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New Year Marketing Is All About Targeting

January is the time when many marketing teams are reviewing what worked in the previous year and assessing the opportunities that lie ahead. Many of the next big retail events on the horizon don’t fit on our January social media calendar. And they present an interesting mix of opportunities for marketers: 

• Official holidays: Easter and Mother’s Day
• Sporting events: The Super Bowl, March Madness 
• Traditions: Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day festivities, spring cleaning, and spring break

Believe it or not, it’s already time to start thinking about your spring campaigns. And the best spring campaigns require for more specific targeting: 

Valentine’s Day targets friends and couples. March Madness targets college basketball fans. St. Patrick’s Day targets fun-loving party-goers. Easter targets families with kids. And UK and US Mother’s Day both target older children and spouses. 

Building effective spring marketing campaigns requires you to get good at using different types of content on different platforms for different audience segments.

The key is knowing which platforms to target and identifying the best types of content to use so you can loop the right influencers into the mix to create content that resonates.

January 2024 Social Media Calendar – Holidays Worth Noting

The arrival of January will bring with it some pretty interesting hashtag holidays that are perfect for your social media content marketing, including:

• National Blood Donor Month
• National Soup Month
• Sugar Awareness Week
• National Irish Coffee Day
• Cuddle Up Day
• National Popcorn Day

Want more topical marketing insights to guide your campaigns through every month of the year? Book a strategy call with one of our experts today!

About This Creator

Константин Смирнов | Wizard of Design

Konstantin Smirnov has a knack for dreaming up fantastical illustrations that convert complex concepts into really cool visuals. He has created an amazing catalog of magnificent illustrations and designs that help bring The Shelf branding to life. You’ll find his work on just about every creative asset we publish.

The post January 2024 Social Media Calendar appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

It’s time to bring those holiday influencer marketing campaigns on home. But it’s also time to set your sights on your 2024 social media campaigns. We filled the December 2023 social media calendar with hashtags to help get you in front of different segments of your target audience. Plus, you get a solid helping of marketing tips and ideas.

Shop Early and Grab Those Discounts

This year, the National Retail Federation reports that holiday spending is set to hit record levels. Winter holiday spending in November and December is predicted to grow between 3 to 4 percent. That could mean a total spending of $966 billion. And online sales are expected to grow between 7 and 9 percent, accounting for some $278 billion in spending.

Consumers are starting earlier to give themselves more time to find the best deals. In fact, 43 percent started shopping before November. They’re also likely to do more research and seek out influencer recommendations.

Take heed: now’s the time to promote your offers. Consumers are spending more, but they’re buying fewer items, so their holiday shopping could wrap up sooner this year. A holiday roundup offers a great opportunity to feature your products and help consumers looking for last-minute gift ideas.

December Social Media Calendar — Holidays Worth Noting

The arrival of December will bring with it some pretty interesting hashtag holidays that are perfect for your social media content marketing, including:

• Safe Toys and Gifts Awareness Month
• Military Family Appreciation Month
• Write a Friend Month
• Kwanzaa
• National Human Rights Week
• Game Day
• Bacon Day
• St. Nicholas Day
• Go Caroling Day

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About This Creator

Константин Смирнов | Wizard of Design

Konstantin Smirnov has a knack for dreaming up fantastical illustrations that convert complex concepts into really cool visuals. He has created an amazing catalog of magnificent illustrations and designs that help bring The Shelf branding to life. You’ll find his work on just about every creative asset we publish.

The post December 2023 Social Media Calendar + Marketing Ideas appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

We reveal all the tips to niche down and stand out. So, take a look at the November 2023 social media calendar below. And feel free to embed it on your website using the embed code under the calendar.

November Social Media Calendar — Holidays Worth Noting

The arrival of November brings some pretty interesting hashtag holidays that are perfect for your social media content marketing, including:

• No-Shave November
• National Native American Heritage Month
• World Communication Week
• Game and Puzzle Week
• Book Lovers Day
• Small Business Saturday
• World Kindness Day

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Hyper-Target Your Audience with Micro Campaigns

If you take one thing away from our November social media calendar, let it be to start hyper-targeting. Whatever the goals of your holiday campaign, hyper-targeting should be a part of it. Here’s why:

Zeroing in on specific segments of your audience allows you to monitor their engagement and responsiveness in real time. So you can essentially tweak your campaign messaging as needed to optimize throughout. That way, when you roll out your big campaign in the days leading up to Thanksgiving, you know exactly which messages best resonate with your audience.

