Category: Holiday Season

In the world of creator success, tapping into your fans’ desires is the ultimate game-changer. When you crowdsource design ideas, you’re not just making merch; you’re crafting a direct connection with your audience. 

By giving your fans a voice in the creative process, you’re not only launching products they genuinely desire but also increasing the odds of success.

It’s a win-win strategy that transforms your passion into profits while making your fans feel like cherished collaborators in your creative journey.

But first, what exactly IS crowdsourcing? 

Simply put, it’s the process of collecting ideas, and/or content with the assistance of input from a large number of people (your fans) on a topic of your choice. Once you’ve collected those ideas, you can use that info to develop products, and refine your marketing strategy. Methods of crowdsourcing are always evolving, so let’s cover some ground, starting now! 

Use social media to understand your fans’ needs & wants

Crowdsourcing is a chance to learn your fans’ buying behaviors, expectations, interests, pain points, content preferences and so much more.

The best way to quickly gather all of this information is to go to where your fans connect with you the most: social media.

It’s not only instant communication, it’s an informal arena where fans are more likely to be candid and real in their comments versus filling out an official feedback form. But, you need to have a plan for how you will source this information. No worries, we’ve got 5 great ideas to get you started. 

How to conduct social media crowdsourcing

Now that you know the importance of social media crowdsourcing, it’s time to learn the best way of going about it. Here are a few tips:

1. Define your expectations & goals

When you ask for feedback, you might get back more than you can easily process. Unless you have a clear understanding of what you’re looking for, it can be overwhelming.

Ask yourself what you hope to gain from what you hear? Maybe you want to improve your designs, or the rapport you have with your social media followers. Or maybe you want to learn their interests so you can use them in your promos. 

Whatever it is you’re going for, clearly define it from the beginning. In this case it’s Holiday-themed products. Start there.

You can run several separate efforts simultaneously, but the goals should always be defined in each. 

2. Choose the right channels and tactics

There are a number of ways to collect feedback from followers on your socials:

• Conduct polls 
• Browse comments
• Monitor DMs
• Send out survey links
• Ask your community or individuals to mention you in posts
• Monitor mentions that are un-tagged

Observe which channels your followers most commonly use so you have the best chance of collecting the most sufficient information. 

3. Craft a Compelling Post 

Write a detailed and engaging post explaining your crowdsourcing initiative.

Mention your objectives, that you are looking for holiday-themed suggestions, and clearly state any specific guidelines or restrictions for these product ideas. Encourage creativity and excitement.

4. Have a unified monitoring platform

If you’re using one platform (like Instagram) to collect insights for a specific purpose, it may not be an overload of information.

But if you’re running polls on five different platforms, it can quickly get overwhelming to make sense of the data. You may even miss crucial information or comments if you are having to manually monitor them all. Selecting one platform to begin might be the best idea. 

5.  Run Social Media Contests

People love to win stuff. Plus this is a fantastic way to gain insight. Here are 4 key ways to crowdsource product ideas using social media contests:

1. Ask your followers/fans/customers what their needs/wants are. 

The more you listen to someone’s needs and wants, the more loyal they become.

EX: Use your X (former Twitter) feed to give your followers an option on which product they would be more likely to buy.

This method kills two birds with one stone: It crowdsources your own decisions on which product to push, and it shows your followers that you listen to them.

Quick tips:

1. Post updates about your contest at various times throughout the day; Use related hashtags to reach a larger audience.
2. Offer a prize. Increase motivation by using the winning product idea as the prize.

2. Conduct Research on product preferences.

A simple way to obtain customer insights about new products is to create a vote contest (like on Facebook). Ask your followers to vote on their: 

1. Favorite product type
2. Preferred color 
3. Best use of the product

Use the results to design products to launch, and watch how many respondents easily turn into customers!

