Social Media Content Ideas For August

It’s almost August already even if it hasn’t felt like summer in Ireland lately and although we might not like it, the countdown to back to school and before we know it Christmas is underway – even if it’s still summer holidays for most of us. As always we’ve got a selection of themes that might be useful in your social media this month, in Social Media Content Ideas For August.

First up we have some general themes that might be useful during the course of the month;

‘Summer Adventures’ – share a little of what you’ve been up, a personal update is always nice when you’re in business. You could even ask your audience to share their adventures too and if it’s suited to your business, there might even be a competition in there.

‘Back To School’ – for many businesses it’s quite normal to focus on the last weeks of school holidays and getting set for the new term so where it’s appropriate think about how you can work this in your business.

‘Back To Business’ – while technically most of us have worked throughout the summer, for many there might have been time off to spend with family, shorter working weeks to make the most of brighter days or simply a more relaxed feel as many of a business’ customers were on a break. From late August there’s always a sense of getting back to normal ahead of the autumn, see if it works for you.

‘Customer Spotlight & Testimonials’ – at a time of year when social media can be a little quieter as we’re distracted with time off or children on school holidays, sharing a little of your customer’s feedback can be a super way to boost engagement on your social media.

Moving on from general themes, these are more specific dates that might suit all sorts of different businesses;

1st August – World Wide Web Day; we take it for granted now but the WWW or World Wide Web originates with Tim Berners-Lee and dates back to a very recent 1989 becoming free to the world for use in 1993.

2nd August – Colouring Book Day; something we often associate with childhood, in recent years colouring books have been recognised for their ability to allow you unleash your creative streak or to simply calm down and tune out. If you haven’t tried it I highly recommend for the ultimate distraction that forces you to put down the phone! It’s suitable for any sort of family-oriented business but with a little imagination you might be able to work it for other businesses too.

2nd August – International Beer Day; if wine isn’t your drink, then perhaps you’ll prefer another date that celebrates beer instead. Originating in 2007, the idea behind this day is to celebrate the craft of brewing and it can be celebrated through hospitality businesses or off-licences and of course quite simply on a personal level with friends.

4th August – White Wine Day; if your business is in the hospitality sector if it’s appropriate a promotion might work for you now that hospitality has opened up across the country. And of course, this is one you might like to enjoy personally too.

5th August – Bank Holiday Monday; if you’re in Ireland, the first Monday of August is a bank holiday which for some is a day off to enjoy while others are at their busiest at work.

6th August – International Scuba Day; a day that focuses on the fantastic marine life that’s just waiting to be explored on the 71% of the earth’s surface that is ocean. Not one for every business but it might suit those in sports or with a personal interest in scuba.

7th August – Professional Speakers Day; a skill in itself, this might be the ideal day to book yourself in for something and move out of your comfort zone, to look at what options are available, or to even showcase an event you participated in and are quite proud of. If your business involves training people to present themselves more effectively through public speaking, this day has your name all over it.

8th August – International Cat Day; across the world cats in their many forms are celebrated or enjoyed and while they may not appreciate a day of celebration in their honour, if you work in retail or even better around animals there might just be a promotion you can come up that celebrates or does something to help our feline friends. It’s not for everybody but if you’re something of a cat person you might be surprised at how many of your audience will connect with this.

10th August – Duran Duran Appreciation Day; this is a novel one that I personally like to celebrate each year, a celebration of all things Duran Duran who are celebrating over 40 years in the music business, It’s a quirky one, it won’t appeal to everyone but it pops up on media sites and music-related businesses every year since the day was first conceived so if your audience is one that enjoys a little music or is of a certain vintage it’s one to note.

10th August – Vlogging Day; a day to celebrate vlogging or video blogging, a skill that most businesses and many individuals participate in right now because nothing communicates your story quite as effectively as video. If it’s something you’ve not tried yet, why not make a plan to explore it any maybe launch your vlogging career on the 10th August?

12th August – World Elephant Day; unless you’re a zoo it’s not an event you can mark but as an individual maybe it’s the ideal time to visit a local wildlife attraction and support the work they do with these amazing animals?

13th August – International Left-Handers Day; originating in 1976 this day is designed to highlight and celebrate all that’s different for that 10% of the population who are left-handed. Things many of us take for granted from how we’re seated at the dinner table to using scissors to playing a sport such as golf are a little different when you work a little differently. There are great strengths associated with being left-handed, creativity, and excellent problem-solving abilities among the many positives. And many famously creative people were are or were left-handed too; David Bowie, Tom Cruise, Leonardo da Vinci, Marilyn Monroe, Julia Roberts, Paul McCartney, Jonathan Ross, Neil Armstrong, John McEnroe – and lots, lots more too. You might be lucky enough to have some lefties amongst your own team, they’ll undoubtedly know what you can do to make life a little easier so you can mark the day in some way if it suits you.

13th August – Filet Mignon Day AND Prosecco Day; worth a mention in case it works for your business or indeed, you personally!

16th August – Tell A Joke Day; an easy one for competition for any light-hearted social media activity.

19th August – World Photography Day; whilst you can never beat the services of a professional photographer for your business, nowadays we’ve all got cameras with us every day and where opportunities arise you can snap the perfect picture. If your business is very involved with imagery or there are options for your customers to share snaps with you, this might be the ideal time to run a competition that gives you some new user-generated content into the bargain.

21st August – Poet’s Day; this is one we thought we’d highlight as we can see a lot of ‘interesting’ opportunities for businesses with an interest in language or just plain old fun to run competitions around this!

26th August – Webmistress Day; we’ve all become accustomed to hearing about webmasters but with the number of women working in technology continuing to grow some people feel it’s appropriate to highlight that quite often your webmaster is female! Apparently, it’s a term that’s been in use for some time now while other more politically correct businesses have adopted the term webperson instead. It might not be something we see every day but a quick search on Linkedin tells me it is a term that is used by some people. And, if you’re in the position where you have a team with a woman at the helm of all things web, today might be the day to bring her out from behind the screen and thank her for her contribution to the business because believe us a lot more happens behind the scenes than most people realise – take that from somebody who performs the role of webmistress too 😉

26th August (week of) – back to school; dates will vary but schools start back any time from this week on, if your audience is in this sector or indeed is the parents looking forward to this date, it’s one to be mindful of when it comes to promotions or competitions.

28th August – Radio Commercials Day; we’re a fan of radio commercials at the right time for the right business because wonderful as the web is, there are other options too. We thought this worthy of a mention as if you’re running a radio campaign you might like to ask your audience if they’ve heard it, or indeed, tell people about it in the first place. It’s not always as easy to measure the effectiveness of a radio campaign, all the more reason to make sure you’re asking people to listen out for it too.

28th August – Red Wine Day; a nice way to end the month and one that might suit those of you in hospitality or retail.

So, that’s a selection of themes that might be useful in your business over the course of the month of August.

If you’d like support in Marketing, Strategy, Social Media, Web Design or Canva, get in touch with us at debbie@themarketingshop.ie and we can arrange a discovery call to see whether we’re a fit to work together.