Social Media Planning for 2021 – Calendar Dates You Can’t Miss

Social Media Planning for 2021 – Calendar Dates You Can’t Miss

Happy New Year! 2021 is officially upon us and we’re diving headfirst into Q1 with content marketing. Reaching your target audience through simple acts of recognition is one of the easiest ways to create real connections.

Easy Ideas for Brand Engagement

Of course, we could get into the importance of an automated omni-channel, interactive, insight-driven content marketing campaign but let’s walk before we run. The truth is, there are a lot of simple ways to make a positive impact with your target audience. Connecting with the everyday lives of your customers can be as simple as recognizing a cherished holiday, reminding them of an important community event, or sharing something interesting. It’s called brand engagement and it doesn’t always have to be about your products and services to make an impact.

Start with Basic Holidays

Show your target audience you know how to celebrate! Take a look at the U.S. Federal Holidays list for a quick guide of when to post. A short, thoughtful message about the holiday or a shared image can make all the difference in showing your target customers you care. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) lists the following nationally recognized list of holidays:

Friday, January 1  –  New Year’s Day
Monday, January 18  –  Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wednesday, January 20  –  Inauguration Day
Monday, February 15  –  Washington’s Birthday
Monday, May 31  –  Memorial Day
Monday, July 5  –  Independence Day
Monday, September 6  –  Labor Day
Monday, October 11  –  Columbus Day
Thursday, November 11  –  Veterans Day
Thursday, November 25  –  Thanksgiving Day
Friday, December 24  –  Christmas Day

Based on your audience demographics, you may want to include additional cultural holidays like Hannukah, Kwanza, Ramadan, or the Chinese New Year. There are other non-Federal holidays to consider as well: Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Earth Day, etc. It only takes a moment to consider what your customers are really celebrating and acknowledging their culture can leave quite the impact.

Jump on Observance Days

You’ve definitely seen observance days before, even if you didn’t realize it. Observance days are dates selected every year to recognize various cultural trends, events, and even objects. For example, January 20^th is National Cheese Lovers Day, March 9^th is National Napping Day – there’s even an observance day for being lazy (August 10^th if you’re interested).

The trick here is to take what we did with those national holidays and push it a step further. Take a look at a list of observance days like this one from National Today and find any that might apply to your products, services, or organizational offerings. Try to get creative and interact with your audience. According to the Scientific American, “people spend 60 percent of conversations talking about themselves—and this figure jumps to 80 percent when communicating via social media platforms such as Twitter or Facebook.” Give the people what they want!

Example: Building Engagement

 For example, a veterinary office may choose to highlight Love Your Pet Day (Feb. 20), Take Your Dog to Work Day (June 25), or International Cat Day (Aug. 8). They could make a post celebrating the day and ask their social media followers how they intend to celebrate their pet with a corresponding hashtag like #EveryDayIsCatDay or #LoveMyPet. This gives their customers a chance to talk about themselves, show off their pets, and interact with other customers. Any time you can create a dialogue, you draw attention to your brand, keeping your business top of mind.

Ocreative’s Not-So-Exhaustive List of Important 2021 Dates

There are hundreds of observance days, holidays, and moments of recognition that your business can participate in. A quick Google search for “National Day of List” will give you about four billion (yeah, you read that right) results. We’ve put together a list of our favorites as a starting point, but we encourage you to find what works best for your business. (Don’t forget, you can always give us a call for some help!)

Connect with Your Customers Now

At Ocreative, we’re calling it – 2021 is the year of connection. Social media platforms and quality content marketing are going to make all the difference as businesses bounce back from 2020’s obstacles. American consumers will be faced with more choice than ever before as our country and world opens back up for business – it’s time to start making your mark now. To learn more about content marketing, check out our articles Content Marketing: What It Is and Why Use It, Quick Facts for Marketing to Each Generation, All About Hashtags, and our three part series on Email Marketing, or connect with us to build your custom strategy for the new year.

About Us

Ocreative is a Milwaukee marketing agency, with expertise and broad experience in developing digital marketing strategies, and growing their online presence, for their clients. The company’s core values include offering the highest level of customer service, award-worthy quality, and performance that surpasses client expectations. Ocreative is located just outside Milwaukee, and works with clients locally, nationally, and globally. Their clients have access to some of the most fun and knowledgeable professionals around – ones who inspire, educate, and problem solve. The agency provides marketing and brand strategy, advertising and design, website design and social media, and video expertise to their clients, fulfilling their desire for business growth, and their aspiration to make a mark on their industry.