Hyper-targeting is also a smart way to run influencer marketing campaigns when you’re working with a smaller budget. Actually…

How about I give you a few ideas for ways you can do some hyper-targeting through October and November? These are ideas I’ve pulled (and in some instances, modified) from our post of 30 influencer marketing ideas to boost your sales.

Giveaways and Contests

This type of post usually doesn’t require a lot of creativity as it relates to creating assets. But it’s a great way to boost visibility and grow your audience.

Ambassadorships

These are a great way to recruit creators to help build your catalog of assets while maintaining a relatively set budget.

Webinars

Great for B2B partnerships. Partnering with an influencer who is running a webinar can shake out in a number of different ways. Your brand can sponsor the webinar or provide the expert the influencer will be interviewing. This works well because you have the influencer’s marketing engine working hard to push that content along with your own marketing team.

Podcasts

Podcast influencer marketing is becoming more and more common. It’s particularly great for products whose value is better understood when explained. Podcasts can introduce products that aren’t so intuitive. And the best part? The audience is often actively listening. Plus, podcasts provide the opportunity for your sponsored content to be discovered months and even years after your campaign wraps.

That’s a Warp on The November Social Media Calendar

Happy almost holidays, and best of luck hyper-targeting those festive campaigns! We hope this post helps you gobble up all your goals as we close out the year.

About This Creator

Константин Смирнов | Wizard of Design

Konstantin Smirnov has a knack for dreaming up fantastical illustrations that convert complex concepts into really cool visuals. He has created an amazing catalog of magnificent illustrations and designs that help bring The Shelf branding to life. You’ll find his work on just about every creative asset we publish.

The post November 2023 Social Media Calendar + Marketing Ideas appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

Your October planning should include some low-effort pushes for brand lift while you’re planning your holiday campaign. Silence is not golden this time of the year. So, here are a few brand lift ideas that will set your holiday strategy up nicely. And if you’re interested in grabbing more details on these ideas, we actually have an entire post for ya.

• Company Halloween party including a costume contest that your Instagram followers get to vote on (hello, engagement!)
• Creepiest display awards where your audience can nominate homes in their area to receive your offbeat award plus some cool swag or a monetary prize
• Best kid or critter costume. Your online followers can enter to win free products or a cash prize
• Sponsor a trunk-or-treat bonanza and bazaar. You can host the event at your location or even rent a park then invite locals to come take part

These types of events can be planned well in advance to keep your load light. But they’re small enough to hopefully free up the rest of your marketing team to focus on building and rolling out your winter holiday campaign.

October Hashtag Calendar – Holidays Worth Noting

The arrival of October brings with it some pretty interesting hashtag holidays that are perfect for your social media content marketing, including:

• National Pizza Month
• Breast Cancer Awareness Month
• International Magic Week
• Get Organized Week
• Global Cat Day
• National Taco Day
• National Coming Out Day
• Halloween

Take a look at the October 2023 social media calendar below and feel free to embed it on your website using the embed code under the calendar.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Константин Смирнов | Wizard of Design

Konstantin Smirnov has a knack for dreaming up fantastical illustrations that convert complex concepts into really cool visuals. He has created an amazing catalog of magnificent illustrations and designs that help bring The Shelf branding to life. You’ll find his work on just about every creative asset we publish.

The post October 2023 Social Media Calendar + Marketing Ideas appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

September campaigns are all about keeping your audience engaged as we roll into the holiday season. If you’re running deals and promos for Halloween, September is the best time to get in front of your audience. 45 percent of Halloween shoppers are doing their Halloween spending this month.

If you’re not selling anything Halloween-related, you can still use Halloween to boost your visibility and start getting eyes on your brand ahead of the winter holiday push which will ramp up in October.

So, this month’s tip is right in line with finding ways to stay visible and get on people’s radars over the next four to six weeks. Let’s talk about how you can use contests, giveaways, and freemium promos to boost brand lift and start building your army of loyal customers.

