The holiday season is fast approaching, and getting a leg up on holiday marketing is never too soon. Who can forget the WestJet Christmas Surprise video that surpassed all expectations and went viral on social media two years ago?

With the constant expansion of social platforms and capacities, how hospitality marketers can integrate social into their holiday campaigns continue to expand. Here are a few ideas to get ahead with holiday marketing for this year:

Cover Local Holiday Events

Many hotels and restaurants host a variety of seasonal events. If not, their destinations certainly do. Whether you’re a restaurant, bar, or destination marketing organization, highlighting local holiday events is excellent. If you’re a hotel, you need to draw people to your destination so they can book rooms at your property, so create a page on your website to showcase all your region has to offer.

It can be as simple as compiling research from other local websites. For example, The Georgian Hotel in Santa Monica, CA, created a holiday page focusing on area happenings in November and December. While the hotel itself may not have anything happening on-site (aside from décor), it is located in an area featuring an array of holiday activities, such as tree lighting ceremonies, holiday pop-up shops, holiday walks/runs, and more.

From here, it’s easy to repurpose these events and their content into social media posts. Select a photo from one of the events and share it on Pinterest with a link back to your holiday page. Have staff members attend some local events and share photos on Instagram in real-time. The possibilities are endless!

Optimize On-Site Décor

If you decorate your establishment, it’s worth bringing in a professional photographer to capture high-resolution images that can be recycled every year on social media. Although it’s also a good idea to capture spontaneous photos for Instagram and the like, having a set of high-quality photos to use every year makes planning for each year less stressful. Plus, elegant photos provide guaranteed social engagement.

A perfect example of a resort that does this well is The Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, VA. Each year, they host various Christmas activities and erect an enormous tree in their lobby. Even though they get new photos each year, they can use past ones to promote the event and stimulate excitement. Notice how the image above has over 200 likes and 60 shares. They re-used this photo numerous times in the same season; each time, it proved effective in garnering social engagement.

Hold a Holiday Contest

Holding a holiday contest on social media is a great way to get your fans and followers buzzing. A resort in Miami holds a holiday recipe contest each year, asking users to submit their own original holiday recipes for the chance to win a family vacation.

People could enter various categories, such as best appetizer, best entrée, best side dish, and best dessert. The hotel’s Executive Chef and his team selected 12 category winners, which were featured at the resort’s annual brunch on December 25th, 2014. The grand prize winner received a five-night stay in an ocean-room suite, breakfast, a massage, a tour, and more.

This is an excellent holiday contest with a noteworthy prize. This type of contest is successful because it appeals to users’ emotions—it asks for recipes that are likely linked to family tradition or memory. Plus, having multiple categories allows for numerous more minor winners, which is also beneficial (if there’s only a single winner, people may be less inclined to enter since they don’t feel they have a considerable chance of winning). The grand prize is substantial and also family-oriented.

Take Advantage of Video

With video becoming more prominent on Facebook and Instagram, utilizing video for holiday marketing can also be fruitful. These videos can be posted to YouTube, creating long-term social media benefits. Maybe have your catering manager go behind the scenes at an on-property holiday lunch, feature your bartender making a signature holiday cocktail, or have your chef highlight the recipe for one of his holiday masterpieces.

Last year, Le Relais de Venise Entrecote, a restaurant in New York City, created a custom video for the holiday season where they discussed New York’s general happenings in their video’s bio.

What other ways have you seen hotels or restaurants optimize their holiday campaigns on social media?