Every business needs a social media calendar. Use it to plan content in advance. That way you’ll always have high quality content to share – anything else that comes along is just an added bonus.
What events should I include?
Some events are worth tweeting about, some are not.
Hashtagging holidays is a great way to kick off your social media calendar because holiday posts are:
- Shareable
- Easy to create
- Emotionally appealing
- Timely and relevant
It’s up to you to decide which events you feel are appropriate to be celebrated on your social media channels. But we say include:
- Major holidays (Christmas, New Year, etc.)
- Social media ‘awareness days‘
- Important dates for your business (trade shows, company outings)
TIP: Try using social media analytics to discover the social content your audience likes, and try to replicate those posts.
Posting social content builds credibility, brand awareness and relationships between a company and its audience. Your social media calendar is a key part of this strategy.
Key dates for your 2017 social media calendar
Whether it’s a TV phenomenon, national holiday or sporting event, these dates should always be in your diary.
Think about which channels each of these events would be best suited for – ‘Doughnut Day’ may be great for Twitter, but your professional LinkedIn followers may not agree.
We know January and February have been and gone, but we’ve included some dates from the first quarter of 2017 so you can start planning for next year too!
January:
- 2 January – First bank holiday
- 20 January – Cheese Lover’s Day
- 25 January – Burns Night
February:
- 4 February – World Cancer Day
- 5 February – The Super Bowl
- 14 February – Valentine’s Day
March:
- 8 March – International Women’s Day
- 9 March – Crufts
- 17 March – St Patrick’s Day
- 20 March – Spring equinox
- 23 March – Puppy Day
- 26 March – Mother’s Day
April:
- 1 April – April Fools’ Day
- 14 April – Good Friday
- 16 April – Easter Sunday
May:
- 1 May – May bank holiday
- 4 May – Star Wars Day
- 5th May – Embrace the Space Social Media Training Day
- 27 May – Scottish Cup Final
- 29 May – Spring bank holiday
June:
- 2 June – Doughnut Day
- 10 June – America’s Cup Yacht Race
- 15 June – British Flowers Week
- 18 June – Father’s Day
- 21 June – Glastonbury Festival and the summer solstice
July:
- 3 July – Wimbledon
- 7 July – British Grand Prix
- 21 July – School summer holidays start
- 30 July – International Friendship Day
August:
- 6 August – National Friendship Day
- 28 August – Summer bank holiday
September:
- 4 September – Back to school
- 10 September – Great North Run
October:
- 5 October – National Teachers Day
- 10 October – World Mental Health Day
- 29 October – British Summer Time ends
- 31 October – Halloween
November:
- 5 November – Bonfire Night
- 11 November – Armistice Day
- 23 November – Thanksgiving
- 24 November – Black Friday
- 27 November – Cyber Monday
- 30 November – St Andrew’s Day
December:
- 24 December – Christmas Eve
- 25 December – Christmas Day
- 31 December – New Year’s Eve
So there you have it. The bare bones of your 2017 social media calendar. It’s up to you to add in the rest.
If you need a hand, get in touch with us or attend one of our training sessions. We’re happy to help!