Coming up with fresh content every day, all day can be an exhausting pain in the butt! Let me just get that out of the way now. It’s okay if you have made your brain sweat trying to repurpose and syndicate content.
Of course, when you come up with a content idea, you can repurpose it in many ways. At the very least, one blog post can be repurposed into a video, infographic, graphic memes, and/or a series of social media posts.
Sidebar: when I say repurpose, I mean transform content from its original type into another type.
However, as a content creator for your business, you still need to some up with new ideas, ways to spin content, and most important, keep your audience interested and engaged! What makes a bigger impact? Figuring out ways to distinguish yourself and your brand.
[Tweet “If you are on the hunt for new ways to spin content and keep your audience interested, try this!”]
For example, people love posting inspirational motivational quotes. People love posting how to’s. People post tips. Whoopdeefreakindooo… this is to be expected. How will your content stand apart from your competitors? What can you post that’s different?
No time to read the full post? Listen to it on the podcast:
How to Include Unusual Holidays In Your Editorial Calendar
Here is content that just about everyone can include in their editorial planning: HOLIDAYS.
Now, I’m not talking about holidays like Christmas, New Year’s Day, Labor Day, etc. Almost everybody does that.
Go for the unexpected! I’m referring to unusual holidays, those internet-age quirky holidays that MOST businesses do NOT take advantage of. If you’re looking for fun ways to spice up your content marketing, design some content around the quirky non-traditional holidays celebrated throughout the year.
[Tweet “Spice up your content marketing and design content around unusual holidays!”]
For example, when is the last time you saw a business celebrate National Bird Day or National Relaxing Day? Have you even heard of National Ditch Your Resolutions Day or Smile Power Day? Yup, these are actual holidays, observed every year!
Why Color Outside the Lines With Your Content
At first glance, you may already (unconsciously) be on the defensive. You may be wondering, just how popular are these kinds of holidays?
Or perhaps you have NEVER heard of any of these nontraditional holidays, and you think it’s a waste of time to bother with stuff like this. None of your customers have ever heard of these and they won’t know what you’re talking about anyway, right?
Not so fast! Here’s why you want to incorporate quirky, nontraditional content into your editorial calendar:
The internet loves quirky content!
Seriously, these holidays are great for online businesses. The internet loves quirky, unusual content! And as a bonus, many of these holiday hashtags will trend on social media! What better way to get some visibility and express your brand personality than to develop content around a holiday hashtag?
Again, anybody can create a campaign around Christmas or Mother’s Day. The question becomes, how can you be different? How can you develop your content to stand out in your market?
[Tweet “Different kinds of content make your brand stand out – try adding quirky holidays to your editorial calendar.”]
A Simple Content Plan to Incorporate Unusual Holidays
It’s time to inject some fun into your brand. Here are a few ways you can use quirky holidays, no matter what industry you’re in:
- write a blog post about it and tie it to one of your products
- create fun memes around it
- host a contest and give away a related prize
Are you wondering how you can use these holidays? After all, your industry is different, right?
But I’m not a celebrity brand.
I work from home, I don’t have a brick-and mortar store to decorate.
Anybody that sells food can do this, but my industry is not glamorous.
My marketing budget is “budget, what budget?”
I hear you. Did I get any of your excuses right? Fret not my friend! If you’re a regular here, you know I wouldn’t suggest you start doing something new or different without giving your specific examples of the HOW to do it. That’s not right, I wouldn’t leave you hanging like that!
[Tweet “Inject more fun into your brand! Add a few unusual holidays to your marketing calendar.”]
Unusual Holidays In Action: Content Examples
Let’s take a look at a holiday like National Bird Day. At first glance, there is NOTHING the average business can do with this holiday other than post a meme with a bird on it. However, I’m going to put my content marketing fedora on for you… allow me to explain how people in different industries can play around with this particular holiday if they wanted to:
Industry 1 – Fitness
A fitness trainer can offer a group session on this day, and incorporate 3 physical moves that mimic bird-like movements (think neck rolling, arms pumping and flapping). Maybe take a group pic with clients all doing the move and post it on Instagram with a caption of “This is how we celebrate National Bird Day at XYZ Training!”
Industry 2 – Food/Nutrition
Publish a blog post/video and use a bird analogy: how birds fly south for the winter, analogous to how humans flock to comfort foods in the winter. Offer a nutritious version of a comfort food recipe.
Industry 3 – Apparel/Designer/Wearable Art
Pick a bird that has the same colorway as a piece of clothing/bag/shoes you want to promote. Create a set of visuals and incorporate the bird! It can be a “Celebrate National Bird Day with 20% Off” flash sale on the latest products you’re trying to sell.
Industry 4 – Internet Marketing
Create a set of 3 memes using bird images, each with a marketing tip. Be sure to use include the trending hashtag #NationalBirdDay in the caption. As another example, you could create a contest where social media followers take pics of a bird and tag you – coolest pic wins a prize! Simple and easy enough for anyone to do!
There you have it: 4 different industries, and 4 different ways to use one holiday that you may (or may not) have heard of until now. And guess what? This is a real holiday, celebrated annually on January 5! When I went on Twitter that day it was a trending hashtag. I am not making this stuff up!
Sidebar: If you think I made that look easy, it’s because that is MY JOB. I’m a Marketing Strategist, and people hire me to do this kind of creative thinking and implementation. Need this kind of help? Holla at me here!
Now that I have given you reasons to incorporate unusual holidays into your marketing mix, and how you can do this, I have one more piece of information to give you.
Where To Find Unusual Holidays
Here are 5 good sites to use to find out about unusual, nontraditional holidays. You don’t have to get too elaborate; keep it simple and fun! This makes your brand far more interesting to follow, and you will definitely stand out from your competitors.
To make it even easier, each one of the sites is hyperlinked, so go ahead and click ’em!
[Tweet “Here are 5 good sites to use to find out about unusual, non-traditional holidays.”]
I suggest you visit each site to see which one you like best. Each is slightly different. Then, pick 1-4 holidays per month to use for the next 3 months. Notice I DID NOT say pick a holiday every day, nor did I say to pick all of your holidays for the year.
Here’s why: this is NOT busy work. If you’re new to this, you could spend a ton of time sifting through these sites and learning about all kinds of fun holidays. And getting excited… and getting nothing done.
Instead, plan quarter by quarter. Include a couple of holidays each month in your content marketing plan. That’s more than enough to play around with!
Even though this is work, it can still be fun. Creating content and coming up with different marketing ideas is a creative process! Keep it simple, experiment, and most important of all, keep it fun!
Ciao,
Miss Kemya
PS – If the thought of all this “fun” makes your eyes bleed, you need to hire me as your Content Strategist! I can do all sorts of marketing things for your biz. Click here to contact me!
Do you include quirky, unusual holidays in your content marketing efforts? What do you do?