Using Promos, Contests, and Giveaways to Boost Your Visibility Ahead of Holiday Shopping Season

Anyone who has spent hundreds of dollars on draft lattes after getting a few freebies through a rebate app like Ibotta understands the power of a giving something away.

For example, ready-to-drink cans of coffee are a grocery list staple for me when three years ago, I couldn’t even get my mind around what a draft latte was.

When rebate apps started offering free and discounted Bulletproof, La Colombe, High Rise, and Super Coffees, I bought them. And when the coupons disappeared and I was staring down the barrel of full retail price… I still bought them.

More, when I moved to a new neighborhood and my local grocer didn’t carry my beloved draft lattes, I legit shopped at another store farther from my house. A smaller store that I liked less but that carried the coffees I’d gotten used to drinking. These are products I almost certainly would not have noticed had I not been given the chance to try them for free.

I’ve said all of that as proof of this:

Rewards programs work.

In the US, the average consumer is a member of more than a dozen loyalty programs, and 84 percent of loyalty program members have made a redemption from the program. 90 percent of shoppers are willing to use a coupon, even if they’re not your typical Sunday morning coupon clipper.

For your brand, offering digital coupons is a good way to drive traffic from your social media profile to your website and into your store. Plus, rewards programs are a great way to build your rep as a trustworthy brand.

The challenge many brands perceive is that by discounting their products, they would be seen as less valuable. The flipside is for people like me who use discounts and freebies as a way to discover new products. The 20 bucks you give away in free coffee you’ll make back hundreds of times over when I spend 20 bucks buying your coffee every time I make a grocery run. In fact, shoppers who use coupons end up spending 35 percent more than those who don’t.

So, consider using coupons, and especially loyalty programs, not as a way to drive up sales, but as a way to make your brand more visible and more reputable.

Get this: 8 in 10 consumers say they would be okay with brands collecting more information about them IF that big data led to more personalized recommendations.

Promotions, giveaways, and contests can help with brand recall and make your brand appear more trustworthy. Instead of having a bunch of people bookmark your post and never visit that bookmark again, by crafting contests and giveaways and offering coupon codes, you can get them to click through to your site where you can woo them with your fanciness and upselling abilities.

Think about incorporating discount codes, coupons, and referral links into your social strategy this September. Watch those promotional efforts work their magic and your brand loyalty skyrocket.

September 2023 Hashtag Holidays Worth Noting

The arrival of September brings some pretty interesting hashtag holidays that are perfect for your social media content marketing, including:

• Hispanic Heritage Month
• National Yoga Month
• National Indoor Plant Week
• Naitonal Roller Skating Week
• World Afro Day
• National Good Neighbor Day
• Positive Thinking Day

Take a look at the September 2023 social media calendar below. Feel free to embed it on your website using the embed code under the calendar.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Константин Смирнов | Wizard of Design

Konstantin Smirnov has a knack for dreaming up fantastical illustrations that convert complex concepts into really cool visuals. He has created an amazing catalog of magnificent illustrations and designs that help bring The Shelf branding to life. You’ll find his work on just about every creative asset we publish.

The post September 2023 Social Media Calendar + Marketing Ideas appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

A whopping 78 million students who will sling on their backpacks and return to school this fall. Although, if you haven’t stocked up on supplies yet, you may be in the minority — 55 percent of back-to-school shopping happens in July.

Get your sweaters and social media strategy ready because fall is just around the corner. That means your summer campaigns are likely coming to a close. As we ramp up for a busy holiday season, it’s a great time to run giveaway and contest campaigns. Encourage participants to post their own content showcasing your brand for more contest entries, and let the UGC roll in!

You may want to lean into feel-good content. Themes of kindness and friendship will be in the air as it is Peace Month. Although, it’s also International Pirate Month. What arrgghh you going to do?

August 2023 Social Media Calendar Holidays Worth Noting

• Black Business Month
• Peace Month
• Friendship Week
• Be Kind to Humankind Week
• National Lazy Day
• World Humanitarian Day
• Eat Outside Day
• National Ice Cream Sandwich Day

Take a look at the August 2023 social media calendar below and feel free to embed it on your website using the embed code under the calendar.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Константин Смирнов | Wizard of Design

Konstantin Smirnov has a knack for dreaming up fantastical illustrations that convert complex concepts into really cool visuals. He has created an amazing catalog of magnificent illustrations and designs that help bring The Shelf branding to life. You’ll find his work on just about every creative asset we publish.

