April National Days

Foreign. So today we're going to go through national days. So every month one of the things that we focus on is how you can get make better use of national days. Now by national days I mean literally everything from the likes of Easter through to National Pet Day and things like that. Because basically it's if you can harness some of the great content that's already out there for National Days and some of the opportunities that are available for the national days, then you are, it just really helps you plan in your content for the rest of the month. So we're going to do a little look back at April, looking at how some big brands and small brands managed to harness the national days and turned it into some really good content. Okay, here we go. So today what we're going to cover is using props on social media and how that can actually drive physical footfall. So we're looking at the connection between physical and digital. We are going to look at collaborations with competitions. In particular, we're looking a little bit at being clear with your marketing messaging. So making sure that you're bang on it when it comes to knowing exactly what you want to say day, what you want people to do off the back of the content. Using again the national days as a hook, using national content to promote your services. So how you can actually just use some of the national days to, to create some really strong content around your services. And then we're going to talk a little bit about using social media to talk about the little things. So all the little things I guess that you do on a day to day basis to maybe surprise, delight your customers that actually you don't maybe talk about that much. So we are going to look at all those things today. Now one of the things that we do is we want you guys to prioritize your channels by learning from your competitors. So I find all of these amazing, all these amazing businesses and the content by basically plugging into maybe. So go into maybe. And so you can see here on the left hand side there's hashtags. So if you don't have a direct competitor, for example, one of the things you can do is you can look up hashtags. So for example for this it would be National Pet Day. It might be Easter weekend, coronation, obviously that's coming up. So it might be those ones. And then what you can do is you can find other businesses that are engaging in those. But then you also might want to find hashtag shop small for example. We've got that in there. Hashtag support small businesses if you want to find other small businesses that are doing really well on social. So it's just a good way of you being able to find other businesses that you haven't found already and compare what you're doing versus what they are doing as well and essentially learning from them. So in the UK today, 79.1% of consumers spend over an hour on social media. Obviously, we spend slightly more than that, let's face it. And we have 19% of businesses with an active social media account. So that tells me that there's a big gap in the market and we need to be filling. So that's exactly what we're doing here today. That's what we're doing every day, because we help over 25,000 businesses get more out of social media. We give you guys a way of comparing your social media with any other business. You can have a look at all the social media tools and insights you need to use social media effectively and access to expert resources and training to help you communicate better as well. So, without further ado, we're going to get cracking. I can't even believe I made that pun. So I apologize. But we're going to look at Easter. So we are starting off with West Midlands Safari Park. Here we go. So what they did was they gave the animals in the safari park some really cute little Easter eggs to play with. And let's have a look. I mean, look at that. It is gorgeous. So remember, when it comes to the likes of Instagram, it's all about catching people's attention. I want, if I'm sitting, scrolling on my phone, I want to. To see something that would make me go, wow, I really want to click on that. Now. Who wouldn't want to see what I assume is, I don't know, I painted hunting dog, something like that. I think it is. I used to work at the zoo, so I recognize some animals, but I might be wrong, I don't know. But here we go. I can see that we've got lemurs. Oh, look at them. So these are basically what they've done, is they have created, I guess, a physical little trail, if you like, for the animals all around the way and all around the safari park. They've taken some images of it and they have shown that in social media. So it's not doing anything too over the top, too exciting. But they wanted to have a little nod towards the fact that it was Easter and they want to attract people to come down. That's why they're using Instagram in the first place, it's, you know, they're their digital shop window, if you like. So they are trying to attract people down and so they've taken these gorgeous little pictures and, you know, animals always are always a winner on social media anyway. So obviously they're very lucky to have lots of beautiful animals here. But it's just a really nice way of showing the physical and the digital by having some kind of nod to it