Longhand · social
Every Diwali post is the same post with a different logo.
On Diwali morning your customer scrolls past forty diyas, a dozen rangolis and the words “festival of lights” in gold. One of them was yours. Here is how to make it the one they stop on.
the stock photo diya has been to more diwali parties than anyone you know.
Somewhere in October, every marketing team in India receives the same brief: “Make a Diwali post.” The designer opens the same stock library. Someone pulls up last year's post for reference. The caption wishes the reader light, prosperity and happiness, in that order or another. It goes up on the morning of Diwali, between a jeweller's post and a cement company's post that say the same thing.
This year Diwali falls on Sunday, 8 November, which leaves about three weeks. That is enough time to write something better, and most brands will still make theirs on the evening of the 7th.
Why they all look the same
The Diwali post is designed to offend nobody, and it succeeds. It also says nothing, because a greeting any business could send tells the reader only one thing: that you keep a content calendar.
Three habits produce it. The brief names the festival but not the business. The reference is what other brands posted, so the post is an average of averages. And the caption is written last, by whoever is free, in the twenty minutes before it goes up.
The test: cover the logo
Take last year's Diwali post and put your thumb over the logo. Could it belong to a bank? A paint company? The jeweller down the road? If yes, it was a calendar entry wearing your colours.
If your Diwali post could be sent by anyone, it was sent by no one in particular, and that is how it will be remembered.
The fix is to stop writing about Diwali in general and write about what Diwali does to your business. Every business has its own Diwali. That is the only part of the festival nobody else can post.
Write about your own Diwali
A few made-up examples, to show the kind of thing we mean:
- A sweet shop. The boxes packed late into the night, and the kaju katli that runs out before Dhanteras. Tell people when to order so they get some.
- A CA's office. For many Gujarati traders, Diwali is when new account books open with chopda pujan. That is a better subject for a CA than a diya, and it belongs to them.
- A dentist in Navrangpura. “Open again the week after Diwali, which is when the mithai catches up with everyone.” A smile, and a reason to book.
- A clothing store. The alterations counter that closes days before the festival. Say which day, and people will thank you for it.
None of these needs a rangoli. Each one says the business knows what its customers' Diwali looks like, which is the warmest thing a brand can say.
Useful beats beautiful
The post people act on is often not a greeting at all. Last date to order for delivery before Dhanteras. Holiday timings. Which branch stays open. These get saved, forwarded and screenshotted, while the gold diya gets a thumb flick.
We said much the same about WhatsApp in the broadcast people don't mute: skip the greeting and send something useful the week before, when nobody else is talking. The same rule works on Instagram, and the week before Diwali is when a useful post has the least competition.
If you do send a greeting
A greeting is fine. Plenty of customers like getting one. Just make it sound like you:
- Drop the triple. Light, prosperity and happiness are wished by every brand in the country. Pick one thing you actually wish your customers and say it plainly.
- Use the words people use. In Gujarat the day after Diwali is the new year, and people say “Saal Mubarak” to each other, not “Warm wishes on this auspicious occasion.” Write what your customers would say to a neighbour.
- Keep it short. A greeting is one or two lines. We made the longer case in how long an Instagram caption should be, and a festival is where padding shows most.
- Sign it from a person. “From all of us at the shop on Relief Road” is warmer than “Team XYZ”, and it costs nothing.
Write it this week
Diwali posts look the same partly because they are rushed. Dhanteras is Friday, 6 November, and by then the designer has eleven other festival posts open. Write the line now, while there is time to try three and throw two away.
Start by doing the thumb test on last year's post, in a meeting if you like. Then ask one question: what happens at our business during Diwali that our customers would recognise? The answer is your post. The diya is optional.