Hashtag Holidays are for Marketers

From ‘National Hamburger Day’ to ‘World Emoji Day’ to ‘National Leave the Office Early Day’, there’s no shortage of fake holidays created for marketing purposes. While many of these days have their perks (who doesn’t love a day centered around hamburgers?), many of these holidays don’t relate to your business’s services or products. When trying to leverage these holidays, it’s important to understand your business’s identity and not to force anything.

The Consumer Standpoint

From a consumer standpoint, national observance days give us a reason to do something we want to do but weren’t necessarily planning to do. For example, I try not to eat pizza every day, but on National Pizza Day I have an excuse to head to the nearest pizzeria for a slice and a sweet Instagram picture

Also, the word “National” in front of pretty much anything makes it sound more important. Any day can be a lazy day, but on National Lazy Day we can justify binge-watching Netflix.

But I think the main reason there is so much hype around national observance days is because brands have learned how to market them. Some brands have created national days and others piggyback existing national days, and both methods work to rally consumers around a product, service, or cause.

A Day For Everything

If you take a look at a National Day Calendar, you’ll quickly see that there’s a national day for just about everything! To some, this may seem trivial, but to the strategic marketer these “hashtag holidays” can be leveraged and used to generate engagement from your followers.

For example, our food and beverage partners are great candidates for utilizing national days to their marketing advantage. There’s a national day for just about every food group, from tequila to rose and burritos to caramel popcorn. Celebrating food and beverage elements by running specials and promoting them through social media posts will generate engagement and encourage customers to visit.

Hashtag holidays aren’t just reserved for the food and beverage industry, however. With days like #NationalPuppyDay, #NationalSelfieDay, and #NationalProposalDay, there’s always a creative way to incorporate a few into a marketing calendar no matter what line of work you’re in. Some of the more sentimental themes, like #NationalFriendshipDay, can even be used as an opportunity to show the more human side of your company if this is something that your social strategy is lacking.

Plan Ahead

Once you’ve mapped out the National Days you’d like to promote, come up with a strategy surrounding the day, including hyping it up a few days prior. This will allow you to join in on trending topics and increase your audience reach. There are so many opportunities to draw attention to your brand through national days such as creating campaigns, promoting a product, or sharing photos that relate back to the national day.

National days are also a great way to fill in the gaps between the commercial, well-known holidays that your business may use in their advertising campaigns.

The overall goal is to use the day to develop more creative ways to connect with your target audience.

Don’t Be That Guy!

There are also a few tactics to avoid with national days. First of all, don’t overdo it; you don’t need to promote every single day that is remotely on brand. It’s also important to be aware of other days that may align with the national day. Avoid posting anything that could be controversial or in poor taste if it coincides with a more somber occasion or well known holiday.

National days, when incorporated appropriately, are a great tool to showcase your business’ personality and create conversations related to your business.

Here are a few national days coming up that you might be able to use in your marketing efforts…

May 2019 Social Media Holidays

1. Wednesday, May Day #MayDay
4. Saturday, Star Wars Day #StarWarsDay & #Maythe4thBeWithYou
5. Sunday, Cinco de Mayo #CincoDeMayo
6. Monday, National Nurses Day #NursesDay
12. Sunday, Mother’s Day #MothersDay
15. Wednesday, International Day of Families #FamilyDay
27. Monday, Memorial Day #MemorialDay #MDW

June 2019 Social Media Holidays

1. Saturday, International Children’s Day #ChildrensDay
7. Friday, National Donut Day #NationalDonutDay
8. Saturday, Best Friends Day #BestFriendsDay
16. Sunday, Father’s Day #FathersDay
21. Friday, National Selfie Day #NationalSelfieDay
21. Friday, First Day of Summer #SummerSolstice

July 2019 Social Media Holidays

4. Thursday, Independence Day (United States) #4thOfJuly
7. Sunday, World Chocolate Day #WorldChocolateDay
15. Monday, Give Something Away Day #GiveSomethingAwayDay
17. Wednesday, World Emoji Day #WorldEmojiDay
18. Thursday, Nelson Mandela International Day #MandelaDay
18. Thursday, Get to Know Your Customers Day #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay
30. Tuesday, International Day of Friendship #DayOfFriendship

August 2019 Social Media Holidays

8. Thursday, International Cat Day #InternationalCatDay
9. Friday, National Book Lovers Day #NationalBookLoversDay
10. Saturday, National Lazy Day #LazyDay
15. Thursday, National Relaxation Day #NationalRelaxationDay
16. Friday, National Tell a Joke Day #NationalTellAJokeDay
19. Monday, World Photo Day #WorldPhotoDay
26. Monday, National Dog Day #NationalDogDay