Look, I love doughnuts…probably more than the average bear. I love doughnuts and I celebrated the social media holiday National Doughnut Day earlier this month. But my business didn’t.
Official holidays are federally recognized and businesses are often closed. Unofficial holidays are days that most people are aware of and may celebrate, but businesses are likely to be open. Awareness days are more prolific and less formal. Your business should only recognize these days if it makes sense for your brand and marketing strategy.
For most business accounts, you’re better off letting any given day pass you by. Keep reading to find out exactly which social media holidays (if any) your business should celebrate – and how.
What are Social Media Holidays?
While the naming system may vary, there are generally three types of holidays that you might consider posting about on your business’s social media page:
- Federal / Official Holidays
- Unofficial Holidays
- Awareness Days / Observances
While these may seem pretty obvious, let’s take a look at each one.
2024 Federal Holidays
Federal holidays are days that the U.S. government is closed and that federal employees don’t work. Many businesses, especially banks will follow suit and be closed on these days. Other businesses may choose to be closed or have limited hours on these days.
Seven federal holidays are being recognized in the United States this year:
- New Year’s Day – Monday, January 1, 2024
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – Monday, January 15, 2024
- Washington’s Birthday (often celebrated as Presidents’ Day) – Monday, February 19, 2024
- Memorial Day – Monday, May 27, 2024
- Juneteenth National Independence Day – Wednesday, June 19, 2024
- Independence Day – Thursday, July 4, 2024
- Labor Day – Monday, September 2, 2024
- Columbus Day (celebrated as Indigenous People’s Day in some states) – Monday, October 14, 2024
- Veterans Day – Monday, November 11, 2024
- Thanksgiving Day – Thursday, November 28, 2024
- Christmas Day – Wednesday, December 25, 2024
These holidays are generally accepted and likely to be well-known to your audience.
2024 Unofficial Holidays
Unofficial holidays are not recognized by the United States government and most businesses will operate under normal hours.
Some popular unofficial holidays include:
- Valentine’s Day – Wednesday, February 14, 2024
- Good Friday – Friday, March 29, 2024
- Easter – Sunday, March 31, 2024
- April Fools’ Day – Monday, April 1, 2024
- Mother’s Day – Sunday, May 12, 2024
- Father’s Day – Sunday, June 16, 2024
- Halloween – Thursday, October 31, 2024
- Black Friday – Friday, November 28, 2024
These holidays are well-known and may be celebrated by your audience, but they’re typically either religious holidays or “greeting card” holidays.
2024 Social Media Holidays (Awareness Days / Observances)
Awareness Days or Observances may be either official or unofficial. Some may also be somewhere in between and be officially accepted in specific states or localities.
There are a nearly innumerable number of awareness days and observances throughout the year. There are several per day in most cases! Some better-known awareness days include:
- National Pizza Day – Monday, February 12, 2024
- Earth Day – Monday, April 22, 2024
- Employee Appreciation Day – Friday, March 1, 2024
- Star Wars Day – Saturday, May 4, 2024
- National Doughnut Day – Friday, June 7, 2024
- Social Media Giving Day – Saturday, July 13, 2024
- Small Business Saturday – Saturday, November 30, 2024
- Festivus – Monday, December 23, 2024
There are loads of different holiday calendars available online (and all of them seem to be a little different!), but NationalDayCalendar.com includes helpful background information on the holiday as well.
Awareness Months
Unlike other types of holidays, observances may last for more than one day.
Some of the best-known awareness months are Black History Month in February and Women’s History Month in March.
The holiday season wouldn’t be considered an awareness month as it is more about the lead-up to a specific holiday rather than the acknowledgment of a specific group of people.
Should I include Social Media Holidays in my marketing plan?
Incorporating social media holidays into your marketing plan can be great – if you do it right.
Social Media Holidays can be included in your marketing plan if they serve your brand, your marketing strategy, and your customers.
Let’s take a look at some of the reasons you should and shouldn’t include Social Media Holidays in your business’s marketing plan.
6 reasons to include Social Media Holidays in your marketing plan
Whether the holiday is official, unofficial, or an observance, why should you choose to acknowledge it on your social media?
Social Media Holidays that align with your brand and will actually benefit your customers can be used strategically to:
- Showcase your brand and values
- Boost visibility
- Increase engagement
- Create opportunities for collaboration
- Drive promotions
- Communicate important information
Take note! Posting randomly using trending hashtags won’t help if there isn’t a real connection and benefit. It’ll just make you (and your business) look confused.
Showcase your brand and values
Participating in specifically chosen Social Media Holidays can allow you to showcase your brand’s personality and values.
Celebrating holidays that align with your brand’s mission helps reinforce your identity and may allow you to connect with your audience.
For example, we are a woman-owned small business. When designing our marketing plan, we might consider sharing our story on Thursday, October 3.
Spoiler: You won’t be seeing anything about Karen in October. Why? Celebrating ourselves is counter to And Then’s brand and values. We’d much rather talk about Brandi over at Taestea Boba.
