I was working with a client recently and I’d noticed there was a social media awareness day that was relevant to their business. I felt it was a good opportunity to create an offer, some promotional content and increase brand awareness about the business. My client, like many people I know, were not really sure what social media awareness days are - hence the inspiration for this blog.
What are social media awareness days?
Social media awareness days are not just limited to days; they can also be weeks and months. There are numerous types of awareness days from International Cat Day, Talk Like a Pirate Day and Cupcake Day, to more serious awareness days such as International Women’s Day and World Autism Awareness Day, both of which have a huge impact. What is important here is to select the days that are relevant to your business. Yes, some are fun (Sandwich Day is the 3rd November by the way), but picking really obscure awareness days just means you’re limiting your reach.
Social media awareness days are a great opportunity to leverage brand awareness, and by spending some time preparing your content in advance, you can hopefully start some conversations and engage people with your brand.
How do I know which days are when?
Thankfully, there are now lots of websites available that have lists of social media awareness days already provided. Some of the big sites include AwarenessDays.Com, Hubspot and Days of the Year. Some days are international, and some are more relevant to certain countries, so double-check the day is actually relevant to your market. For example, Red Nose Day will be popular in the UK but perhaps not so much anywhere else in the world.
It won’t take long to pick your days, so spend some time at the beginning of the year or every quarter to look at what days are relevant to your business. Mark these on your calendar so that you know in advance. There is nothing worse than realising the day before and rushing to produce content that looks rushed!
What content can you create?
The type of content you create will depend on how important the day is to your business. The obvious one here is Valentine’s Day if you are a florist. However, not all businesses will have days that have that kind of impact or require that much preparation. So for most us, being a bit choosy makes sense.
Ideas for content include writing a blog post, having a special promotional offer and creating specific social media graphics. You could also team up with a brand that complements yours and produce a joint offer. Double the promotion! For World Smile Day, The Biscuiteers Ltd and The Happy Newspaper joined forces and produced a joint promotion. Not only were they offering 10% off their biscuits, they created cute bee biscuits, and together both brands were also giving away a free subscription. The opportunity for free biscuits and reading about happy things? Yes please! And of course, I shared the offer on my own social media, so this kind of thing really can work.
Importantly, remember to use the associated “Day” hashtag when creating your content. This will ensure your content gets found outside of your following, which is really important for Twitter and Instagram. Awareness days are also a great opportunity to engage your brand on social media in conversations, so please also block time out in your calendar on the day to allow for this.
The great thing about social media awareness days is that there will be a day for every business to get involved in. Just don’t crowbar one in for the sake of it…