard the term "Give and you shall receive" you had better write it down because in todays technological world this has been proven time and time again. It is important to remember that the holidays are about giving. and I want you to consider social media as a way to promote what you will give back to the community during the holiday season. Raise money for families in need or set up a toy drive are a couple of ideas you might want to consider.

Bottom line, start putting your strategies in place right now because the holidays are right around the corner and I don't want you to miss out on your opportunity to have the best holiday sales you can possibly have because you didn't have a your holiday marketing plan in place.