Sure, kids might favor fun-filled holidays like Halloween or the Fourth of July. But let’s face it: Thanksgiving is a fan-favorite among adults. Between the food, drinks, and excuse to relax with family on (what would be) a workday, we can’t seem to get enough of Thanksgiving each year!
This picture perfectly illustrates why Thanksgiving is such a popular holiday!
Your potential customers and social media followers are probably already looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving. So, if you’re hungry for more revenue before the year ends, Thanksgiving is the ideal holiday to let your small business shine across marketing channels.
We got the process started for you by compiling our best Thanksgiving social media posts and marketing ideas!
Table of contents
🎉 Step up your holiday marketing game this year with our ultimate 2023 holiday marketing guide!
Thanksgiving social media posts (with examples)
Local social media marketing requires a unique skill set in order to stand out from the big brands. Layer a major holiday on top of that, and you have the perfect storm to either make or break your small business’s social presence. Turn Thanksgiving into a social media win for your business with these ideas:
Go with a simple happy Thanksgiving post
This Thanksgiving social media post idea sounds like a given, but as a business owner in the midst of the busy year-end season, it can be easy to forget what you’re thankful for. Use the Thanksgiving holiday as an opportunity to share with your social media following what you’re grateful for this year.
Whether it be your employees, your customers, or your community, a social media post showing your gratitude is a quick and easy way to embrace this holiday. (Get our customer appreciation ideas to try here!)
Try Thanksgiving trivia
Hosting Thanksgiving trivia on social media is the idea that keeps on giving! That’s because you could do a series of posts for each trivia question—which will help you to post consistently all November long. Encourage your followers to post their trivia guesses in the comments. With the increased comments, you’ll be more likely to show up on Facebook News Feed or on Instagram later too.
🌱 Grow your business on social media and beyond year-round with our easy-to-use growth strategy template!
Run a Thanksgiving social media contest
This social media idea can go hand-in-hand with your trivia posts or be a completely separate idea. Running a Facebook or Instagram giveaway, or even a Thanksgiving contest thread on Twitter, will give your customers something to look forward to throughout the season.
You could do a “guess how many contest” by posting a picture of a jar filled with Thanksgiving treats. Or heat up the competition by having your audience submit their best Thanksgiving recipes.
Plus, your prizes don’t have to break the bank. You could offer a coupon, discount, or freebie to the winner. In return, the growth in your engagement will be priceless!
Share your Thanksgiving traditions
Almost everyone has a little something special they do around this time of year, and your business is no different! Whether your employees host an office party or you close shop for a family trip, your social media audience will be interested in learning more about your business’s Thanksgiving traditions. The beauty of Thanksgiving is that everyone celebrates it a bit differently, so embrace that with your followers.
Promote upcoming Thanksgiving sales
Thanksgiving is the perfect time to promote a sale because it falls in line with when people are doing their holiday shopping. You can take two different approaches to your Thanksgiving sales social media posts: create a sense of urgency over ending fall sales, or start a buzz for upcoming winter sales. Regardless of which angle you choose, you’re sure to boost revenue by getting the word out on social media.
Record and post a video demonstration
If there are any new or returning deals you run every Thanksgiving, give your customers a behind-the-scenes look with a video.
72% of consumers prefer watching videos to learn about products or services than any other type of marketing collateral. Plus, businesses that use a video marketing strategy on social media get an average of 48% more views per post.
Use that data to your advantage by demonstrating how a product or service is made or showcase the benefits of the item. This will provide something fresh to your followers outside of the run-of-the-mill Thanksgiving posts.
Give updates on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
When it comes to Thanksgiving, a favorite activity of the day is, of course, watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade live from New York City.
Keep your social media followers engaged throughout the Thanksgiving holiday by posting updates on highlights from the parade. Or post a recap of your favorite floats the day after Thanksgiving and ask your followers to share theirs.
If parades aren’t your thing, football is also a frequent staple on TV screens on Thanksgiving day. The same ideas apply, just with game-related content instead!
Partner with other local businesses
Are there other local businesses or organizations within your community you can reach out to? If so, the world is your oyster once you establish a business partnership for your holiday marketing.
You could both donate to a local charity and post about it while tagging each other and the charity. Or create a duo deal that makes patrons want to do business with both of your establishments. This is especially helpful if your business doesn’t directly relate to Thanksgiving but can partner up with a business that does.
Repost a funny Thanksgiving meme
As you could probably tell from our hilarious meme at the beginning of this post, there are plenty of ways to turn your Thanksgiving marketing tactics into a bucket of laughs.
If you’re too busy to think of the perfect joke for your Thanksgiving social media post, don’t worry. This idea is the perfect opportunity to repost a funny video or photo from others. That way, you’ll save time while also following the 4-1-1 rule. This social media best practice states that you should have a mix of content from others in your feed to give your audience a fresh perspective.
There are tons of funny Thanksgiving posts out there that your audience is sure to love, so find one that speaks to you and reshare it!
Crowdsource Thanksgiving social media content
If you’re still out of ideas for your Thanksgiving social media posts, look to your followers! You could give your followers prompts to reply to and reshare their answers or stories.
For example, ask your followers to settle the debate of which Thanksgiving side dish is best in your comments section. Not only will you get a ton of comments back on this hot-button topic, but you can also reuse the responses in future Thanksgiving posts.
Alternatively, you could ask your followers to tag you in photos and videos of their Thanksgiving celebrations for a shoutout on your page.
👍 Get more November social post ideas here.
Thanksgiving hashtags
It’s no secret hashtags are the “it” trend when it comes to social media marketing. And for good reason.