The post 2023 August Social Media Calendar appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

Consumers spent $23 billion shopping for Father’s Day in June. As we come together to spend another $84 per person on Fourth of July festivities, you may be simultaneously bracing for a mid-summer sales lull.

For many companies, mid-summer is the time to plan for winter campaigns and make important changes with software and processes. That’s cool. But you may be interested to know more than 75 million students are on their way back to school between July and October (October is when the last few college add/drops can slip by without incurring a grade… remember?). 

Prime Day, anyone? While the timetable may be tight to put together a whole, big thing for Prime Day on July 15 – 16, you can certainly take advantage of the mid-year “holiday spirit” by promoting your own big sale that week. In 2022, Prime Day surpassed Cyber Monday 2022 in sales by more than a half-billion dollars in sales.

Pinterest! For the next few weeks, there’s going to be a HUGE jump in Pinterest activity as pinners plan for back-to-school, Halloween, AND Thanksgiving. Yeah. Thanksgiving.

So, yeah… consumers are already planning for the next thing. And you should, too. Now’s the time to start identifying those marketing goals, researching influencers, and coming up with sassy ideas for your fall and holiday marketing.

July 2023 Social Media Calendar – Holidays Worth Noting

Nevertheless, the arrival of July brings with it some pretty interesting hashtag holidays that are perfect for your social media content marketing, including:

• National Ice Cream Month
• National Women’s Motorcycle Month
• Nude Recreation Week
• National Moth Week
• Independence Day (U.S.)
• National Mojito Day
• Collector Car Day

Take a look at the July 2023 social media calendar below and feel free to embed it on your website using the embed code under the calendar.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Константин Смирнов | Wizard of Design

Konstantin Smirnov has a knack for dreaming up fantastical illustrations that convert complex concepts into really cool visuals. He has created an amazing catalog of magnificent illustrations and designs that help bring The Shelf branding to life. You’ll find his work on just about every creative asset we publish.

The post 2023 July Social Media Calendar appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

It’s back-to-school time!

Whaaa?

School isn’t even out yet! Well, schools in warmer states like Georgia (our HQ) break in May and return to classes in late July or early August. So…

Back-to-college and back-to-school account for the biggest and second-biggest retail events of the entire year. That means each of them drums up more revenue and higher spending per household than the winter holiday season.

We’re dropping all this science on you now because by the end of June, about 1 in 5 back-to-school shoppers are already shopping. And they’re using Pinterest to organize their ideas.

Pinterest! It’s the great social media summertime pastime. It’s where the back-to-school planning happens, and the Halloween ideas are found. So, when we point you to Pinterest, we do so, in part, because it’s the best place to see where consumer money is about to go. 

Dads outspend moms on back-to-school stuff and many shoppers will delay BTS shopping until after Amazon’s midsummer Prime Day. So, one easy-breezy summer idea is to run a parallel Christmas in July sale to get in on that action.  

Tip: Consider adding SMS or geo-fencing to support your social media campaigns since your customers are busy with summer fun. 

June 2023 Social Media Calendar – Holidays Worth Noting

Nevertheless, the arrival of June brings with it some pretty interesting hashtag holidays that are perfect for your social media content marketing, including:

• LGBTQ+ Pride Month
• Great Outdoors Month
• Men’s Health Week
• Juneteenth
• National Boys & Girls Club Week
• National Moonshine Day
• Army Birthday
• National Day of Yoga

Take a look at the June 2023 social media calendar below and feel free to embed it on your website using the embed code under the calendar.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Константин Смирнов | Wizard of Design

Konstantin Smirnov has a knack for dreaming up fantastical illustrations that convert complex concepts into really cool visuals. He has created an amazing catalog of magnificent illustrations and designs that help bring The Shelf branding to life. You’ll find his work on just about every creative asset we publish.

