How to Decide Which Holidays to Post About on Social Media
No matter when you read this, a holiday is coming up. So we’re here to set the record straight about which holidays your brand should post about on social media.
Which Holidays Suit Your Brand
Holidays hold spending power. That means your business is more likely to influence consumer behavior during the holidays. Accordingly, your brand must be prepared with holiday-themed social media campaigns that wow your customers with their creativity. However, please (I’m begging you) DON’T take this as a green light to post on social media for every holiday.
Let’s face it. There are so many holidays—including federal, religious, social and political—that you would spend the rest of your life creating posts on social media for holidays you realistically don’t care about or celebrate. Ask your team these questions to determine which holidays are worth it:
- Do you, your team or your customers celebrate the holiday?
- Does this holiday correspond to your brand values?
- Is this holiday related to the products or services you sell?
If you answer no to any of these questions, then I’d strongly advise against posting about that holiday. Especially during the larger holidays, social media becomes so saturated with these “obligatory” social posts to show customers that their favorite brands care about their holiday celebrations. As a general rule of thumb, if you’re going to post for the sake of posting, throw your phone across the room, take an unnecessarily long walk outside, come back inside, take a look in the mirror and get real. Consumers see right through your “wishing you a happy holiday” bulls**t.
So, how should you actually celebrate the holidays on social media? Plan ahead by adding the holidays that are important to your brand to your social media calendar. Because I’m nice, I’ve compiled a starter list of popular holidays in 2024. This is a good foundation for your holiday list, but for the love of god, don’t just toss this list at your social media manager and forget about it. Consider each holiday carefully before sharing mindlessly:
- 1.1.24 - New Year's Day
- 1.15.24 - Martin Luther King Jr. Day
- 2.2.24 - Groundhog Day
- 2.13.24 - Mardi Gras
- 2.14.24 - Valentine's Day
- 2.14.24 - Ash Wednesday
- 2.10.24 - Chinese New Year
- 2.19.24 - Presidents Day
- 3.10.24–4.8.24 - Ramadan *starts evening of March 10
- 3.17.24 - St. Patrick's Day
- 3.20.24 - Nowruz
- 3.25.24 - Holi
- 3.29.24 - Good Friday
- 3.31.24 - Easter Sunday
- 4.22.24–4.30.24 - Passover *starts evening of April 22
- 5.5.24 - Cinco de Mayo
- 5.12.24 - Mother's Day
- 5.27.24 - Memorial Day
- 6.14.24 - Flag Day
- 6.16.24 - Father's Day
- 6.19.24 - Juneteenth
- 7.4.24 - Independence Day
- 11.2.24 - Labor Day
- 10.14.24 - Indigenous People's Day
- 10.31.24 - Halloween
- 11.1.24 - Diwali
- 11.11.24 - Veterans Day
- 11.28.24 - Thanksgiving
- 12.24.24 - Christmas Eve
- 12.25.24 - Christmas Day
- 12.25.24–1.2.24 - Hanukkah *starts evening of December 25
- 12.26.24–1.2.24 - Kwanzaa
- 12.31.24 - New Year's Eve
Depending on your brand, consider looking into more social holidays like sporting and fashion, astrological or political events. Once you’ve selected the holidays that are important to your brand, put reminders in your calendar so that you give yourself enough time to create creative and meaningful posts or activations for those holidays.
How to Create Successful Holiday Social Media Posts
If I've not made it clear by now, there is a huge difference between creating a holiday social post and creating a good holiday social post. The key here, like most great marketing, considers needs and emotion. To create effective holiday posts, you have to generate festive feelings or excitement for the celebration. Whether you decide to do so through visuals and/or copy, the goal you want to achieve is to make your followers feel like you’re celebrating with them (as cheesy as that may sound).
This is all easier said than done, so I’ve shared some examples of my favorite holiday-themed social posts on every platform your customers are on:
- Lagavulin’s Christmas Yule Log with Nick Offerman on YouTube
- Duolingo’s New Years mental breakdown on Twitter
- Barnes & Nobles’ Anti-Valentine’s Day sale on TikTok
- Vans’ St. Patrick’s Day collaboration on Instagram
- Intuit Mailchimp’s National Intern Day celebration on LinkedIn
- Fenty Beauty’s Big Game Lip Gloss swatch test on Pinterest
Brands like the ones above that create successful holiday social media posts aren’t forcing it. Each of these examples is still super branded and relevant to the content they already post. The last thing you want is for your followers to roll their eyes because your holiday social post is too much of a stretch from what they’re used to. So whatever content you decide to create for whatever holiday your brand decides to celebrate, make sure your holiday content is still relevant so that you stay relevant.
When You Need Holiday Marketing Support
It’s time to take a (holiday) break because this blog post is officially over. And while you may have time to read this blog, you probably don’t have the time and resources to generate a dozen social posts on your own. But here’s a holiday miracle: we create holiday content for our clients all the time! See how we can elevate your brand by exploring our social media services today.
Gigi Toma,
Account Manager