How to Celebrate the Holidays

I’ve always loved holidays. Growing up, many were a big deal for my family with something to look forward to from each. Thanksgiving had its food and parade, Christmas had its gift-giving and decorating, and the 4th of July had its fireworks and town celebrations. Anymore, there seems to be some reason to celebrate every day. Take for instance holidays like Doughnut Day (first Friday in June) or Singles Awareness Day (February 15). 

Having something to celebrate every day can be fun, but it can easily become overdone. That’s why it’s important to practice celebrating in moderation, especially as a business. National holidays can create some great content for emails and social posts, but you don’t want it to become too much of a good thing. Here are my 3 tips when it comes to celebrating and using all the national holidays in your marketing. 

Keep It Relevant
Just because you see a lot of posts about National Bomb Pop Day (the last Thursday in June) doesn’t mean your auto body shop NEEDS to create a post. National holidays can help break up your content, whether as a fun, interactive post or helping to promote something about your business. It’s when you try to celebrate as many national holidays as possible that your customers will lose interest quickly, possibly causing them to unfollow or unsubscribe from you. National holidays are seen as something fun to do not something that should be exploited or worn out. Make sure whatever holidays you choose to have your business celebrate, they don’t seem forced or have no real relatability.  

Keep It Real
Although you could celebrate something every day, not all “national holidays” should be celebrated. One big component I pay attention to is looking to see how accurate it is. When you use the National Day Calendar, each holiday will give an explanation of how to celebrate as well as the history behind it. If it says it’s “researching the origins” of that holiday, many times I won’t use it. Another great way to see if it’s something worth celebrating is to research hashtags. You can search specific hashtags with the search bar on Instagram and even Google. This way you’ll know how popular it really is, if it’s worth adding to your calendar, and if it’s seen as a real holiday by the masses. 

Keep it Fun
Probably one of the most important aspects of celebrating national holidays is having a fun way to interact with your subscribers and followers. Although the holidays can give you a great reason to have a sale or promote your business, sometimes it’s just a simple way to start a fun conversation. One of my favorites to use for my clients is National Get To Know Your Customers Day (the third Thursday of the last month of each quarter). I take the opportunity to ask a question, sometimes not even related to the business, to get a conversation going. The less serious, the better - you don’t want people starting an argument in your comment section because you decided to ask who you hope wins the election. 

Whether you decided to stick to the traditional bank holidays or branch out every now and again, just remember to keep it all in moderation. We can always use a good reason to celebrate and have a little more fun, just not necessarily every day. It can take a little work and planning to incorporate holidays into your marketing, but it can also pay off in the end. 

My favorite? Ampersand (&) Day - September 8th.