in your business. So even if you don't sell chocolate eggs and you didn't sell, you know, I don't know, Easter products, there would be nothing wrong with, you know, a lot of businesses did just put up, say, Happy Easter, for example. And. But this is a really nice way of using social media and the, and the physical environment and putting it together because again, that would make me want to book that. But that's the whole point in this, in what they've done is it would make me want to book it. So do sometime think about when it comes to, when it comes to your social media and your physical environment, if you've got a really cute something in your shop window, if you've got any pets that are involved in anything, you know, there's no harm in giving them some little props and little things to then show on social media that you can have a little bit of fun and enjoy it. And as you can see, what they've done is they've used their hashtags to the views. Happy Easter, Easter Sunday. And then so they've done the mix of the national hashtags, which is what we're talking about today, the national content and of mix that with the animals with wildlife. Animal photography. Wildlife photography as well. So anybody who's looking for that kind of photography that might want to reshare it, they are. They would find it that way as well. Okay, So this is Inverness City center bid. And so what they did was they harnet. They wanted to again, give a little nod to Easter. So they actually did a little collaboration, if you like, with here you've got, you've got Eastgate Shopping center in the background. And here you go. So it's a fact. Let's click on it. I should actually click on it, shouldn't I? So this is on Facebook. You will find that actually a lot of places use Facebook more so than or place management, if you like, and use Facebook more so than Instagram a lot of the time. And that's because Facebook very much encourages people to comment. So, you know, to, to ask a thing to, you know, comment back on something to discuss something. So here it says, congratulations to six year old Ellie Brown from Inverness, who's the lucky winner of the Great easter egg hunt 2023 and received her £100 Inverness City center gift card prize. So she had to. Basically they publicized that you had to go around, find eggs and then you had to guess the bunny's name, Twinkle Nose. With a little help from mum and dad. We hope you enjoy spending your prize, Ellie, and get the new scooter that you were hoping for. Thank you to everyone who took part. We can't wait for next year. And then it says it's supported by Eastgate Shopping Centre. Now this is fab because again the image would make you want to click on it because it's a lovely family and she's clearly won something which would make you do it. The fact that they've taken the picture with the shopping centre in the background is great. So again it's giving them that extra little push. It is a collaboration between Eastgate Shopping Centre and the bed. So, so clearly they have maybe funded the, funded the voucher or it might be that actually the, the trail was around the shopping center for example, or they helped organize it. But either way it's a really lovely way again of showing the physical, excuse me, the physical and the digital. So they have created a physical trail, they have publicized it on, digitally, on social media and they've done a collaboration between place and business. So that is all the things that we talk about on a really regular basis, guys. It is all about collaboration, it's all about working together. They've done the right thing, they've tagged them in it, they have promoted obviously before it on social media, they've taken pictures during it and then afterwards they've got here a really happy little girl and they've even, you know, they've even put down that she wanted a scooter. So that shows that the person who was running it actually took some time to get to know them to ask what she would spend it on. And it's just, it's really lovely. And again they've used the hashtags, they've got your Inverness City Center Easter egg hunt. So they've got both the hashtags that I guess people would be using. So, so what they've done is they've harnessed Easter if you like, you know, which is obviously it's a huge, you know, national thing, event, campaign, obviously religious as well. And then they have turned that into an opportunity for a business and a place to, to drive Physical footfall using a digital platform. So it's. If anybody, if you're a shopping center on board on here today, if you are. If you are even like, you know, a group of shops or in a place, this is a great idea, It's a great thing to do and it's so, so easy. Okay, so here we have the rnli, if we're back to Instagram, Right? So they've created a reel where you can see that the lifeguards are doing some training. So what they wanted to do is they wanted to promote beach safety and to show that actually, the RNLI have been doing a lot of training to get ready for the Easter break. So it is Easter again. It's half term. It is, you know, big national thing. We all, you know, talked about it, dealt with it, used it, took kids on holiday, all that kind of stuff. And obviously they know that a lot of people will be flocking down to