Happy Hanukkah! Or is it Merry Christmas? Do you combine them with New Year’s and greet everyone with a blanket “Happy Holidays” on your social media profiles? These are the questions that most social media managers consider when creating their content calendars – particularly near the end of the year when holidays come in quick succession. How do you recognize and celebrate the occasion without excluding a group of your clients or influencers? And how does a brand appear more human on social media without acknowledging what’s happening in real life?
First: Always add value with your social media content.
When creating holiday-related posts, ask: Do they inform, help, entertain, or inspire your community? Or are they simply filler in an already packed newsfeed of throw-away greetings? Easy win: keep your clients apprised of any business impact that the holiday may bring, such as a change in business hours. A well-designed graphic or animation celebrating the charm of the season will delight your audience. A message with heartfelt thanks to your clients will add a nice touch at the end of the year.
Next: Ensure that your posts do not exclude or alienate members of your community.
By now, you should have a strong understanding of who are the members of your community. Are your followers spread throughout the world, or based in the local region of your organization? Consider the calendar in all of those locations (or as many as you can).
If you honor religious and cultural holidays in your social media posts, it’s customary to honor all of the major holidays for your community within a given timeframe. For example, in December there are Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa – and likely others.
When is it appropriate to not acknowledge holidays?
When holidays are insignificant or only symbolic – such as Valentine’s Day or National Smoothie Day – you might note the date with something lighthearted and entertaining, but you can just as easily skip them altogether when planning your content. Depending on your followers, certain holidays may be considered controversial, so it’s important to truly understand who they are and what is important to them – and what your business goals are – and avoid anything in that category.
Why can’t we have a simple solution? Like many questions about content and social media management, the answers are often influenced by your social media policy, your own judgment, your organization’s personality and other messaging guidelines you have in place. As with any other externally focused communications, it is important to have another person review your content before posting them. A second person will likely detect any potential issues or unintended meanings in your content that you might have overlooked.
Happy Holidays!