Everyone loves a national holiday. National holidays give people a common cause to rally around or an event to celebrate. They generally honor the accomplishments of our past or the good things that are in our lives right now.
Nowadays, there seems to be a national holiday for everything. Social media marketers can track these national days and ride the wave of conversation and enthusiasm. National holidays that are tied to awareness or social initiatives also give brands an opportunity to showcase their company values.
Here’s some quick tips to help you get started on your holiday social media campaigns:
- Do your research:
- Manynational holidays will have dedicated hashtags that are used to generate interest across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Make sure you identify relevant hashtags to increase visibility within these communities.
- Make sure you remain compliant: In certain instances (like the World Cup, for example) branded hashtags may have certain copyright guidelines. If you are even in any doubt, consult your legal team. To read more about how to navigate hashtag rules, click here.
- Create a calendar: Stay organized! Create a year-long calendar that highlights holidays of interest, so your social media team can stay ahead of the curve when creating campaigns.
- Consider your message: Make sure the holidays you choose to participate in are aligned with your brand, and the messaging ties back to your overall mission.
- Be authentic: If your social media messaging doesn’t sound like your brand voice, consumers will know.
- When creating your own hashtag: If you have an event, or running a specific campaign of your own, you may want to create your own hashtag to help generate interest. Make sure you’re promoting your hashtag on other branded materials, and across all your channels ahead (and during) the event, to help generate interest early.
- Consider SEO: This goes back to doing your research. If you’re creating your own, unique hashtag, make sure it’s short, searchable, and easily sharable for audiences
- Using hashtags for real-time interactions: Hashtags can be a great way to keep an eye out on what’s trending in real-time. Keep your finger on the pulse of conversations that may be relevant opportunities for your brand to get in on the fun
- Timing is everything: This is especially true for events that have smaller time frames, like New Year’s Eve, or a major sport event. Generate interest first, but make sure you’re also striking when the iron is hot.
- Follow up with a clear CTA: Getting in on conversations on social media can be a great way to generate brand awareness. But, it can also be used to drive viewers to your website, or landing page to learn more about your brand. Say, for example, you’re a retailer offering a July 4th sale, or a bakery giving away free doughnuts for National Doughnut Day (June 1). Make sure you include a link back to your website so interested users can click in and start their customer journey.
Related: Creating Retail Experiences With Social Gamification
There are a handful of ways brands are doing this successfully today:
7-Eleven creates their own on-brand holidays
Okay, so not every brand is as lucky as 7-Eleven to have a company name that just so happens to be a calendar date. July 11 is now known as “7-Eleven Day.” Customers can visit any 7-Eleven location for a free small Slurpee – a perfect treat for a hot summer day.
7-Eleven is also known for their “Bring Your Own Cup Day,” which invites customers to get creative with how they drink their Slurpees.
To align with a political or social cause
As we’ve written about before, customers feel more connected with brands that share similar values and goals. On Pride Day (June 28) companies took to social media to show their alliance and support of the LGBTQ community. Here’s an example from Ernst & Young:
Offering deals and specials to boost business
National taco day? National doughnut day? National hot dog day? National chocolate chip cookie day? There is no shortage of quirky, food-related holidays.
On National Onion Ring Day, Burger King decided to run a campaign with some snark, to cause a stir on social media (perhaps feeding their ongoing Twitter “beef” with Wendy’s) . What’s great about this campaign is that it takes a risk, but also remains true to their brand mission.
The bottom line
Taking advantage of holiday or event hashtags can be a great way to communicate with consumers in the moments that matter most, whether you’re promoting your own event, advertising an offer, or generating brand awareness by jumping into a conversation