3. Run a “Name a Product” contest

The name of a product can make or break it. Why not let your community weigh in on the name of your next product? There are ingenious suggestions everywhere. When you hear the perfect name, you’ll know it. It also makes followers feel they’re involved with your brand because, well…they are! Announce the winners of the prize and happily divvy it out. Tips for hosting a “Name Your Product” contest:

1. Use a “namesourcing” site like NamingForce, NameStation, Hatchwise or Name Contests, or set up your own contest on your site or socials.
2. Promote contests through your socials, paid ads, & earned media (if you have the budget) to generate more entries. 
3. Do not mislead. Be crystal clear that you, no one else, has the final say in what name wins (just in case names submitted don’t work for your brand).
4. Follow through. Naming the product is only the first step. Announce the winners on social media. You can even tag and tweet the winners, if possible. 

4. Ask your followers to submit new ideas. 

Engage your followers by requesting them to submit ideas for new products. Better yet, make it ONE idea for a new product. Specificity is always better.

What this does is empower your community. It gives them a sense of passion and commitment to what you do. It also results in them thinking about what other types of products you carry because they might have to check out your store to come up with a new product.

Loyalty AND sales have now increased!

Tips for crowdsourcing new products:

1. Host a contest on your social platform or you can ask participants to give you a new product idea in your comments.
2. Ask for new ideas about a product related to the products you already offer to incentivize store traffic and increase sales. 
3. Give incentives that appeal to your target audience (discounts are always popular).

Asking for input before a product launches gives fans an “own-it” mentality, turning products they like into products they love.

Holiday Resource Hub and Countdown Calendar

You need to (right now) get to the Holiday Resource Hub, which also has our Countdown Calendar with key benchmark dates to help creators negotiate the hectic holiday season. These invaluable tools will help you maximize your sales this season. 

Finally, Run a Post-Holiday Evaluation 

After the holiday season, you can evaluate the success of your crowdsourcing campaign, engagement, sales, and feedback. This will be exponentially beneficial during future campaigns. 

Crowdsourcing holiday product ideas through social media not only helps you tap into the creativity of your audience but also fosters a sense of community and engagement around your brand. It’s a win-win strategy when executed as we outlined above.

Happy Holidays and Happy Selling!

Getting ready for the holidays as a content creator can be pretty overwhelming. Especially because more and more folks are starting their holiday shopping early, so you gotta hustle to create, launch, and promote your merch ASAP.

Accenture’s holiday study found that 44% of shoppers are jumping into holiday shopping ahead of time to make sure they get what they want for the holidays. Plus, a whopping 57% are starting their holiday shopping on or before Thanksgiving.

Feeling like, “Where do I even start?” No worries! We know life’s easier with a checklist, so we’ve got one just for you.

Follow the steps for a successful holiday season of sales, or download the PDFs below so you can check them off one-by-one!

Pro tip: In addition to our prepare to launch checklist, we put together an incredible Holiday Resource Hub. Check it out for design help, sales strategies, holiday competitions, and more!

Your Launch Checklist

There’s a lot that goes into launching a product. Often creators need some guidance on best practices to give them the best chance of success.

Here’s a quick rundown you can use as a checklist: 

Optimize product names for SEO success.

Fans can’t easily find your products if you don’t give them an easily searchable name. The more unique and tied in your brand, the better. Don’t forget to use keywords so you rank in search.  

Bring back bestsellers.

It was a bestseller for a reason, which means it will increase in popularity over time due to nostalgia, which is a huge factor in purchase decisions. Add a new spin to the design or put it on a new product style so it’s old and new at the same time.

Introduce new or limited edition colors and/or designs.

FOMO moves merch. When it’s a limited edition release, fans know they need to get it before it’s gone. If it sells well, you can bring it back in the future, under a new promotion. 

Refresh your product descriptions.

We sometimes fall into the habit of keeping out-dated info in our product descriptions—especially if it’s a product that’s either been around for a long time or fell off your radar because sales were low. But old info is what’s keeping your product from selling!

Get off that hamster wheel and write a product description that makes the buyer HAVE to have it and keep refreshing your descriptions every couple months.

