Should you post holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries to social?


Do holiday, birthday, and anniversary posts belong on corporate social accounts?

Do holiday, birthday, and anniversary posts belong on corporate social accounts? Our opinion: It depends on the purpose. A good purpose is if you’re following a thoughtful strategy. Maybe your company and your team has a lot of face time with current/prospective clients or customers. It’s a good idea to get their names and faces out there, so your audience doesn’t feel like they’re meeting a stranger. Maybe you’re in the middle of a hiring push and want to attract the best talent—showing off your team’s personality gives a glimpse into the day-to-day of working with your team. If you’ve got an experienced team and see that as a competitive advantage, anniversary posts are smart. Holidays are trickier—if they connect with your company’s purpose, mission, or values, you should absolutely share them.

A “bad” purpose (which honestly isn’t that bad, you could do worse) is if you’re just trying to hit a post-count quota and see it as low-hanging fruit. This becomes a problem if the only thing on your social accounts comes from this bucket. Even worse if you’re an agency selling social services—that’s not a very responsible use of your client’s resources, and you’re taking their money while not doing much to distinguish them from their competition.

Long story short, if you have a strategy and campaign built around holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries, go for it.


Unhinged social media: in or out?

Remember when social media marketing shifted from “we just need a presence to promote ourselves” to “what if we just act outrageous and deranged online?” Wendy’s or Denny’s Twitter account probably comes to mind. Man….what we wouldn’t give to have been in the room during that pitch.

So, those accounts (and others that adopted that same strategy around the same time) gained traction because they stood out. They were fresh and new. With each new brand that adopted that approach, it became less unique. Eventually, the intrigue wore off, and some audiences got sick of it. The official term is fatigued.

TikTok kinda brought a renaissance of unhinged social media content. Perhaps no brand is more well-known for this than Duolingo. We’re big fans of Nuggs, especially their “locked in the basement” series. Based on what we’ve gathered, if you’re going this route, you need 4 things:

  1. Very chill leadership
  2. Ability to tell a story in 60ish seconds WITHOUT selling constantly
  3. A mascot or face of the brand
  4. A creator behind the account (which could also be #3)

And honestly, without those things, you should just say no if your boss asks why you don’t have the same kind of presence of Duolingo. They dedicate a ton of resources to their TikTok alone, so it’s unfair to compare your split role in marketing and social media to what they’re able to create.


Struggling to keep your feeds full?

We've got a solution: Our Content Engine. It takes 2-4 hours of your time and turns it into up to 62 pieces of unique and engaging content for your social media channels. Check it out 👇

video preview

9/8 Central

At 9/8 Central, we make content creation painless...and worth it. And we want to teach you to do the same. We use our years of experience to teach businesses and creators how to get the most out of their video content across their digital footprint. If you want to learn the best ways to use video in social media, then you need to subscribe to our newsletter!

Read more from 9/8 Central

Does your audience care about your brand account? Someone sent us this recently and it brings up something really important. And we actually kinda agree, but we have a slightly different take: posting like a brand account is dead. Compare brand accounts to creator accounts (or founder accounts, like the Reel references). Brand accounts are usually (but not always): Stuffy Rigid Sales-oriented Not fun Not entertaining Bleh Creator accounts are usually (but not always): Interesting Personal...

Social media copywriting tips Copywriting on social media is an art, and it’s often overlooked because of everything else that goes into managing social channels. It’s critical but tough—best practices for social media copywriting are surprisingly fluid. Here are a few pieces of advice you can apply today to make your social content shine a little brighter. Know your voice: If you’re managing a brand account, it’s important to differentiate between the brand’s voice and your natural writing...

Selling on social This statement is one of the trickiest contradictions in marketing today. Here’s why: people don’t want to be sold to on social, but they still want to buy here. Organic social content is an arms race right now. Volume is the goal—can we be everywhere in front of everyone all the time? This extreme thought process isn’t just a poor approach, it’s impossible for most brands to achieve. The result of this posting frenzy is convoluted social channels. A ton of white noise. And...