the beaches over that Easter break. So they wanted to let them know that they're trained in casualty care, rescue safety advice all around the uk, they monitor sea conditions and set up beach flags to let you know when it is safe to go in the water. Not sure, ask a lifeguard. Use the link in our bio to find your nearest lifeguarded beach. And then the footage of the. Thanks the lifeguards down in South Cornwall for providing the footage. So this is again, all the things we talk about on social media. So this is about message. They wanted to show that they've been all, as you can see, they use very much their Instagram to show all the great team members and the training that they go through to keep the rest of us safe. They wanted to talk about the fact that, you know, they've been doing this. So they got the reel from them doing the training. And I don't know whether you noticed the song. So the song is safe and sound. So again, it's promoting safety, again, all that kind of subliminal messaging, if you like, but it shows that they're working hard and then it. I guess it's to do a thing. So they want us to find their nearest lifeguarded beach over the Easter break. And they're sending us a link in the bio. So they've been very clear with their messaging. They want to keep us safe. And it's Easter, they've used the. The Easter hook, if you like, to actually promote the, like, all the great stuff that they do. And then they want us to. To stay safe on the beaches and we. They want us to Find a nearest one that is lifeguarded rather than one that isn't. So it is just such a good idea and it's just a really, really good way of doing it. So it's when you're thinking about your content, if you've got something very specific you want people to do, just make sure that you've always got a call to action. Make sure that there's something in there that tells me what it is you want me to do and I will go off and do it. And it's really good as well. If you're using any footage from anybody else, just always make sure you tag them. And as you can see here, they've used all the national hashtags. School holidays, Easter holidays, half term, term break, term break, fun, all that kind of thing. So yeah, really, Really love, love, love. Everyone knows I love a dog. It's either dog or food on here. So this is absolute project management. So I'm just going to click on it because yeah, it's so cute. Here we are. So this is absolute project management. It says, did you know it was National Pets Day? So we've moved on from East Sturman now on and we're now on to looking at National Pet Day, which again was another big one over, over April. Absolute project management. Did you know it was National Pet Day this week? Have you heard of barchitecture interior design for dogs? Yes, it's a thing. Here's one we made earlier. Creating a pet friendly home for our client with the addition of a bespoke dog shower. I mean that is one lucky dog. Part of a full house renovation project completed in South London Seymour on this project on our portfolio under Charlie and Michael and Balam, that's the design that tagged themselves and making renovation happen in London and Brighton. Right, so this all the things, right, so they have done exactly what we're going to do at the end here and they have looked ahead and gone, okay, these are all the national days that are coming up in the next couple of months. And then they have then seen that it's National Pet Day and they have saved content which you know, basically they've taken the photos of. You know, they always take photos here, as you can see like they're before and after. You can see like some of the great work that they do. I mean it's beautiful. They use our Instagram very much to show how gorgeous, you know that they can, what they do in a house, basically that's what they do. You know, they renovate homes. So but They've done this which is a little picture of the lit of the dog in the little dog shower. Super cute. Which is obviously going to be a maybe more bespoke and unusual. Did I say project? And they have harnessed National National Pet Day to do it. So you know, basically this, this for me is all about you know, an interior designer that or you know, a project company that have essentially used a National Day to talk about an element of what they do and show off how great their services are. And what is going to attract you to that is the super cute picture of a little dog. That's what's going to attract you. I'm down to click on it. It's very different to all of the rest of their content. So yeah, so with anything like this, make sure again that you're using all the right hashtags. So they have used dog shower pet friendly. So again that's you know, focused on I guess that you know, the dog side of things. But they have used all of the ones that I guess, you know that people would be searching for if they were looking for maybe inspiration on what to do with their, what to do with their home or if they do want a transformation of some kind. So here you can see interior designers, lots of interior, modern spaces, interior design, London. So again that's going back to the place as well. And then you've got National Pet Day. And again this is what we mean, look. So here that's basically what we do. You click on