The post 2023 June Social Media Calendar appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

May Day, Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day… gonna be fun. So, here’s the lineup…

Mother’s Day is the big one this month, as many of you have probably already spent a significant amount of time pointing your marketing guns at Mother’s Day.

This year, 84 percent of Americans are planning to celebrate 85 million moms. this month, celebrated by 8 in 10 Americans. Mother’s Day spending is expected to top $35.7 billion this year, according to the National Retail Federation, making it the fourth biggest spending holiday of the year, after the back-to-college, back-to-school, and winter holidays.

Holidays on the May Social Media Calendar Worth Noting

The arrival of May brings with it some pretty interesting hashtag holidays that are perfect for your social media content marketing, including:

• National Photography Month
• ALS Awareness Month
• National Women’s Health Week
• Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week
• Cinco de Mayo
• Mother’s Day
• NASCAR Day
• Memorial Day

A Few Marketing Ideas Worth a Look

Kickstart Your Omni-Channel Campaign

Getting people outdoors is always our go-to marketing tip, but you just never know when spring will actually start in different parts of the country. In Detroit, it’s 48 degrees and raining. In LA, it’s 58 degrees and hazy. In Miami, it’s 81 degrees… but it’s storming!

So, may stall those outdoor events until the weather’s a bit more predictable, and consider instead focusing on getting your brand and your messaging in as many places as possible, and in every format your audience consumes content.

Audio – Partnering with podcast influencers affords brands the chance to get their name and products in front of well-informed, high-income consumers. Approximately 94 percent of podcast listeners are active on at least one social media channel, and 54 of them have thought about buying a product they heard promoted on a podcast.

Live Shopping – Or  Livestream your way to sales. Use live commerce to build community, build trust, and shorten the sales cycle by allowing users to engage with influencers and get their questions answered in real time.

Video – The one media format that seems to fill all the places and tick all the boxes right now is short-form video. This is a huge opportunity for brands! By working with influencers who create both long and short-form content, you can now reach your target audiences on multiple platforms without duplicating your efforts

Take a look at the May 2023 hashtag calendar below and feel free to embed it on your website using the embed code under the calendar.

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The post 2023 May Social Media Calendar appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.

A Quirky Lil Mix of #HashtagHoliday Fun

April is full of national days promoting nature, outdoorsy stuff, prettying-up your space, taking care of the fam, and leaning into lifestyle trends. Since April is usually about the time people start getting really antsy about wanting to get outside, we usually like to promote outdoor experiences that allow brands and marketers to use nature as the world’s best, and most beautiful backdrop. After all, the summer concert season is upon us. Afro Beats festivals (Burna Boy!!!). That big country music festival descending on Panama City Beach (Morgan Wallen!!!). Coachella. SxSW. Things are about to get CRAZY. And maybe a little loose.

To kick off some of the bigger celebrations of the month, National Pet Day is on April 11th. Pet lovers like me love to surprise our furry and scaly friends with new toys and treats to commemorate this holiday!

April is also home to National Garden Day (14th) and Earth Day (22nd). This is a great combo for outdoor enthusiasts and DIYers to get their spend on. 

Bicycle Day on the 19th is favored by lifestyle – and specifically – biker fanatics. These niche markets draw a huge presence on social media to commemorate their shared passions.

Easter is by far the biggest nationally celebrated holiday in April. There is a lot of stuff needed to throw the best Easter celebration on the block. The best way to guide these purchases is through authentic marketing from religious and lifestyle influencers!

April 2023 Social Media Calendar – Holidays Worth Noting

The arrival of April brings with it some pretty interesting hashtag holidays that are perfect for your social media content marketing, including:

• National Autism Awareness Month
• Month of the Military Child
• International Pooper Scooper Week
• National Dance Week
• Animal Care Week
• Easter
• National Pet Day
• Earth Day

Take a look at the April 2023 social media calendar below and feel free to embed it on your website using the embed code under the calendar.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Константин Смирнов | Wizard of Design

Konstantin Smirnov has a knack for dreaming up fantastical illustrations that convert complex concepts into really cool visuals. He has created an amazing catalog of magnificent illustrations and designs that help bring The Shelf branding to life. You’ll find his work on just about every creative asset we publish.

The post 2023 April Social Media Calendar appeared first on The Shelf Full-Service Influencer Marketing.