From Puppy Day to Awkward Moments Day, there's an occasion for just about anything. Ignored by traditional calendars these hashtag holidays are celebrated ad nauseum on social media. Some are meant to generate awareness and promote a cause while others focus their attention on the cute, quirky and nonsensical.
When positioned properly these occasions can be a great opportunity for your brand to reach a new audience. To help your team plan its 2017 social content strategy, We've cherry-picked a combination of generally celebrated, industry-specific and lesser known hashtag holidays and compiled them into a downloadable calendar below:
Not sure which hashtag holiday makes sense for your brand? We've outlined a simple process that will help you prioritize and strategize your approach to getting involved in holiday conversations.
3 Questions Your Brand Needs to Answer Before Participating
Did you know that National Doughnut Day was first celebrated in 1938? Hashtag holidays have been celebrated for decades but they've only gained traction on social media within the past few years.
How we celebrate #NationalDonutDay pic.twitter.com/sWmF9HgrGy
- Dunkin' Donuts (@DunkinDonuts) June 3, 2016
Before your brand participates in any of the hashtag holidays we've highlighted, answer these three questions:
1. Is This Hashtag Holiday Brand Relevant?
Our customer survey found that sharing irrelevant information prompts 41% of people to unfollow a brand on social. This insight is important to any organization's bottom line, especially since 57% of consumers are more likely to purchase something from a brand they follow and 75% have made a purchased because of social.
Don't be a brand that hijacks a hashtag holiday and promotes content that has nothing to do with your brand or product. The hashtag holiday you're celebrating should speak to your audience, not annoy them.
2. Is the Correct Hashtag Being Used?
Consistency can distinguish your brand apart from its competitors. Hashtags holidays are still a relatively new marketing concept. With new dates and duplicative holidays created on a daily basis, it's easy for hashtags to go through alterations. Make sure that the correct hashtag is being used for each of the holidays your brand is looking to participate in.
Think National Best Friends Day could be a creative fit for your brand? Two hashtags you might run into are #NationalBestFriendsDay and #BestFriendsDay. But which is the right one to use? One way to combat confusion is by deep diving into the message volume and sharing data between the two.
Using Sprout's Twitter Listening Report, we were able to take our compiled list of holidays and identify which occasions were the most popular by social shares and volume. In addition to uncovering holiday share of voice, the report allowed us to determine which hashtag iteration was most commonly used for each holiday.
With this report, we were able to make the distinction that #NationalBestFriendsDay was the clear winner over #BestFriendsDay. This type of consistency and clarity will help increase your content's odds of increased virality and engagement.
3. Does This Day Overlap With Any Major Holidays or Events?
Due to the sheer number of holidays (traditional and non-traditional), there's bound to be some overlap between hashtag holidays, federal holidays and global events. Make sure that you're always being cognizant of traditional holidays and events happening around the world.
Tweeting about #PockyDay while ignoring Veterans Day on the same date, might not be the best idea for an American brand so it's important to always be mindful of these circumstances before posting on social. Check our hashtag holiday list to make sure you're on top of your national day game:
Go Celebrate
What are some of your favorite hashtag holidays? Are there any new days that we should consider for 2018? Tweet us at @SproutSocial or share your thoughts in the comments below!
This post A Complete Calendar of Hashtag Holidays for 2017 originally appeared on Sprout Social.
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