You are doing yourself a great disservice if you don’t make the most of social media’s promotional power to grow your business. But digital marketing can get pretty impersonal when you’re purely using it to drive traffic, collect leads and convert users into sales.
A Facebook or Instagram timeline full of flat-out promotions leads to low engagement.
So, it’s important to share posts that engage and delight your fans and followers. Trends and special events are a great way to reach your audience on an emotional level, appealing to their desire to share information, feel like they are part of a group, and provide value to their own audience.
Most businesses that are on social media create posts to mark important occasions throughout the calendar year. We see the New Year’s Day and Christmas greetings. And also the celebratory posts for Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Puasa, Deepavali, and National Day. Then, there are the ones that display the businesses’ beliefs and passions, such as the posts marking International Women’s Day and Earth Day. And the more fun ones that may have some relation to their work, such as International Waffles Day, International Friendship Day, and the likes.
Here are some inspiring ideas to implement trends and special events into your content calendar, so you have a consistently positive impact on your audience, and maybe send a post or two viral.
1. Every day can be a holiday
The major holidays should always get some love, but every day can also be a holiday.
With all the negativity floating around in the social sphere, an uplifting post about International Donut Day, or World Peace Day, can just be what your audience needs.
Also, don’t forget to use local events such as festivals and significant days in your city or town to spice up your social media strategy.
You can even make up your own holiday as many brands have done. Did you know? National Pancake Day was introduced by a renowned pancake-making brand? Or that the inventor of cake pops invented the National Cake Pop Day.
People like these “made up” holidays because they’re shareable, fun, and interesting. And, days like National Cheeseburger Day or National Donut Day give people an excuse to break their diets, or to meet a friend for lunch to catch up. They’re social.
But you don’t necessarily have to crack your mind and come up with your own day, because there are plenty of social holidays out there you can use to engage your audience.
2. Take the opportunity to do something good
People are inspired by special days that are designed to spread goodwill and help a group in need.
One of the core reasons why people share on social media is to support a cause and do good. In fact, 84% of users share socially to support issues they care about.
So when you post about things like World Charity Month, Fire Prevention Month, and National Stop Bullying Day (just a few examples), you show your fans and followers that you care.
Since social is all about relationships, a great way to nurture these relationships is with socially aware posts that can raise awareness about different issues.
Letting people know that your brand is socially responsible can boost your reputation, increase positive customer sentiment, and is frankly good karma. All you need is to weave a good story in, and good digital copywriting will help loads.
3. It’s never bad to make people smile
There’s a reason why funny TV commercials are so popular. They make a brand more accessible and make people smile in the process.
Social media works in much the same way. A great meme or funny visual post can elevate someone’s day. And when that happens, they’re likely to share it with their own social audience.
Here are some great tips (and reminders) on using humor in your social posts:
- Dirty or distasteful humor doesn’t fly
- Find humor in everyday situations
- Wittiness and puns are appreciated
- It’s OK to have a sense of humor about your brand
Your special occasion post can also be humorous, a play on a meme, or something along that line. It may take some trial and error to hit the right note. But it will be a good payoff when people are engaged with your content.
4. It’s all about the visuals
People’s brains are attracted to visual content. So as you post your trends and special events, make sure they have a great visual component.
For example, on Facebook, visual posts get 37% more engagement than purely-text posts. Tweets with images get 150% more retweets than standard posts, and other social media channels like Pinterest are pretty much all visual. Even LinkedIn posts perform better with a strong visual component.
Just make sure you choose the right visuals for the right social network.
So pick the images and visuals carefully, and if possible, try to animate your posts, and be creative.
5. Knowledge really is power
People love to learn new things, especially in a way that makes it easy for them to share that knowledge.
You can do this through a link to an informative blog post that you have written yourself. Or you can do it by curating content from other credible sources.
Share insider information about a special occasion. Or discuss special foods, traditions, and customs through your post content. There are many ways to exchange knowledge about special occasions, and ‘teach’ your audience.
Sharing knowledge is an important aspect of social media marketing, but you have to space it out with other types of posts.
Luckily, link posts aren’t the only means of sharing information. Infographics are an extremely powerful visual tool that usually sparks engagement and shares. How-to posts, quizzes, polls, and inspirational quotes all scratch that inquisitive itch too.
It’s important to understand what your audience cares about, in order to understand what sort of information they want to consume.
Tying a knowledge-heavy post into a current event, trend or holiday can be especially powerful because it provides context. You aren’t just posting random information and hoping it hits the mark.
6. No matter what, context matters
The key to pitch-perfect social media is all in the context.
It’s all well and good to come up with a visual social media post that is simply stunning, but if it’s written in a way or delivered in a way that doesn’t resonate with your audience, it falls flat.
Posting the right content, to the right audience, in the right place, at the right time, is the very definition of contextual social marketing. Once again, smart digital copywriting is essential.
As mentioned earlier, current events, trends, and special events help you laser focus your posts to reach your audience with the most impact.
Making Use of The Power of Occasions To Drive Up Your Social Media Reach
And now you know how to jazz up special occasions to improve your social media game.
Still unsure how to strategise your brand’s social media marketing? I Concept Singapore, a creative agency in Singapore may be able to help!
As a Top Social Media Agency in Singapore, we have years of experience in social media management and digital marketing, working with many of your familiar brands to help with their social media strategies.
With an understanding of your preferences and your business needs, our team of experienced strategists and designers will guide you to creating quality posts content and drawing up effective campaigns, helping you reach your target audience and getting them engaged. Get in touch with us today!