the content for National Pet Day and then you would see all the brands that have that and all the people that are that we're doing something on National Pet Day. Super cute. Everyone was at it. Look how many people use that hashtag. So sticking with National Pet Day, this is sofology. Now most people will have heard of sofology. They have a big old marketing budget in comparison to some of obviously our little independence. But I wanted to show you that this is a national brand that you know, uses celebrities normally to promote their sofas. And instead they have, I mean here as you can see like Helena Bone Carter and instead they are using hashtag National Pet Month and they are using a cute little kit and sitting on a, sitting on a couch which again wouldn't have cost them anywhere near what a big celebrity would have cost them. But here it says pets have a special place in our hearts and in our homes. National Pet Month. We want to celebrate our furry friends for the joy they give us. So basically they were saying from Today until the 30th of April, they were going to donate £30 to the Blue Cross, which obviously the. The charity for every sofa order that includes an item in our pet friendly fabric to help. To help their amazing work for pets. Click the link to find out more about our pet friendly fabric and show our animal companion a little love. And then this is Tallulah, who is the cat. So this is a lot of things. So they have again looked ahead, seen that it's National Pet Month and they have wanted to do something with it. So they've gone, okay, what can we do? They've seen an opportunity, thinking about their services and the products that they offer, which is pet friendly fabric. And then they've gone, how can we link those two together? How can we kind of, you know, do it without, I guess, just selling, you know, how do you do it without just saying, oh, you know, it's National Pet Month, Buy, buy our stuff. Instead, what they've done is they've linked it with a cause, they've linked it with, you know, being able to give national content. So to give a chat split element, sorry, through the national content. So they've linked it up with the Blue Cross for every. Everyone they do, they're donating 30 pounds and then they're asking you to do the thing. So to click the link in the bio to find out more. So it is ultimately about selling their product. But they have looked ahead, seeing it's National Pet Month, thought, well, how can we promote our product without sell, sell, sell. And then they've done the collaboration, they've done the little. It's not even a collaboration, they're just doing a charity donation. So it's just such a nice idea. It's such a good way of, of capitalizing on a national day or a national month. As you can see, people have loved it and they've tagged in friends. Amazing. Supporting such a brilliant charity. Because people love. People love it. When you've got a cause, people, it's that human element. And then people also love pets, anything to do with their pets, people love their pets. So it's just such a good idea. So rem, looking ahead at all of the national content, all the things that are coming up, think about what products you have that you could use to promote. You could use the national content to promote, or it might indeed be a cause that you're working on. Here we go. This is very different. So really, really like this. So this is Hat Talks uk. So this is. She's a speech and language therapist and this is using A completely different national day. So this was World Autism Day. So this is basically all about, where. Where have we gone? Sorry, it's not letting me do this one. I'll have to just show you on here. So sometimes Instagram doesn't work. So here. Cat Talks uk. So this was neurodivergent. People are awesome. This was World Autism Day, which was basically all about celebrating anybody with autism, children, adults, everybody alike, and actually promoting it as a day where actually we should celebrate the differences with people and how amazing anybody who is neurodivergent is. So she. They put this up and Happy World Autism Day. I thought today was a good day to share this little book I've written for my neurodivergent clients. At the end of our sessions, learning about neurodiversity and celebrating our differences and acknowledging our difficulties, everywhere receives a little bit. And basically what she did was she just did a little. A little real. And it was just her. And it was kind of sharing little excerpts from her book, which was just talking about how amazing everyone is. It just says, you know, be proud to be your authentic neurodivergent self. It's all about promote, using. Using World Autism Day to celebrate the differences and, of course, acknowledge the difficulties. So it is such a lovely thing to do because she is promoting the little things that she does, and they are promoting the little things that they do for their clients. My clients have been so happy with their little books, and some have even kept them underneath their pillows at home. So she. This is something that is, I guess, an addition to what. What she does, you know. So she works with clients who are neurodivergent and has used a national hashtag, AKA a national thing, a national celebration of anybody