For an extraordinary brand presence, people look toward social media..

But the algorithms used by social platforms are tricky.. When asked “Trick or Treat”, it’s very rarely ‘Treat’ - meaning, the organic reach you expect or want is restricted greatly.

 From #InternationalDogDay to #NationalHugDay, every day can be a social media holiday to celebrate 🥳

 And D2C brands are beginning to understand the fact that social media campaigns CAN NOT be limited to statutory holidays. 

Hence, it’s time to leverage all holidays to boost brand reach, and today in this blog we’ll dive into The Holiday Marketing Calendar for every D2C Brand.

Marketing Holiday Calendar: Dates You Shouldn’t Miss in 2024

What is a Marketing Holiday Calendar?

A holiday marketing calendar is a strategic tool used to plan and organize marketing campaigns around various holidays, events, and observances throughout the year. These holidays can range from major ones like Christmas and New Year's to more niche or culturally specific celebrations.

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Why is it important to have a marketing calendar for 2024?‍

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1. Expand Your Reach

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Keeping up with holidays on social media means participating in holiday-themed hashtag campaigns - Which allows a brand to reach out to basically everyone who’s celebrating that holiday.
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Another huge plus? You can insert your products in the guise of holiday events - contests, giveaways and more.

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2. Increase Your Social Media Engagement

Holiday season is the best time to run user-generated campaigns to substantially increase engagement + activity on a brand’s social platforms.
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Campaigns that urge customers to post and hashtag your brand?

Term it as d2c holiday advertising wherein no one can say no to posting with your hashtag.

A holiday hashtag campaign by Starbucks which received over 2000 posts, in under a week 

3. Entertain and Educate Audiences

Holidays on social networks allow you to experiment with fun posts and entertain without trying too hard.
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Take #NationalUnicornDay for example - It would stand apart for the start-ups and other brands striving to become a Uni
One can also personalise for #NationalPizaaDay, #WorldEmployeeDay etcetera

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Or educate your audience on less spoken aspects like the #WomenEqualityDay

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How to build your own marketing calendar for 2024

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A social media calendar is KEY to amp up your brand’s marketing - which goes double for Holiday Strategy
 

Below we outline 3 easy steps to create an effective holiday marketing calendar on all fronts.

Step 1 – Examine last year’s strategy and results

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Take a trip down the memory lane

• What kind of content worked, and what didn’t?
• What holidays and trends did you target, which ones did you miss?
• What hashtags worked for the respective holidays?
• What social platform works best for your brand?

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Step 2 – Outline your 2022 marketing goals

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What are you looking to achieve this year?

• Do you want to reach out to a broader audience base during 
• Do you want to get more engagement
• Do you want to run holiday-specific campaigns and boost sales, or
• Do you want to just stay relevant on social media? 

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Step 3 – Measure performance/Prepare in Advance

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Keep data at the forefront!

• Have a system in place to measure your brands’ hashtag and campaign success
• Run A\B tests and use social monitoring tools to understand what users feel about your campaigns

Tips For Creating a Marketing Holiday Calendar

Building a calendar for B2B brands may be different from D2C brands. But the importance remains the same - to promote B2B/D2C holiday advertising.

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Let’s look at some tips for this below:

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1. Embrace your brand’s charitable side

If your brand has done charitable work, holidays are the best time to share that.‍

2. Do not go heavy on over-used saturated holiday hashtags

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a) With hashtags, quality trumps quantity any day

The algorithm on platforms like Facebook & LinkedIn requires you to limit the usage of hashtags - fewer hashtags, but still, ensure those hashtags are populated. 

b) Leverage brand hashtags

Using brand exclusive hashtags mean a great deal down the line. With the increase in the usage of those specific tags by the brand and its consumers - the brand reach grows exponentially.

3. Experiment with different formats of content

• Social Stories (Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp)
• Host live sessions on major platforms
• Create Snackable Holiday Content - GIFs, timelapses, short videos etc

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4. Launch holiday contests & giveaways

To make it more personal to the community, building better connections between brand and consumer.

5. Announce special holiday products

Holidays are when people expect new things, and with brands pushing something new; the chance of a sale being made is far greater.

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6. Look up monthly forecasts on holidays

Research on the various days & hashtags your brands can grasp at - with this, every week could be made a little more entertaining!

7. Schedule posts in advance

Every social platform has their own peak hours - target those peak hours, analyse your past reports, and target the time which brings-in the most engagement

8. Give back to the community during the holidays

The festive season is when you maximise the emotions - target the most fulfilling sentiment, of your brand’s community.

Run charity drives on the side, donate a percentage of your sales to a local cause, etc - small or big, do what you can.

9. Prepare to spend more 

Spending more during the holiday period is a pretty standard practice for brands.

Paid ads/PPC cost more during the holiday season, but a brand should always prepare and budget accordingly.

10. Utilise holiday weekends for sales

Layer informational posts on your product and services during the weekdays 

And then move to sharing discounts, deals, and other holiday specials on the weekends.

This is because most consumers buy as the weekend rolls around, and that’s mostly when they are free to surf around and window shop at the least.

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Be Pragmatic - Integrate the essentials to perfect your brand's Holiday Calendar

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