What is Singles’ Day? The history of Singles’ Day
Why would you celebrate being single? ????
I remember writing an angry article for my high school newspaper complaining about other students’ PDAs* (*Public Displays of Affection ) on school breaks, and how I generally despised the Valentines Day ????
It seems some Chinese students from Nanjing University shared my sentiment back in 1993 – and made 11/11 a day to celebrate their singledom. Why?
China is still very oppressive about young people’s marital status – and young people are supposed to find a partner for life before they are 25. This affects especially young women – unmarried women over 25 in China are labelled ‘Leftover women‘ (剩女, shèngnÇš) and often mocked for being single.
So, the Chinese single students from Nanjing Uni gathered to celebrate on the date that reminds most of being single (the date – double 11 – ‘one one, one one’ – presumably symbolized single people). Since 1993, however – the festivities on 11/11 changed more towards the socially acceptable scenario and focus on finding a partner – through speed dating and blind date events.
What does it have to do with social media though? ???? Well, Singles’ Day has become the largest shopping spree day in the world – offline and online – with Chinese shoppers on Alibaba spending more than 168.2 billion yuan (US$25.4 billion) during the 2017 celebration
The idea has spread around the world – and now the Singles’ Day affects shopping behavious worldwide. As any occasion to buy and spend, Singles’ Day is here to stay – so it’s time you put it on your marketing calendar together with Halloween, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and – of course – Christmas.
Best Singles’ Day Social Media Campaigns
You can see examples of successful Singles’ Day Social Media Campaigns here and here. As you can see, they mostly focus on promotions, discounts, bargains and giveaways. But you can do things differently! ???? See our ideas below to turn the Singles’ Day into engagement boosting festival for your audience ????
Singles’ Day Social Media Post Ideas for your business
Singles’ Day is such an unusual holiday it virtually cries for Western World’s attention. In a more meaningful way than just running discounts and giveaways.
Here are some ideas how you can use Singles’ Day in a smart way to activate your audience, increase engagement and boost your brand loyalty!
#1 – Share your breakup story – and ask your followers to share theirs
Wanna organise a giveaway? Make sure you use the opportunity to connect with your audience at a more personal level.
People love talking about themselves. And people love reading real-life stories. Especially about relationships. Use the Singles’ Day to drive engagement that way!
- Share your personal breakup/ singledom story ????
- ????Ask them to share their bad relationship/ breakup story via email so you can publish it nonymously;
- do an empowering #BetterOffAlone #BetterOffSingle ???? post on Facebook, and invite followers to share their empowering singledom stories in the comments
- Tell your followers they will get a present (special discount code) for each individual story shared
- Use Facebook Cover to promote your Single’s Day Competition. Remember you can schedule up to 100 Facebook covers at a time using Postfity? ????
That way you will both increase your sales and organic engagement (through the comments) ????
Sounds a bit too daring? Try ‘milder’ alternatives ????:
#2 – Invite Single Followers on a blind date
Do you have a local business? Organise a competition where you ask your followers to post selfies of themselves in the comments, pick the first 6 single members of your audience (3 males, and 3 females) (self-declared 😉 ) who use the discount code on 11/11 and match them to go on a blind date to a restaurant (you pick the bill).
#3 – Offer 1% more discount for every follower who comments next under your promo post
Having *loads* of comments under your promo post will help it spread like wildfire ???? but this tactic can also backfire badly if not done well, so bear in mind a few rules:
- Ask your followers to share meaningful comments – e.g. sharing a personal anecdote
- Ask your followers to nominate their friend to write the next comment ????
- Cap the number of comments at 100 in terms and conditions – you don’t want to end up giving away thousands of your product (unless you’re a SaaS business and it doesn’t cost you much – then it might be actually good for PR reasons ????????)
????✅Don’t forget – Postfity is going to be 11% off on 11/11 with the code ‘singlesday19’! ????
Wanna learn more about Social Media Marketing in China? Check out our post about Social Media in China here!