with Autism Awareness Day, if you like, as the hook to talk about the little things that she does for her clients. So we can all learn from that. It might be that actually there's a national day coming up which is about an illness, for example. It might be that, you know, someone who's overcome it and you want to celebrate them. It might be that actually you ran a marathon for this particular charity, for example. Use that. Talk about it. Talk about the little things that you do for your customers, for your clients, for your team, and all the things that go on behind the scenes. And actually, for something like this as well, look at all the different hashtags that they've used. So celebrate undiversity, Speech and language pathology, speech therapist, autistic girls, neurodiversion. Celebrate autism. So again, anybody who would be following any of these hashtags are going to be interested in this post. Most so do remember that. So think again about the other hashtags that they're likely to be following. That's not just the national one, it's not just the World Autism Day. They would be following all of these. And then again, they're much more likely to be interested in what this lady has to say over, say, you know, a faceless brand. So it's just such a lovely, lovely, lovely thing to do. And it's just a good way of showing that you can use a national hashtag or national campaign to, to promote the little things that you do within your business. And then we have this one. So let's see if this works. I'm going to take a little second. Thank you, Instagram. Here we go. This was World Health Day. This was another national or international, sorry, like, worldwide hashtag. And this was a collaboration. So this was. Here we go. This was basically an artist and a charity, which was the United Nations Population Fund, and they linked together in order to promote that they, on World Health Day, they wanted to promote equal access to healthcare. No matter where you're from, from no matter who you are, the healthcare is a human right. So they did a collaboration and as you can see, it's the same image but lots of different languages, which is incredible because obviously, again, this is about, you know, across the world. So they're showing that. Actually, they're showing the. They're showing that they, I guess, you know, are being accessible, if you like. So today it says, today on World Health Day, we stand in solidarity with millions of people around the world who are advocating for equal access, access to healthcare as a basic human right. And what basically what they've done is they have. They've used collaboration to promote, you know, something that is very, very important to them. Now, I know that this is a bit unusual and a little bit different, but anybody can learn for something like this. Anybody can learn from the fact that anybody can learn from collaborations. And again, things like working with a local artist, working with a local photographer, working with a videographer can be a really lovely way of promoting the amazing things that you do and promoting, I guess, you know, the cause. So whilst everybody has their own views, it's all about having, you know, standing up behind a cause. And then they have used the national hashtag and so the international hashtag and World Health Day as a way of promoting something that they talk about on a regular basis. So again, slightly different, but I just want to show you that there's different national days, there's different international days, different world days, and that there are different ways of you being able to collaborate, to talk about something, to work with someone else, I guess to promote what it is you want to see. So speaking of national days, let's have a look, let's see what's coming up. So we have put together all of the national campaigns, the worldwide staff, the months, the days, the weeks. We have a mix of. There's thousands of them, but you know, there's a mix of the charitable ones, there's a mix of the, as I said, there's illnesses and then there's like really silly ones as well. And you can get behind any of them. So it's just about what one speaks more. More to you and which one speaks more to your customers and clients, I guess. Let's have a little look. Okay, so I think we're already in May. I'm gonna crack on with June. How are we in May? Just no idea how that happened. Okay, So here we go. So it is Bike Week, 5th of June, it is Bike Week. So Bike Week obviously could be a really good way of. You. It might be that actually you are a bike shop. You might be someone who sells fitness related products, you know, like a, like a gym or you might be a personal trainer or indeed you might just be working in a coffee shop and that you bike to work, use it, talk about it, show your videos, show your reels on International Bike Week. So here what we've done is we've put down the date and then we've put down some content as well. You want to encourage as many people as possible to get out there and enjoy the community on their bike. So it might be that you're a place and you want to show the amazing cycle trails that you have around your area as a tourism sort of situation. So you can use those hashtags and those national days to really bring, to really show so many