Expand your collection of popular designs.

Is a design doing well? Add it to a sticker or a mug. If it ain’t broke, expand it. Spread it across more products and create promotions for each one! 

Keep your messaging authentic to connect with fans.

Don’t go overboard with holiday designs if it’s not on brand or won’t resonate with your fans. Holidays can be another moment to connect with your fans in an authentic and organic way.

Your prepare-to-launch checklist:

Crowdsource new ideas. 

Engage your followers by asking them to comment about what type of merch they would like to purchase. There are 3 things to ask your audience:

• Type of product (tees, hoodies, etc.)
• Design on the product (theme, colors, etc.)
• Name of the product 

What this does is empower your community with a sense of passion and commitment to what you do. And they’ll be more committed to buying your new product once you launch it.

Tips for crowdsourcing new products:

• Host a contest on your social platform or you can ask participants to give you a new product idea in your comments.
• Ask for new ideas about a product related to the products you already offer to incentivize store traffic and increase sales. 
• Give incentives that appeal to your target audience (discounts are always popular).

Read more great crowdsourcing tips here.

Create new designs from the results.

Got some good ideas? Put them into action! You can even put a holiday-spin on a current best-seller. The goal is to launch new products during the holiday season for the best chance of increasing your sales.

For help creating successful products, check out our holiday design guide!

Select best-selling holiday products from our holiday collection.

Go to our Holiday Resource Hub and pick from the best-selling products. You want to put your best foot forward and start with products you know are a shoe-in to give you solid sales numbers.

Products like Hoodies and Sweatshirts sell 20% more during the holiday season, so having the right products in your store can make a big impact on your bottom line.

Choose seasonally relevant product colors.

The colors you use for your merch make or break its chances for success. Here are some telling statistics: 93% of people believe that color/design is the #1 influencing factor in what they buy! Within the first 90 seconds of seeing a product for the first time, we make a subconscious judgment. 90% of that judgment is made based on color alone! Here are a couple color trends for this fall:

• Shades of Pink and Purple – Hot last year and the popularity has not waned one bit. Rose (light pink), mauve (pale purple), and lavender (a light purple with a blue tint) are especially popular.
• Neutrals – Earth tone shades work well on clothing and appeal to a broad consumer base. You can make designs stand out when including a bright pop of color (such as orange and yellow) or keep it chill. 
• Shades of Blue – Blue consistently ranks as everyone’s favorite color, most likely due to its calming effect on the brain. But know what else is cool? Blue can work for a variety of Holiday designs, especially when tying in wintry themes.
• Viva Magenta – this is Pantone’s 2023 Color of the Year. Give it a try!

Give Your Storefront a Total Glow-Up.

Did you know that roughly 30% of shoppers kick off their holiday shopping as early as October or even before? And 57% of consumers will begin holiday shopping on or before Thanksgiving?! Is your Spring store ready? If not, here are simple steps to follow:

• Customize your logo, navigation bar, and footer to match your brand. You can also add festive, holiday-themed imaging to encourage gift purchases over the holidays. 
• Update your hero banner. Again, you can add a festive flare if you want. Just make sure to retain your brand image. 
• Reorganize and set featured products to show off your best sellers and holiday products first. Products featured within storefronts get 58% more views and sell 20% more on average. 
• Connect or purchase a domain to attract more visitors to your site, which increases your chances of selling more merch. Check out our resources on how to connect or buy a domain. 

Armed with these tips, you should be able to have the best-selling holiday season you’ve ever had! 

If you want more help with these steps, check out our blog that details how to freshen up your Spring store with step-by-step instructions and visuals.

When your store is branded for the holiday season, you’re setting yourself up for maximum success! Hit this checklist good and hard and watch your sales soar. Happy Holidays and Happy Prospering!

The Holidays are upon us and for most people that means its time to get cuddled up in a blankie by the fire with hot cocoa–but for Spring creators that means… SALES!!! Lots of them.

