National days can be a great inspiration for your wedding business content (blogs, social media, podcasts and vlogs) but you can easily get it wrong! Some national days are really important to the press and to your customers such as Mental Health Awareness Day or Anti Bullying Week but there are some that hardly anyone cares about such as National Pink Flamingo Day (which is June 23rd in case you are wondering). We send out a free Wedding Content Calendar every month (you can sign up here) and also are planning to go live every Monday on our Wedding Whisperers Instagram page with content ideas for the week ahead to help you with this.
So why are some important and how can we use them to our advantage – and more importantly, how can we make sure we don’t get it wrong?
1. Focus on the days that really matter
The national days that resonate with the press are the ones that can make a difference in our lives, the ones where we strive to make a change such as International Women’s Day. These are the ones that everyone talks about from the TV to newspapers and of course in business too, so these are the ones to create content around first. This is the time to write a blog sharing your story (everyone loves to read your story) and then share it to social platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. We think of these as campaigns that need planning.
Make sure on Twitter and Instagram you use the hashtag so other people can see you are writing about this topic, and invite conversations. By using hashtags you are also more likely to be found by the press or someone that can help your business.
2. Use the less well-known days as inspiration for your content
While your focus for campaigns should be on the more important national days, you can still create content around the smaller ones. When looking at our calendar ask yourself how you can tie it to weddings. Use the day as a springboard for a piece of content. For example, for National Apricot Day you could share inspiration for apricot and peach coloured weddings. For National Donut Day, start a conversation about alternative wedding cake ideas.
You do not need to be literal about these days – simply use them as inspiration for your content. You do not even need to share the national day in your caption.
3. Use annual events for content ideas
There are other events in the calendar that you can create content around such as The Oscars. Ask yourself, how can I tie in this event with what I do and with weddings as a whole? For example, create a Reel of your favourite red carpet looks to start a conversation on whether your audience would wear these as wedding dresses or suits.
Don’t forget key calendar days such as Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day too. These may well form part of your overall marketing plan but as with all events ask yourself how you can create content that is useful or engaging in the lead-up. For example, a date night ideas post for valentine’s Day needs to be posted before the day itself.
4. Create campaigns
The most important thing to do is to plan for them so you are not reactive. Consider planning a whole campaign for certain weeks or months; for example, if you are a cake maker create content for the whole week with recipes and tips for National Baking Week. Share vegan products and how to make vegan weddings for Veganusary if you are a caterer or a venue.
5. Pitch ideas to the press
Pitch your story to the press well in advance focusing on the national day or week also. I wrote a piece for The Daily Mail about my teetotal journey for Dry January (I pitched this early December) and also this piece about charity shops for Black Friday called Forget Black Friday, Choose Charity Shops Instead and this for Anti Bullying Week: 10 ways to deal with playground bullies (and I don’t mean the kids!).
What not to do?
A great example of what not to do and that caused a backlash is when brands used International Women’s Day to sell more products. The day’s purpose is to raise awareness about the need for parity, to work together for this and to remember that women in some parts of the world have a long way to go to be accepted as equal. So when brands try to sell their products off the back of it feels unethical, especially as often they are made by young girls in hideous conditions. Here is a great example of what not to do.
It is also important not to jump on key days to make your business “look good”. For example, brands that shout about Pride but do nothing all year to promote or support LGBTQ+ people stand out as being disingenuous. Or use Blue Monday to share advice on mental health support if you do nothing for the rest of the year.
Basically, you need to use your integrity.
If you’d like help getting this right (and importantly not getting it wrong!) why not book a session with us to create your content plan? Email on kate@magpiewedding.com. Or ask us to do your social media for you – check out our packages here.
Resources to help
Wedding Whisperers Business Support
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