Planning your January social content comes with so many great opportunities. In fact, January is named after Janus, the Roman god of gates and doors, which symbolizes endings, beginnings and transitions. As a business owner, it’s important to take this time to reflect on which doors you’ll close and which ones you’ll knock on and open, as the new year begins afresh.
And since we’ve all learned a great deal about ourselves and the world over the years, now’s the time to take the insights you’ve gained and apply them to the 365 days that await us — all shiny and new.
So to kick things off, you’ll need to ensure that you plan your brand’s content marketing with business growth in mind. Keep reading to learn about key social media holidays and events for this month, along with marketing tips to help you prepare for upcoming trends and celebrations.
How to think about content creation for the new year
The start of another year gives us a chance to change our mindsets. For this reason, it’s a great time to convey messages of renewal and refreshment to your audience through various branding elements and marketing campaigns.
It’s also a good opportunity to update your brand, as well as your social media strategy. In practical terms, this can mean:
- Refreshing the look and feel of your visuals
- Pivoting your marketing direction with new products or services
- Offering New Year’s Day specials and discounts for your customers
The important part is that it doesn’t matter whether you’re in retail, fashion, décor, wellness or food. All industries and sectors can benefit from a simple refresh.
Stay organized with a social media content calendar
Organizing your thoughts and strategies can get messy — especially if you’re used to using spreadsheets and other online documents. But utilizing a visual social media content calendar can help you and your team get a clearer sense of the tasks ahead.
And although there are many ways to format a social media content calendar, your best bet is to keep it simple, clean and fun. Play with templates and designs that work best for your business (GoDaddy Studio has plenty to choose from), and decide whether you want to keep track of things on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis.
Related: Planning ahead — How to create content calendars and why you need it
Quick tips for prepping your social media content
As you start planning, you’ll want to ensure you have a good social media strategy in place to help your campaigns run more efficiently. Here are some marketing ideas for you to keep in mind as you prepare your January content across all social media platforms:
Take advantage of design templates
Equipping yourself with design tools that make your life quick and easy is the best way to go — especially when you have limited funds. With apps like GoDaddy Studio, you have a library full of fonts, graphics and images you can customize right at your fingertips. Tell your own story through a design that matches your brand’s energy.
Create your visuals in advance
When creating social posts with videos, reels, or graphics, consider producing them in batches — that way you can streamline them when the time is right. It might take a little more effort in the beginning, but working in advance can help you prepare for last minute adjustments or edits (if needed).
Know your audience
Make sure you spend some time researching what unique interests or activities your audience is into. For example, if you sell camping gear, there’s a good chance your audience supports environmental issues. Use this info to create related campaigns or partner with a charitable organization for a themed post that fits with your audience.
Expand your network within your niche
Oftentimes you can find micro-influencers that have a larger following than most people, yet smaller than online celebrities with a huge fan base. Try partnering with these folks to expand your reach with new audiences. You’ll be surprised how a positive new business relationship can help boost your exposure.
Utilize those hashtags
Whether you’re posting on Instagram, TikTok or LinkedIn, a good rule of thumb is to always include popular, relevant and branded hashtags. Effective hashtags can help people find you more easily on their social platform of choice — creating a higher chance of visibility and engagement from new users.
However, you’ll need to do a little research on how many to use within each post, since all social platforms are different. You don’t want to post too little or too much, where it affects your average reach. Hootsuite has a great hashtag guide you can use for reference.
Key dates to consider for your January social content calendar
Now that you know how to strategize, let’s dig into some key dates that are important for this month. Remember to be selective with your choices, as you’ll need to create visuals and campaigns that relate most to your audience. The point here is to be intentional with your social media marketing campaigns, so that you keep production costs low and target the audiences that matter most to your brand’s success.
New Year’s Day
This is a global holiday in most parts of the world. And since it falls on January 1, this could be the perfect time to tell your customers about your specials and discounts — especially as new year’s resolutions are in full momentum.
For example, if your business is in personal wellness, health or sport and fitness spaces, you can use this opportunity to motivate your audience to carry out their health goals. Another way to boost sales is to tempt new customers with offers and discounts for services you provide. This could mean offering a free introductory session if you’re a health coach or own a yoga studio.
And don’t forget about posting inspirational quotes, too — anything that makes it easier for people to achieve their new goals is a good idea right now.
Australia Day
G’day, mate! Australia’s Independence Day is celebrated each year on January 26, marking the 1788 landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove and the raising of the Union Flag by Arthur Phillip in New South Wales. It’s typically marked by community and family events, along with reflections on Australian history or community awards.
In general, this day is an opportunity to connect with your customers located in Australia, or to acknowledge the day if you have a brand with a strong Australian identity.
College football championships
January is the end of college football season in the United States, culminating in the big NCAA college football national championship — which takes place on January 9 in 2023.
If you own a sports bar, café, restaurant or are in any way involved with sports, connect with your audience to celebrate the big game. This could involve:
- Communicating what teams you support
- Hosting watch parties or other related events
- Partnering with local sports figures for meet and greets with fans
Along with service industries, this is an ideal time for sporting goods retailers to get involved, too.
MLK Day
The third Monday of each year (January 16 this coming year) is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, taking place a day after his birth on January 15th. The day honors King, the U.S. champion of nonviolent activism in the civil rights movement, who protested racial discrimination in federal and state law of the 1960s — before his assassination in 1968.
The holiday is a poignant opportunity to create awareness and educate your audience about issues related to race. Those in the political or charitable spaces may find this day particularly relevant to mark, but this is also an important day to all businesses everywhere.