How many Spring products did we plug into the opening sentence? Let’s see…Blanket, Mug, Pillow, maybe you’re even cuddled up in a hoodie with a tee underneath and leggings…the merch possibilities are endless! Just sayin.

But here’s the real deal: Creators like you see a whopping 121% boost in revenue during the holiday season compared to the rest of the year. Impressive, right?

And guess what? A recent 2022 survey revealed that 26% of online shoppers kickstart their holiday shopping as early as August. And another 26% jump into action come early November. 

With 70% of consumers starting their holiday shopping before Thanksgiving, you’ve got to launch and promote your products pronto!

But don’t stress, we’ve got your back with a bunch of handy resources that will make designing, launching, and promoting your merch easier than ever.

First, We’ve Got Our Holiday Resource Hub

Even if you’re ready to launch, you may need a little (or a lot of) direction on things like, what products you should launch, or what designs you should put on them. Maybe you want to learn some tips for driving more traffic to your store, or getting more visibility on your products. 

What if there was one place you could check out all the resources available to you so that you could be sure you’re being the most effective and efficient? Would you use it? Of course you would. And the best part is it’s free! 

The Holiday Resource Hub is a one stop shop for creators creators to learn all the tips and tricks and best practices to help you launch and promote your holiday merch—esentially, a place for you to learn how to maximize your sales this holiday season! 

Here’s what you can find on the Holiday Resource Hub:

Design Tips and Inspo.

200% more designs are launched on Spring during the holiday season than any other time of year…so join the party! Here are some tips on how.

1. Resonate. Lean into themes that resonate within your community; play on popular sayings, catch phrases, or key moments from your content. 
2. Find inspiration on our Pinterest board. Check out our Pinterest board, showcasing the latest merch styles and trends popping up in the creator community. 
3. Crowdsourcing. What do your fans want? Learn how to source ideas and inspiration from your followers with our easy-to-follow guide. 
4. Stick to what works. Your new merch doesn’t necessarily have to be holiday-themed. Your fans are shopping for year-round merch as well. All you gotta do is launch something new. 

Design Help.

The Resource Hub has got you covered. Whether it’s color palettes, templates, or how you can hire a designer, we got you! 

Product Reccomendations.

We’ve curated the top products that you need to add to your store this holiday season. Even for your existing designs, these are the real money-makers! For example, hoodies and sweatshirts sell 400% more in November and December! 

Tips on Boosting Sales.

We’ve got lots of tips on maximizing sales as well as the key dates you want to hit for promotions. Here’s a little tidbit: Did you know that showing samples in your content boosts sales by 50%! That’s no joke! 

Key Dates in our Countdown Calendar.

There are a few key dates you want to use as benchmarks throughout the holidays (Ex. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Last Call for Shipping, etc.). 

This last bit brings us to…The Countdown Calendar!

Get set for a season of success (and win cool prizes along the way) with our Holiday Countdown Calendar! Let’s break this down. 

1. Holiday Calendar. There are multiple key dates on the calendar you want to be aware of so you can be best prepared. Some examples include: 
   1. Checklists. 
   2. Prize schedule. (yes, you can win prizes!) 
   3. How and when to drive more traffic. 
   4. Promo codes and key dates to use them. 
   5. Digital Products and when it’s most optimal to push them. 
   6. Key Shipping Deadlines (You want to pay attention to those BIG TIME because that will help with customer satisfaction). 
2. Prizes. You will see lots of prizes on the calendar. Pay attention to the dates and plan accordingly so you can get yours! Prizes include, but are not limited to:
   1. Free Merch Designs
   2. Free Samples
   3. Spring Sponsored Promo Codes 
   4. Gift cards 
   5. Features in Email and Social 

Check the Countdown Calendar for prize dates and details! 

Final Thoughts

What are you still here for? Get over to the Holiday Resource Hub, start following those tips, sync your Calendar, design new merch, and launch now! Happy (Prospering) Holidays!!!