How to utilise National Awareness Days on social media

National Awareness Days on social media: waste of time gimmick or potential marketing opportunity? 

In the fast-paced world of social media marketing, and with algorithms that favour regular posting, brands are always on the lookout for ways to engage their audience and stay relevant. National awareness days, whether celebrating mental health, sustainability, or more quirky themes like National Doughnut Day, offer ready-made opportunities for content creation. But are they always the right fit? 


While jumping on these trending topics can boost visibility and help build personality around your brand, misusing them can come across as inauthentic or opportunistic. In this blog, we’ll explore the pros and cons of incorporating national awareness days into your brand’s social media strategy, helping you decide when and how to join the conversation.


3 Golden Rules

Rule 1: Relevancy

There is one way to get the use of national awareness days on your social media wrong, and that's by shoehorning a topic that doesn't fit with your brand. To make the most of these opportunities and drive the best engagement, consider this: is the theme of the day relevant to my brand values? For example, there are many days throughout the year that focus on sustainability, which is a great opportunity for businesses to showcase the steps they're taking to reduce their carbon footprint, or to push their environmentally friendly products. However, if you can't actively demonstrate your efforts in this area, it's best to steer clear from talking about it.


Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. That's to say, you don't need to be Papa John to celebrate National Pizza Day, as this could simply be about showing your business behind the scenes and adding some personality to your brand, but it still needs to fit with your overall tone. I.e. Going for a well-polished, corporate tone? Pizza Day might not be for you (by all means, indulge off camera). 


Rule 2: Variety

Utilising national days is a great way to bring your social media to life and inject variety and personality into your content, but it's important to use them as a bolster to your content strategy, not rely on them to fill your calendar. To avoid this mistake, take the following approach:


1. Decide which awareness days are relevant for your brand - try and stick to a maximum of 2 per month (or around an 80 / 20 balance).


2. Mark the dates in your content calendar so you don't end up with any clashes.


3. Plan the rest of your content as normal, in line with your content strategy.


Give yourself plenty of time to plan and create a great piece of content, and always consider your target audience. Is it relevant to their interests? Is it going to resonate with them? 

Rule 3: Authenticity

Finally, make sure the content you post is unique and authentic. Simply posting 'Happy XXX Day' will likely get lost in the crowd and could pull your relevancy into question. Find a unique angle that will resonate with your audience and, finally, have fun with it! Be creative, be authentic and be relevant - that's the trio that will help you drive engagement and build your audience. Need some help getting started? Here are some examples of how we've used National Days within our client's social media plans:

Recent examples

Here are 3 quick examples of how recent days have been embraced by companies to help them stand out:

1.  Neurodiversity Celebration Week carousel post


For Neurodiversity Celebration Week, we created a carousel post for Glenside Commercial Interiors about the importance of considering neurodiversity in office design. An important topic, with a very relevant angle and strong call-to-action ticks all the boxes of how to nail a National Awareness Day post.

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2.  Individual team Profiles for International Women's Day


Seeing all this great content going out for our clients, the boss got a little jealous, so for Digity we jumped on one of the big days in the calendar - International Women's Day. Our marketing and creative team is made up in large part by talented women, so what perfect chance to celebrate them and give our audience a bit more insight into the girl power that helps drive Digity forward?

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3.  Creation of an 'Employee Appreciation Day' video for the team


Our longstanding client, Rapid Clean, has around 1,000 employees across the UK, who work tirelessly to keep offices, schools, healthcare facilities and other commercial spaces clean for those who use them day in and day out. To help them say thank you to each and every one of them, we created a video for Employee Appreciation Day.


The client followed this through with a celebratory banner in their Head Office, an epic lunch spread, and an after-lunch quiz. Now that's authenticity.

Think this could be good for your brand?


If you love what you see here and want help levelling up your social media strategy, let's chat!

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This blog post was written by:

Leanne Gresswell • March 19, 2025
Digital Marketing
Social Media Marketing Service
SEO Audit

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