different things. So it might be to sell a product or it might be to promote a service or it might be to show the human element. So you know that you all cycle to work. For example. See another one. There you go. National best friends day. June 8th is national best Friends Day. Celebrating friendships are important to us. And then the. We've put some content in here about the different research that's been done into benefits of friendship and how they, how they celebrate. Sorry. How they enrich our lives. Now any business can do this. Any business can use this. Any business can Talk about, you know, it might be your work bestie, it might be that your dog's your best friend, it might be talking about your kids, it might be talking about friends at work, you might ask people, you might do a competition that day to tag in, you know, like tag in your bestie that you want to win this. It might be two places that are working together, actually, that normally maybe, you know, like, might rival, for example. And actually you get together on National Best Friends Day to show piece. There you go. Come up with about five different things in the space of two minutes. Because this is what this does. This national content will help you come up with content yourself. So this is why it's so important to have a look at it. And then you've got. Men's Health Week is a huge one. So that's the 12th to the 18th of June, and anything to do with men's health and it's going to be massive. So that'll be something that loads of businesses are getting behind, loads of people talking about. It might be mental health, physical health, it might be an ailment, it might be that actually you have. You want to do something for a charity, it might be that you want to just skydive, for example. Anything at all. There'd be so many things you can talk about. Or it might be all the little things that you do to promote health for your male customers, for example. So, as you can see, there's so many amazing opportunities over the next few months. So just use them, you know, like, use. This is what we do at weekend and week out. We provide you guys with the tools and the support you need in order to get this done. So we've done the con, we've done, you know, we've got the platform which basically allows you to schedule in, it allows you to do advertising, it allows you to report and it allows you to learn from competitors. Then we do this. So every week we've got Monday, how to use maybe, Tuesday. Oops. Tuesday, how to use maybe. So Monday, how to use maybe. Tuesday is social media basics. So literally how to do a reel, that kind of thing. Wednesday is me talking all this kind of stuff. Thursday is ads for beginners, Friday, advanced ads, and then you've got the. All the training. So we create videos, video content for you all the time, where. And it's everything, you know, like, I don't know how a butcher used a hashtag to drive footfall, for example. There'll be loads of different ones that we. That we've got on there. So please feel free to go in and actually use it. This is what we do. We want you guys to get as strong as you can at social media and the national days. We really help you with that. We've also got some amazing tools on there just now as well. If you haven't seen our amazing new AI AI bit on the platform where we now actually not only give you the hashtag, we've now given you a way of actually developing content if you're struggling now. Key takeaways. Using props and trails can be a gimmick for social media, but it can also drive physical footfalls. Think about the Safari Pack park, think about the, the shopping center, collaborating with the bid, for example. And speaking of collaboration. So collaborate on social media to drive more engagement for your competitions. You don't have to do everything alone. You might as well maximize. If you've got another business or another. But yeah, another business in your place that has a really good social media, there'd be nothing wrong with you saying, you know what, let's do a collaboration. Let's, you know, maximize and build on each other's reach and engagement. Get really focused on your messaging. Creating content around the National Day. So thinking about the rnli, thinking about, you know, they told us exactly what they wanted us to do and they focused the national, the content around the National Day, but it was actually to get us to do a thing which was to be safer use national content to talk about what you do. That's going back to the neurodiversity. That was going back to so neurodivergent. That was going back to the, the charitable side of things. That is going back to the, you know, the lovely little things that you do for your customers and your team members in the background that actually, you know, you don't talk about and just make it. Make sure you set up your maybe account and get started because that's what we do here day in and day out. We want you guys to get stronger at social. So make sure that you get cracking and get set up. Use all the tools at your disposal. If you've ever got any questions at all, that's what the little blue buttons for on the platform. Click on it. There's loads of really good blogs that we've created and you can also get access to a team member as well and we can help you.