- 03.09.2025
Poinsettias remain one of the most powerful sales driver plants in late autumn and winter. But in today’s digital world, retailers must also meet customers online. To help garden centres, florists and independent retailers maximise poinsettia sales, Stars for Europe (SfE) – an EU‑backed initiative supporting poinsettia sales across 22 European countries – has a dedicated trade website sfe-trade.com available in 14 European languages which has all the resources retailers need to boost poinsettia sales.
SfE social media expert Daria Zvereva says: “Social media is one of the most powerful tools to inspire purchases and keep poinsettias in the spotlight. Instagram is perfect for short, engaging reels — from festive styling inspiration to quick care tips. These formats perform especially well during the holiday season, like one of our posts that reached over 300K views. Pinterest connects us with early seasonal planners searching for Christmas décor ideas. A single pin on “3 reasons to decorate with poinsettias” generated more than 900 clicks. Facebook remains key for reaching older audiences and local communities. From expert tips — such as this post with watering guide with over 900K views — to promoting in-store events, it drives strong offline engagement. YouTube offers a deeper dive, with tutorials and storytelling that build trust and encourage interaction, such as this video that received over 2K likes. Each platform plays a distinct role in the customer journey, but together they deliver a measurable boost to poinsettia sales.”
Here are Daria’s nine top social media marketing tips—enhanced with guidance and resources from sfe-trade.com.
1. Use professional visual assets
SfE provides free, high-quality photos showing poinsettias in creative tablescapes and seasonal décor trends—perfect for Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest content. Use these to showcase the varieties and colours on offer (Hint: it’s more than just red) and spark your customers’ seasonal inspiration. Downloadable social media graphics and video clips can help you bring festive styling ideas directly to your feeds.
2. Build seasonal narrative into store displays
SfE experts offer creative, in‑depth advice on how to create Christmas displays for better sales —such as using poinsettias in wreaths, as cut flowers in bouquets or contrasting more unusual autumn shades – peach, coral, pink and apricot – with muted palettes in early autumn for trendsetting shoppers. Offer a couple of poinsettia workshops to limited participants and trail them on your social channels. Exclusivity builds desirability and will drive sign-up.
Promote your store’s unique floral or planted arrangements with behind‑the‑scenes posts and storytelling, such as: “We used bold terracotta and blush varieties to create a luxe autumn window display—come down and see it in person!” Your customers will love the versatility of poinsettias and what your store can do creatively with them. This, is turn, creates word-of-mouth spread of your USP and drives more footfall.
SfE’s website starsforeurope.com/en/ is a great link to share with your customers looking to recreate the styles you show at home and is available in 19 European languages! This builds trust in your store, as a retailer with access to expert information and advice.
3. Share practical care tips with a festive twist
Educating your audience boosts trust and repeat purchases. SfE trade guidance includes care tips such as:
- Watering every two to three days and using the analogy of a champagne flute to illustrate that about 100 ml per 13 cm pot is the correct amount.
- Always emptying the saucer after 15 minutes to prevent waterlogged roots, or watering from the base and letting the plant soak up moisture.
- Keeping poinsettias in a draught‑free environment at no less than 12–15 °C and ensuring they’re well wrapped in paper during transit to avoid cold damage.
Make care tips quick and simple, so they’re memorable. Highlight them using infographics, carousel posts, or a video combining your branding with SfE’s expert advice.
4. Plan posts with SfE’s social media content
SfE recommends scheduling trend‑led content beginning in September and October, when poinsettia season actually starts. In autumn use warm, muted palettes, rustic styling and the paler poinsettia varieties (cream, apricot, terracotta) available at this time, This creates anticipation and shows the range poinsettia varieties available. Then in November, move on to classic red‑and‑green seasonal looks. Increase frequency once Advent begins in late November, when festive buying really takes off.
5. Run local paid ads with seasonal messaging
Use Facebook and Instagram ads targeted to local customers—showcase care advice, unique poinsettia varieties, or gifting ideas featuring them in colour themes (e.g. pastel, terracotta). Tap into SfE’s consumer insights which show strong engagement when botanical products are styled in lifestyle contexts. You could run a virtual poinsettia ‘Advent calendar’, where you generate content of your store ‘unboxing’ a different variety, design or care tip every day until Christmas Eve.
6. Encourage user‑generated content with SfE hashtags
Invite customers to share their own poinsettias and styling using branded hashtags such as #TheChristmasStar, inspired by SfE’s consumer branding. Repost these contributions to build community and trust. Don’t forget to tag SfE’s social channels so they’ll boost your content too and share images from the SfE image bank as a source of inspiration for customers looking to recreate styles at home too.
7. Take advantage of SfE POS materials and templates
SfE offers free point‑of‑sale materials, posters, flyers and trade tools—ideal for combining with your social posts. Share images or snaps of in‑store displays featuring SfE‑branded POS materials, linking back to downloadable files. This not only improves visual brand consistency, but showcases your professional presentation to social followers.
8. Add strong calls to action with educational value
Every post should guide your audience. Combine care‑info posts with a CTA like:
“Download our free care guide and visit our store to see the full colour range.”
Use SfE’s time-saving press text templates to personalise these messages and position your store as an expert local source of poinsettia knowledge.
9. Partner with local influencers using SfE assets
Collaborate with local lifestyle, décor or gardening micro‑influencers (10-100K followers). Provide them with unique poinsettia varieties, and ask them to share SfE’s images or videos as part of the content package. Using professionally produced assets helps ensure well-styled, high-quality visuals that reflect your brand and SfE’s unique expertise.
Get started today
Retailers can visit the SfE trade site to:
- Download free marketing materials (photos, social posts, POS),
- Access care and display tips,
- Explore video content,
Sign up for the trade newsletter for SfE campaign news and inspiration.