290+ Social Media Holidays for Your 2024 Content Calendar [+Template]

Do you celebrate International Cat Day, Pizza Day, or Talk Like a Pirate Day?

There are so many observance days worldwide that we, as marketers, can use to share content relevant to our industries. But odds are, you probably don’t acknowledge these days until you see your favorite brand posting about it.

That‘s why I’ve compiled a list of social media observances for your marketing holiday calendar in 2024 — so you don’t have to.

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Why use a marketing holiday calendar?

A marketing holiday calendar can help you plan for trending social media holidays, and identify the observances that are most relevant to your brand.

For example, you can find opportunities to connect with new and existing followers who share an affinity for a specific food — like popcorn lovers on Popcorn Lover’s Day in March.

Or you can tap into a common interest — such as Super Bowl Sunday for the football fans in your target audience.

While I don’t suggest sharing content on social media and then adding an irrelevant holiday hashtag to it, you can leverage these marketing holidays to promote your brand in a meaningful way.

Not doing so could cause you to miss valuable opportunities where your brand can join the conversations taking place among members of your community.

This easy-to-use Excel template will help you plan out your content and format it for different channels like Facebook, LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and Pinterest.

Use the Above Template to Plan Out Your Social Media Holiday Posts

• Clean Off Your Desk Day #CleanOffYourDeskDay: Second Monday of January
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Day #MLKDay: Third Monday of January
• Get to Know Your Customers Day #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay: Third Thursday of Every Quarter (starting in January)
• Community Manager Appreciation Day #CMAD: Fourth Monday of January

• National High-Five Day #NH5D: Third Thursday of April
• Get to Know Your Customers Day #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay: Third Thursday of Every Quarter (April)
• Denim Day #DenimDay: Last Wednesday in April
• National Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day #COUNTONME: Fourth Thursday in April
• Arbor Day #ArborDay: Last Friday in April (May Vary by State)

• World Asthma Day #WorldAsthmaDay: First Tuesday of May
• National Teacher Appreciation Day #ThankATeacher: First Tuesday of the First Full Week of May

• National Red Nose Day #RedNoseDay: Last Thursday of May
• Heat Awareness Day #NoFryDay: Last Friday of May

June

The list isn’t exhaustive (there are a lot of food-specific holidays out there), and these dates and hashtags may still be subject to change.

• September 11: National Day of Service and Remembrance #911Day

Tips for Using Marketing Holidays on Social Media

1. Prioritize your holidays in advance.

As I mentioned above, the goal isn’t to participate in every social media holiday out there. You’ll want to choose the observances that make the most sense for you and your brand.

Create a list at the start of each month — or better yet, each year — of the holidays you’ll be creating content for. This will make it a lot easier to work this strategy into your content calendar.

And try to spread the love throughout the different months of the year. That way you can capitalize on seasonal trends, too.

2. Keep your audience segments in mind.

It‘s possible that all of the people who interact with your business won’t care about all of the holidays you decide to post about.

That‘s why it’s important to make a thoughtful decision about which observances and conversations you choose to join on social media.

Use insights from your buyer personas to tap into the holidays that align most closely with the interests of your audience.

3. Track the success of your marketing holiday calendar.

As a marketer, I like to try a bunch of different tactics to see what sticks.

I‘d recommend doing that with social media holidays. Especially if this is the first time you’re considering building our a promotion calendar based on observances.

Here’s what that might look like:

• Over the course of a year, you could pick a few observances each month to join in on social media.
• Then, track key metrics like impressions and engagements to see which holidays are getting the most traction for your business.
• And finally, use those insights to inform your social media holiday participation for the next year.

Also, don‘t be afraid to peek at what other brands are doing for inspiration. It’s amazing what goes viral these days.

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This is one example of how you can make a social media holiday post relevant to your target audience while integrating light humor.

2. Valentine’s Day — Afterlight Books

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Afterlight Books is a romance book box subscription service that hit the nail on the head with their Valentine’s week campaign.

You read that right — they turned a social media holiday into a social media week.

Not only is that delightful for their loyal subscribers, but it also capitalizes on one of their main selling points. All of their books are romantic, so it makes sense to make a big deal out of the most romantic holiday of the year!

If your product or business aligns with a specific holiday, feel free to go all out on your campaign.

3. Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month — Spotify

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For Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Spotify featured a diverse panel of artists who are of Asian and Pacific Islander descent.

In the spirit of the holiday, the brand also asked each artist why representation matters to them, which not only uplifts API voices but also honors what heritage months are all about.

Whenever you make a social media holiday post, consider tying the content you’re publishing very closely with the essence of the holiday.

4. Mother’s Day — Mark and Fold

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Stationery brand Mark + Fold kept it simple with this Mother’s Day post, which reminds their followers to order a lasting gift for the wonderful mothers they know.

This post features minimal photography and embodies the brand’s professional, polished tone (with a bit of sass, of course).

It’s a great example of how to keep it simple — no need to go over the top, especially if your brand is more understated in nature.

5. First Day of Summer — Brown University

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If you’re looking for an example of a no-fuss social media holiday post, look no further than this example from a university.

It celebrates the first day of summer, which for most students means a welcome break from school. To encapsulate that spirit, it includes an image of an empty, peaceful, and quiet green (which is, in fact, called the Quiet Green).

With a brief Instagram caption and a dedicated branded hashtag, this social media holiday post is both effective and simple, and absolutely worth imitating if you’re not sure what to post next but know that another holiday is coming up.

6. Halloween — Meta

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For its Halloween post, Meta published a reel titled “Haunted House: Trick-VR–Treat,” which effectively advertises its VR headset product.

It also encapsulates the spooky spirit of the holiday by inviting viewers to join them in a virtual haunted house created by Eli Roth. This is an excellent example of how to tie a holiday post into an experiential marketing campaign.

7. December Holidays — JetPens

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Let’s be honest: December is chock-full of social media holiday opportunities, so it warrants a second example on this list.

JetPens, an online stationery store, delighted its followers with a gift wrapping tutorial (which is just about the hardest thing to do) featuring a few of its stationery items. What a win!

The brand both advertised its products and provided useful information to its followers. Consider taking a similar approach with your posts, where you both honor the holiday and help out your viewers.

8. National Pink Day — Crumbl Cookies

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Crumbl Cookies won the social media holiday game with this post about National Pink Day. Its brand color is pink, so it created a giveaway campaign to celebrate the holiday and invited their followers to tag others for a chance to win.

This is a great example to follow if your brand colors align with any one of the national color holidays.

Just remember that many of those holidays are aligned with a specific cause.

For instance, Purple Day (March 26th) is designed to raise awareness about epilepsy, while National Dress in Blue Day (first Friday in March) aims to raise knowledge about colon cancer.

Social Media Holidays Will Help You Grow Your Brand

Partaking in social media holidays will help you create a stronger brand voice and share posts about trending topics, helping you earn more followers in the long run.

While it’s not important to celebrate every single social media holiday, being aware of the holidays can help you brainstorm ideas for your marketing and implement fun, themed posts into your social media content calendar.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in January 2017 but is updated annually for comprehensiveness.