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Getting the most out of Halloween with Facebook Ads

The dark cold nights are creeping in and with it comes the spookiest season of them all, Halloween! Pumpkin Spiced Lattes, cosy knitwear and scented candles are what we’re all gravitating towards at this time of year, but what are you doing to ensure your brand is capitalising on this season’s shoppers specifically?

Like every key season, Halloween (despite often being overlooked in the marketing calendar) still poses plenty of opportunity to join in on the conversation, stay relevant and generate those all important conversions no matter what you're offering (you don’t have to specialise in witch costumes or black nail varnish either!). Understanding the shift in consumer behaviour during any key period is what’s essential in order to target shoppers with the right message and deliver real impact with your ads.

Our Paid Social Executive Charlotte, shares her top tips for squeezing the most out of Halloween with Facebook ads…

Facts to bear in mind

So it’s on your radar, but one of the key challenges we hear from brands is not knowing when to start pushing the Halloween content and messaging. Well, it’s worth knowing that consumers' thoughts turn to Halloween earlier than you’d probably expect, with interest beginning from late September and really ramping up from the first weekend in October, with 11 million Halloween-related searches throughout the whole month. 

When it comes to mobile vs desktop, 80% of the content posted on Facebook during Halloween season is on mobile with only 20% being on desktop, so it’s a no-brainer to ensure you’re optimising your content and messaging for mobile devices to give your brand the best chance of reaching a captive audience.

Halloween’s also a big spender! By averaging the percentage spend increase over the last 7 years research shows that we’re expecting the UK to spend a whopping £687 million throughout the Halloween period of 2022.

Look into search terms 

If you’re keen to get the most out of your ads, make the time to do a little research on search trends to ensure your ads are focused on what people are searching for most during Halloween. 

The top halloween related searches include ‘halloween costumes, pumpkin carving ideas, halloween decorations and halloween nails’, so whether you’re in home & furnishings, fashion, beauty or even arts & crafts, there’s opportunity to push your products during this period (with a little spooky spin on your messaging)!

Add a cheeky promotion

Discount codes are a great incentive to encourage purchases that may not have occurred without and there’s plenty of stats to prove it! In fact, a recent study found that a whopping 2 million hours per week were spent by Brits searching for coupons before commiting to a purchase! Offering a Halloween specific discount e.g HALLOWEEN10 is a super easy way to attract more engagement and conversions during a time where consumers are naturally ramping up their shopping habits. Here’s your options:

  • An all-out sale - site wide but for a limited amount of time, pushed through your social ads.
  • A percentage off discount code or free delivery
  • Giveaway of your products with a ‘spooky angle’ - e.g a Halloween night in bundle!

Tailoring your ad campaigns to Halloween for a short period of time will make your content relevant and appear organic on a user’s feed (in amongst a sea of Hocus Pocus 2 posts!).

Closing thoughts

The key thing to remember when planning for Halloween is to get involved in the online conversation and have fun with it! The likelihood is, if you don’t hop aboard the ghost train competitors will, and they’ll pip you to ‘add to basket’ post! With every season comes the opportunity to reach new audiences and retain those all important loyal customers through engaging and on ‘topic’ content.

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