Giving gifts is a way to show appreciation for people we care about. Americans spends more than 340 USD worth of giftcards in the holiday season! And that's not counting the thousands of dollars that most people also spend on birthday presents, surprises and more. 

As a creator at VOYD, you have a unique opportunity to take part in this. This article introduces how to inspire your followers to buy your content as gift cards and sell more.

1. Three reasons to focus more on gift cards

On VOYD, your followers have the chance to buy and give videos to others using gift cards. By putting some time and effort into marketing, you can:

• Increase your revenue by selling more
• Reach new followers and expand your audience
• Capitalize on seasonal variations and take advantage of times when people are more inclined to give gifts

Gift cards can really be a goldmine for increasing your revenue. Just look at how searches for "gift cards" have increased in recent years according to Google Trends:

As you can see, demand and growth increases every year with peaks around Christmas and other recurring events like Mother's or Father's Day. This is something all creators can and should get better at planning around.

Some figures on the popularity of gift cards...

• 33% spend more on gift cards than actual gifts.
• 47% of people between 18 and 23 years old prefer gift cards to physical gifts.
• Most people spend more than the value of the gift card.

That sounds amazing, doesn't it? But now you might be wondering if it really works for your VOYD channel. The answer is Yes! But you need to promote it!

Here's how you do it...

2. How to maximize the number of gift cards sold

To successfully sell as many gift cards as possible, you need to follow these four steps. Doing so will give you a smart and reliable strategy that you can use year after year. To succeed, you need to:

1. Find events that match your brand and content
2. Create and schedule social channel campaigns
3. Think about whether it's worth paying for a wider reach.
4. Summarize and learn lessons for the next campaign

3. Find dates that match your brand and content

Your first step is to pull out your calendar and find dates, events and holidays that are relevant to you and your followers. Try to find three or four dates per year to build your marketing around. It is important that all these dates:

• Are typical holidays or days when people usually give gifts
• Are relevant to your brand and content

If you can't find any perfect dates, it's always a safe bet to stick to classic, recurring holidays like:

• Christmas
• Valentine's Day
• Mother's or Father's Day

4. Create and schedule social media campaigns

Develop and prepare graphics, perhaps videos and other materials to post during the campaign. Make sure the design language reflects the event well. If it's a graduation campaign, a Santa Claus would be quite out of place! 🤣

5. Sell even more with a discount code

Also think about whether you want to throw in a discount code during the campaign, maybe your followers will be extra eager to press the buy button if it's an offer. To find a discount code, contact our Customer Success team who are more than happy to help you!

6. How to schedule for best effect

Once you are satisfied with the campaign materials, it is time to schedule. We recommend that you start posting about a month before the date. This will give your followers enough time to see the offer and hopefully buy!

This is what a campaign could look like on your social media:

• 1 month to go: post a teaser with a reminder that the big day is only a month away and that you have exciting things in store.
• 3,5 weeks to go: make a first post about the gift card, explaining why it's a good idea to give your videos as gifts.
• 3 weeks to go: remind people about gift cards and why they are the perfect gift.
• 2 weeks to go: do a giveaway on a video, for example, while reminding people about the gift card.
• 1 week to go: announce the winner and again remind people why a gift card would be the perfect gift.
• 2 days left: a final reminder. Here's your chance to play on FOMO. "The train is leaving soon, this is the last chance..."
• The big day: post a "happy [event] post"

7. Think about whether it is worth paying for greater exposure

Paid marketing can be an effective tool to give you a big push to generate even more revenue. For you as a video creator, the effect can be particularly powerful as most of your followers are probably already on social media. 

For example, you could use paid marketing to reach them:

• People who have social media contacts with upcoming birthdays.
• Specific target groups among your current followers
• Prospective buyers outside your current audience

8. Summarize and learn

After each campaign, it's a good idea to look at some numbers to understand what worked and what didn't so you can do better next time. 

By methodically and continuously learning from outcomes, you will continue to improve sales. And that's not just for gift cards, but regular sales too!

To summarize...

Gift cards are a really smart way to sell more videos by taking advantage of seasonal variations and the peaks when people are most likely to give gifts. To succeed, you need to:

Identify events that match your brand and that you think your followers will be extra likely to shop for gifts at.

Create an exciting and engaging campaign plan for your social channels, and schedule your content to reach as many people as possible at the right times. Be creative and try new ideas and methods to stand out and capture the attention of your followers.

Consider whether it's worth investing in paid advertising to spread your content even further, and explore different ad formats and platforms to find the best fit for your brand.

After each campaign, compile and analyze the results to learn lessons and improve your strategy for the next campaign. Be sure to test new ideas and methods to keep your campaigns fresh and interesting.

If you have any questions about VOYD gift cards, don't hesitate to contact [email protected] to help you out! 😊