It’s easy, and quite common, to run out of ideas and inspiration for unique content if you’re someone who’s consistently active online—particularly if you work in a niche industry (you could also employ the same inspiration to your promotional endeavours offline, too).
One way to generate content ideas is to piggy-back on appropriate news stories, i.e. industry changes and developments, or even general stories in the wider media. You can share the link to the relevant news report and add your opinion. This is an easy way to establish or strengthen your expertise and demonstrate your knowledge of the sector you work within.
Another idea is to consult the calendar of ‘National Days’ and ‘Awareness Days’; these give you more scope to be creative than big news stories (which are typically negative in nature).
Did you know that the following were all on the National/Awareness Days calendar?
National Bloody Mary Day (New Years’ Day)
National Squirrel Appreciation Day (January 21st)
International Fun at Work Day (April 1st)
National Blame Someone Else Day (August 13th)
National No Beard Day (October 18th)
National Wear Your Pearls Day (December 15th)
These are examples of the more offbeat events (there are plenty of serious causes/topics to be found). Across each month there are over a hundred special days that could prove the basis of a social media post, video or livestream commentary for your business.
Being visible online is a huge benefit to businesses, and producing regular content contributes to this. Some people respond better to light-hearted posts whilst others remain oblivious; whilst National Days provide a great source of ideas, your company would probably be viewed as annoying or amateurish if you only featured the wacky days that exist.
Tailoring your content is key, too. It won’t benefit your brand to celebrate National Bloody Mary Day if you sell kids’ clothes. However, if you own a pub or restaurant that serves this tipple, it’s a fantastic opportunity to talk about the range of drinks you offer. You could even give a discount to anyone that orders a Bloody Mary, to entice customers to come through your doors (though I doubt you’d need to do this on New Years’ Day, when you’ll likely be packed to the rafters anyway—but you get my drift).
You will likely engage your current audience with these types of posts; however, by including a hashtag relating to the special day in question, you will also have access to new followers, to whom the National Day matters. The event will give people an opportunity to connect with you and begin a conversation.
Capitalising on National Days shows that your brand is aware of the challenges some people face (if the day is a cause of some sort); they can also show your/your brand’s personality, i.e. that your company isn’t averse to having a bit of fun in the workplace (if you’re capitalising on one of the sillier/stranger days in the calendar). One thing to remember, if choosing to feature the latter—be careful when featuring humour in your business’s content. Gentle fun every now and then is okay but be careful not to poke fun at certain sections of the population or create content that will more likely evoke offence than spontaneous mirth.
National Days can give you the opportunity to collaborate with other people who have the same audience as you (even your competitors, if you’re coming together to raise awareness of a cause).
Look over the National/Awareness Days calendars and choose a handful of events that you’d like to promote each year that are relevant to your brand. For full effectiveness, give yourself the time to plan what you’d like to do to mark the day and the space to work out who you could collaborate with.
National Days, in most cases, are a bit of fun; Awareness Days could prove inherently powerful. Used appropriately, either option could improve your social reach, bring PR opportunities and dangle possible business growth in the form of joint ventures and collaborative endeavours.