International Creativity Month
January is International Creativity Month, founded by motivational speaker, author and teacher Randall Munson. Going beyond the idea of a new year’s resolution on January 1, International Creativity Month provides a more powerful, enduring opportunity for positive change.
If you’re in any kind of creative space — arts and design, crafts, décor or fashion — you can focus on the idea of creativity and innovation, and bring your audience in to celebrate it.
How about a creative competition where you get your audience to invent or design something? Or, what about promoting local artists and their work? Even if you’re in a “non-creative” business, you can still apply the idea. Bars can showcase local mixologists demonstrating the art of the cocktail, for example, or educators could provide their top tips on establishing creative work habits.
International Mind-Body Wellness Day
As the 21st century progresses, we’re becoming more aware of the mind-body connection, and it’s sprung a whole industry and range of businesses that integrate this idea. If you’re in the holistic wellness space, January 3 is International Mind-Body Wellness Day, and it’s a perfect time to celebrate the connection between a healthy body and a healthy mind.
If your business touches on any aspect of health — whether it’s food and drink, wellness or personal fitness, for example — you can participate. Social media posts could like:
- Giveaways
- Educational points
- Top tips
Think about what this concept means to your brand and communicate it effectively to your community.
National Spaghetti Day
Possibly a close second behind pizza, spaghetti is one of Italy’s greatest global exports — so it’s more than worthy of a whole day to celebrate it.
If you’re in the food and drink space, a restaurant or even a food blogger, get behind the cause with National Spaghetti Day on January 4. Offer specials on spaghetti dishes or highlight new recipes — the only limit is your imagination (and your capacity for pasta).
Opposite Day
January 25 is Opposite Day, which is an entire day dedicated to celebrating the old switcheroo.
The day is celebrated by saying exactly the opposite of what you mean, and as a brand you could expand on this concept and really have some fun with it.
This could be applied to almost any business who has a sense of humor and a love of wordplay. Industries like beauty, retail, fashion, food and drink or blogging spaces can all join in on the fun.
Additionally, Opposite Day is the kind of thing that kids just love. So if you’re a children’s brand, you should definitely not get involved! (see what we did there?).
Spend the day exploring opposites — from opposite flavors to opposite emotions, or even opposite sounds.
National Cheese Lovers Day
“You can’t make everyone happy. You’re not cheese.” ~Anonymous
Yes, cheese is a much-loved food around the world — in the United States alone, one third of all milk produced goes into cheese production. January 20 is National Cheese Lover’s Day, which is a really delicious excuse to get a little cheesy.
Again, like national Spaghetti Day, if you’re in the food space, then it’s worth getting involved here. Creative ideas could focus on:
- Specials on cheese dishes or any artisanal cheeses you sell
- A roundup of your favorite cheese-based recipes
- Tutorials on how to make your own cheese at home
Have fun and don’t be afraid to experiment with silly puns if necessary.
Make Your Dream Come True Day
Truly one to get the positive vibes going, January 13 is National “Make Your Dream Come True” Day — and this could apply to any brand campaign under the sun. It’s a great opportunity to spread the message about being proactive when it comes to what you want to achieve in life. Possible marketing ideas could range from:
- A campaign focused on a charitable initiative
- An inspiring message in the education space
- A message related to physical and mental wellness
The opportunities are limitless with this one, making it easy to craft something that fits within your brand’s unique tone and niche.
Data Privacy Day
Everyone can use a reminder on the importance of internet safety, and Data Privacy Day is the perfect opportunity to raise awareness to your audience about the risks of sharing personal data online. Celebrated on January 28 of this year, any small business owner with an online website can take this opportunity to not only educate via social media, but also highlight all the safeguards in place for their customers.
One example would be to create a post that talks about all the ways your brand is taking steps to protect customer data on a continuous basis. It’s a great way to reassure your customers, while also boosting trust at the same time.
Related: Guide to ecommerce security: How to secure your online store
Blood Donor Month
This month is a big one for blood bank organizations, as many use this time to heavily advocate for blood donations across the nation. It was first observed in 1970, after President Richard Nixon proclaimed it into the history books as a month reserved for paying tribute to voluntary blood donors and encouraging new donors to join.
Small businesses can help spread the word during this month by:
- Partnering with their local blood banks during donation events
- Offering discounts, prizes or other incentives for all donors
- Posting educational content for social sharing purposes
And no matter the industry, your contributions to this important cause is sure to generate a positive reaction from your online audience.
Dress Up Your Pet Day
Who doesn’t like getting cute animal photos on their timelines? Combine that with over-the-top costumes and accessories, and you have an online event that’s worthy of extra clicks, comments and likes.
Celebrated on January 14, small business owners (especially those in the pet industry) can encourage online audiences to engage in a number of ways. Some examples include:
- Holding a contest for best dressed pets
- Encouraging users to share photos in the comments
- Announcing a fashion event at your business location
Additionally, you can offer discounts and prizes to stand-out participants as an extra incentive.
Get To Know Your Customers Day
Want to get to know your customers a little better? Why not do so in a fun and interactive social media activity, set for January 19 of 2023. Create a poll that asks about their favorite social causes or encourage them to share a nostalgic memory from childhood they miss the most. Whatever prompt you decide to go with, you might just learn a new insight about your audience that you may not have considered before.
Keep your social content fresh
If you want a fresh look for the new year, updating your brand is super easy using the wide range of templates we offer. Having your templates ready and accessible in our tool is the best way to keep the process of designing slick and seamless.
When we’ve made it super simple like this, creating your content as the year kicks off can save you time and hassle – freeing up your energy to focus on your new goals for the year.
Start designing right now — for free — with GoDaddy Studio.
