HOW TO USE NATIONAL HOLIDAYS IN YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
It can be difficult to keep your marketing efforts relevant, interesting, and up to date, especially when it comes to social media. You don’t want to stray too far from what’s currently working, but keeping things fresh is enjoyable for your audience [and for you, too!].
One of the easiest ways to do that is by recognizing national holidays. We’re not talking about the usual suspects - Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, etc. We’re talking about the fun ones. Think: #NationalDonutDay, #TalkLikeAPirateDay, and #NationalPuppyDay.
National holidays are a fun, efficient, and exciting way to relate to your audience. They add a human element to your brand. Your audience will appreciate something non-promotional they enjoy (and who doesn’t like holidays?), meaning you have a much higher chance of receiving post engagement. It’s also a great excuse to show the world one of the 2,649 pictures you have of your dog.
But how can you make it make sense? It’s often not too hard. Let’s use #NationalPuppyDay as an example [can you tell one of us has a dog?]: If you’re an interior designer, you could create a post with tips for designing a pet-friendly interior or a carousel of pets who match the interior of their homes. If your store or business is dog-friendly, you could encourage people to bring their pets or show videos of happy pups enjoying the complimentary treatos. Any business could use this as a way to put a face on the company and show employees enjoying time with their dogs.
It’s pretty easy to work it around to make a national holiday apply to your business. But don’t get carried away! Just like you don’t have to acknowledge every federal holiday, you don’t have to acknowledge every national holiday, nor should you. There’s a holiday for everything, and sometimes it just doesn’t make sense.
If you participate in too many national holidays, your feed can start to lose focus and clarity. People will wonder what your business really offers or what you really do. It can become very chaotic very quickly.
So we encourage our clients to focus on the national holidays that:
Make the most sense for their business
Make the most sense for their audience
Bring them joy
How does this apply? Back to #NationalPuppyDay!
Does it make sense for your business? It’s an obvious choice for pet stores, groomers, doggy daycares, etc. It also works well for dog-friendly businesses, car companies, real estate, interior designers, and more. Do you run a reptile shop? Maybe it’s not the most on-brand national holiday for you.
Does it make sense for your audience? Do you live in an area that is more conservative with dogs? Minimal dog-friendly restaurants or fewer people walking their dogs? Then this holiday might not be for you. But if your audience is obsessed with their pups, then it could be worth figuring out a way to make it make sense for your feed. Maybe you’ve got a photo of a dog with a bearded dragon on its head being all super cute… looks like the reptile shop is celebrating #NationalPuppyDay!
Does it bring you joy? The best part about social media is that it doesn’t have to be that serious. It’s your best shot to have some fun with your marketing efforts. So maybe dogs don’t make sense for your business… and maybe they don’t make sense for your audience… but you know what? Show off Fido if that’s what’s going to keep you going and bring you some joy that week.
Social media is meant to be social, so have fun with the national holidays!