On Instagram hashtagged posts get an average of 12% more engagement than those without hashtags. Use hashtags in your social media posts this Thanksgiving by researching popular hashtags within your industry, or even create your own custom hashtags.
Here are some of the top Thanksgiving hashtags to use:
- #thanksgiving
- #thankful
- #happythanksgiving
- #givethanks
- #thanksgivingcontest
- #thanksgivingrecipe
- #thanksgiving
- #thanksgivingdinner
- #thanksgivingdecor
- #thanksgivingtraditions
- #thanksgivingtrot
- #turkeytrot
- #gobblegobble
- #turkeyday
- #foodcoma
- #footballandfamily
- #thanksgivingtips
- #traveltips
- #thanksgivingeve
- #grateful
Trying fall hashtags or Thanksgiving-related hashtags will make it easier for new and current followers to find you, while also staying on brand for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Thanksgiving marketing ideas
Take your Thanksgiving marketing to the next level by expanding beyond social media into other channels. Here are a few ways to do so:
Host a Thanksgiving potluck
A potluck is an endlessly popular tradition among businesses looking to increase foot traffic. A potluck brings customers and employees together for some food fun fit for the whole family.
If hosting a potluck at your business’s location isn’t feasible, a virtual potluck can be just as effective! Have people sign on with their favorite dish at the ready. Attendees can chow down while you all chat, play games, or discuss your business.
An added bonus with either approach is that you can post pictures from the potluck on your social media accounts or include a recap in your next email newsletter.
Email out a Thanksgiving recipe
Along with including any event recaps in your emails, you can also email out a favorite Thanksgiving recipe. This will add a touch of personalization to your Thanksgiving marketing—improving your audience’s experience.
Alternatively, you could take it a step further by including a star customer’s recipe. Either way, since Thanksgiving is so food-centric, this is a great way to keep your email marketing fun and festive.
📧Get Thanksgiving email templates and subject lines to use here!
Prep your customers for winter holidays
Let’s not forget that, after Thanksgiving, winter is right around the corner. This brings a plethora of marketing options for your small business.
Whether you’ll be running winter holiday sales, providing tips on how to prepare for frigid temperatures, or giving insights on how your business weathers through the winter months, be sure to get a head start on this content marketing opportunity. You could share a blog post with winter tricks or include coupons in your next email campaign that are valid well beyond Thanksgiving.
Give back to your local community
Thanksgiving is all about showing gratitude for what you have. It’s a common practice to give back during this holiday. Being a small business, having a local marketing plan that incorporates charitable work is vital to your credibility among nearby customers. See how your business can contribute to the community you’re located in.
This could be activities like a volunteer day for you and your employees, a food drive for you and your patrons to contribute to, or funding Thanksgiving meals for the less fortunate. You can even share out your work across your marketing channels to strengthen your reputation within your town or city.
Advertise upcoming winter deals
On top of promoting your business’s winter happenings across low-cost marketing channels, try switching up your local PPC strategy to mention any upcoming sales.
Starting this around Thanksgiving will get you ahead of your holiday curve. Plus, paid ads are the perfect way to gain a higher impression share of holiday customers who otherwise may not have known about your discounts.
Try swapping out your search or display ad text and creative elements for Thanksgiving. That way, you’ll have time to A/B test your ads before winter comes into full swing.
📊 Need help planning your holiday PPC strategy? Check out our search advertising benchmarks guide.
Celebrate Small Business Saturday
When it comes to Thanksgiving, the most important day for small businesses actually comes after the holiday. Small Business Saturday is traditionally after Black Friday and was created to encourage consumers to shop locally.
Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday are all dominated by big brands, so take advantage of the one day squeezed in specifically for small businesses.
You could implement some of the Thanksgiving marketing ideas we mentioned above, or even hold off on running any specials until that Saturday.
Create a shareable playlist for Thanksgiving dinner
Help your followers relax at the Thanksgiving dinner table by giving them a playlist to use. You can create a shareable playlist on free, public streaming sites like Google Play, Pandora, SoundCloud, Spotify, and many more.
The key to this Thanksgiving marketing idea is to add your business name to the playlist title. Your followers can access the playlist, as well as share it out, and they’ll be thinking of your business as they listen!
Plus, you can recycle the playlist to be used as background music in your store, office, or Thanksgiving events. As a bonus, give the playlist a quick refresh every so often so that you can reuse it for other holidays or as a Thanksgiving marketing go-to for years to come.
Cook up revenue with these Thanksgiving social media posts and marketing ideas
Adding a twist to your small business marketing plan isn’t just applicable on Thanksgiving. It should be something you do often to give your audience fresh material to digest. However, Thanksgiving is an even more important time to do so since people will be ready to eat, shop, and prepare for winter using your business’s products or services. Eat up the benefits of holiday marketing by trying out these Thanksgiving social media posts and more ASAP!
Want even more seasonal marketing ideas? Check out these resources below!
- Thanksgiving marketing slogans
- Thanksgiving email templates and subject lines
- Fall marketing and advertising ideas
- November email subject line ideas
- Holiday local listing checklist
Related Articles
-
45 Mother's Day Slogans & Advertising Ideas Moms Will Love
-
15 Memorable Memorial Day Posts & Tips for Social Media (+Free Templates!)
-
15 Happy Mother’s Day Social Media Post Ideas & Tips (+Free Templates!)
-
15 Memorial Day Promotions & Marketing Ideas You Can Pull Off Last-Minute
-
68 Foolproof April Social Media Holidays & Ideas (With Examples!)