Boost visibility
Using hashtags associated with social media holidays can increase the visibility of your posts.
Social Media Holiday hashtags often trend throughout the day, meaning your content is more likely to be seen by users who are searching for or following those specific tags.
This can lead to higher reach and potentially attract new followers who are interested in the topics you’re posting about.
Increase engagement
Social Media Holidays may trend online, increasing the chances that someone outside of your typical sphere may see that post.
By participating in trending topics, you can tap into a larger audience and encourage more interaction with your post. People are also more inclined to “like” a fun or feel-good post than they are your promotional content.
Whether it’s National Pizza Day or World Environment Day, these social events provide an opportunity to engage your followers with relevant and timely content that isn’t necessarily about your product or services.
Create opportunities for collaboration
A great way to expand your audience is to collaborate with a brand with a similar mission but a different audience.
The right Social Media Holiday can create opportunities for collaboration with other brands, influencers, or your audience.
Encouraging user-generated content (including comments and submitted stories) around these events can foster a sense of community and increase engagement.
Drive promotions
Many brands use holidays to drive promotions and sales. Black Friday and Cyber Tuesday are probably the most obvious examples, of this, but think about how the day relates to your business.
Special offers, discounts, or giveaways tied to a holiday can create a sense of excitement and encourage immediate action from your audience.
Thinking back to National Doughnut Day earlier this month, my local gourmet doughnut shop took a smart approach to celebrating the day.
On June 7, Scouts Doughnuts advertised a deal on their cold brew – a low-cost product that would drive sales of their pricier doughnuts – Friday and focused on an event that would be taking place Saturday. That event, incidentally, allowed them to collaborate with other local businesses get the community involved.
Communicate important information
Finally, you should post on social media when it conveys important information to the customer.
If your business hours will be affected by the holiday, this should be clearly communicated.
Letting your customers know about any changes in your schedule helps avoid inconveniences and can help manage expectations if there will be a delay in shipping products out.
5 reasons NOT to include Social Media Holidays in your marketing plan
While while chosen Social Media Holiday posts can be leveraged to your advantage, there are several reasons why they might not be suitable for your brand.
Posting about Social Media Holidays may only serve to:
- Dilute your brand
- Waste resources
- Contribute to online noise
- Disengage your audience
- Create backlash against your business
Keep in mind that these disadvantages may hold true even if the holiday aligns with you or your brand’s mission and statement.
Dilute your brand
Participating in too many Social Media Holidays – especially those that have little to do with your brand – can damage your overall brand identify and muddy your message.
Your marketing plan should be focus on cultivating a consistent tone and message for your brand. Posting about observances without reflecting those values in your business can make you look shallow and opportunistic.
Basically, if it surprises your loyal customers to see you participating in a Social Media Holiday, you either shouldn’t do so or your overall values should be more apparent to align with the holiday.
Waste Resources
Creating high-quality content for social media holidays requires time, effort, and resources.
For each social media post, you’ll need to come up with the concept, create the graphic, write the caption, research any pertinent hashtags, post the, well, post, and monitor for engagement. Even if – especially if – you’re your own content creation team, chances are you don’t have time to waste on posts that won’t benefit your business in the long run.
Instead, focus on your marketing goals and stick to your strategy.
Contribute to online noise
Social media is already overcrowded and a redundant message is likely to get lost in the crowd.
If your message doesn’t add to the conversation, it’s probably just noise and your followers are likely to ignore it.
For example, for Employee Appreciation Day on Friday, March 1, 2024 I saw lots of “thanks to our employees!” posts, but the ones that stood out to me included pictures of the actual employees. For me, the others were just noise.
Disengage your audience
Not all social media holidays will be relevant to your audience, even if they’re relevant to you.
When these holidays don’t resonate with your target demographic, your efforts may fall flat with your followers. It’s essential to ensure that any holidays you choose to celebrate align with the interests and values of your primary audience.
This doesn’t necessarily have to be about moral or political topics. If you sell puppy food, it probably wouldn’t make sense to post about National Cat Day (unless you’re expanding your market!).
Create backlash against your business
There is a risk that some social media holidays could be perceived as insensitive or inappropriate, especially depending on your demographic.
Participating in a holiday without fully understanding its context or the potential implications can lead to negative backlash and damage your brand’s reputation.
How to effectively include Social Media Holidays in your marketing plan
To make the most of social media holidays, it’s important to plan ahead.
Create a calendar of a few relevant holidays that align with your brand and audience. Create your content in advance and schedule your posts in a window that works best for your audience. Monitor the overall performance of these posts compared to your regular content. Adjust your strategy as necessary.
Incorporating Social Media Holidays into your marketing plan can be a fun and effective way to engage with your audience, showcase your brand’s personality, and boost your overall social media presence. But don’t sacrifice your branding or marketing strategy to do it.
Do you need help figuring out the best Social Media Holidays to feature on your feed? Send us a message and we’ll help you craft an effective social media marketing plan!