January marketing calendar: An occasion for (almost) every day

The easiest way to fill your social media with content is to use the holidays as an excuse to post.  The same way it’s 5 o’clock somewhere, there’s a holiday you can share with your audience every day! 

Well… Almost every day! When putting this list together, we tried to find an occasion for every single day of January 2022, but then remembered that content just for the sake of content is a slippery slope to step on. Besides, you can’t celebrate every day — you’ve got brand content to post!

So, we crossed out a couple of days and are now ready to present you with this — a January marketing calendar with an occasion for almost every day. 

Use it to spice up your digital marketing activities: dedicate an Instagram Story, Facebook post, or a corporate TikTok to one of these well-known (and more low-key) occasions.

Let’s go!

January 1

New Year’s Day

You already saw this one coming, didn’t you? January first doesn’t need any introductions or reminders per se, but we thought we’d still include it in the calendar just to keep things organized. 

A good beginning makes the whole year good. So, make sure you engage with your audience from day one — congratulate them with 2022 and enter the year with a bang. 

Good news: you don’t have to call off your marketers’ vacations to piece together a New Year campaign. New Year’s Day is so big of an occasion that there’s no need for you to bend it to fit your business. You can do the bare minimum by publishing a ‘2022 is here’ post and still enjoy positive results. 

With VistaCreate, you can easily put together a beautiful New Year card for all your social media and other channels. 

If you want to take things a step further, you can take advantage of the stereotypes associated with New Year’s Day.  

New year, new me?

January 1st is a great day to announce any new projects, set plans for the year, and share them with your audience. 

Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts Premiere 

Not just new year, new me, but also new year, new Harry Potter movie! 

The Harry Potter universe has a special place in the hearts of millions around the globe. So, when HBO max announced the release of Return to Hogwarts, a Harry Potter reunion special to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the series, fans went into a global craze. 

Tap into people’s nostalgia for the Golden Trio’s adventures and add some magic to your daily posts. There are lots of ways you can incorporate Harry Potter into your content marketing plan on January 1, 2022:

• Publish a ‘features/products as Harry Potter characters’ post
• Use Harry Potter-related imagery
• Address the release of the special 
• Use quotes from the books or movies

January 4

World Braille Day

Every January 4, the world celebrates Louis Braille, the inventor of the braille font. He made it possible for blind and visually impaired people to communicate. 

On this day, you can use your social media platforms to spread awareness about the human rights of people with visual impairments.

Here are a couple of marketing activities you can do:

• Publish a post to raise awareness about visual impairment
• Educate your audience about Braille and his creation
• Let a blind person (influencer) take over your social media account
• Collaborate with an optical store or an ophthalmologist 

Alternatively, to keep the engagement rate at an all-time high, you can gamify your Braille Day marketing activities. A great example of this is the meaningful social marketing campaign launched by RNIB in 2019. They took to Twitter and Instagram and launched the Braille Name Generator. 

It’s #WorldBrailleDay – to mark the occasion and raise awareness of braille, we’re transcribing people’s names. Take part by tweeting us your name! pic.twitter.com/DISNuM9Xuj

— RNIB (@RNIB) January 4, 2019

The campaign was a success: Across both platforms, RNIB has transcribed approximately 500 names through their Braille Name Generator. This post was one of the most engaging pieces of content related to World Braille Day. It resulted in a 188% increase in traffic to the company’s donation page. 

January 7

Orthodox Christmas Day

On January 5, also known as Twelfth Night (after Christmas), the Western world finishes its Christmas celebrations. There’s a common superstition in some English-speaking countries that suggests leaving Christmas decorations hanging after Twelfth Night brings bad luck. 

So, on January 5, the English, the American, and the Australian rush to clear their houses of Christmas ornaments, stockings, and other festive decorations. Similarly, businesses clear their social media accounts of digital decorations and put them away until next year.

But if your business’s target audience comprises Orthodox Christians, you might want to postpone that until after January 7. 

The majority of Eastern Europe celebrates Christmas on January 7. You can use this to your advantage and have round two of Christmas marketing. We have a lot of last-minute Christmas marketing ideas for you to check out. 

I’m Not Going to Take It Anymore Day

If your business has nothing to do with Orthodox Christianity, we still have an occasion for your marketing team. 

On January 7, the world also celebrates the “I’m Not Going to Take It Anymore” day — a day when you can openly rant about all the wrongdoings you’ve been subjected to and rebel against them.

Here are a couple of marketing activity ideas for your business:

• Start a flashmob: give your audience a platform to rant about their problems by asking them to share what they’re sick and tired of. 
• Requests and complaints — give your customers a chance to complain about something they didn’t like about their experience with your business, and resolve the problem.

January 8

Earth’s Rotation Day

A day lasts 24 hours. Roughly. 

A solar day is defined by the time it takes for the Earth to make a full rotation on its axis. The speed of the earth’s rotation changes slightly from day to day and year to year, resulting in the true solar day never being exactly 24 hours long. 

On January 8, the world celebrates this fact with Earth’s Rotation Day.

Here’s how you can use it for marketing:

• Celebrate the rotation of the Earth with animations — animate your social media content, your emails, etc.
• Have a 24-hours flash sale (make sure it only lasts one accurate solar day)

January 9

International Apricot Day

We can all agree that despite having a holiday of their own, apricots are still severely underappreciated. Here’s your chance to change this! 

On January 9, include a couple of apricot-related content in your plan. For food and beverage companies, it’s an easy task — you can share a recipe with apricots, introduce a limited-time apricot-based dish or drink, etc.

But even if your business has nothing to do with food, you can still admire and celebrate apricots in your marketing:

• Make use of the color apricot.
• Give away some apricots.
• Educate your audience about the health benefits of consuming apricots. 

Fun fact: In China, the apricot is associated with education and medicine. The classic word 杏壇 used to describe an educational circle literally means “apricot altar”. 

So, if you’re a business in the healthcare or education sector, you can take advantage of apricot day, too! 

Release of Euphoria Season 2 

Ever since the release of this HBO series, Euphoria-themed parties have been trending among younger audiences both online and offline. (A quick Google search returns over 1 million results for ‘Euphoria-themed party’!)

Fans have been going crazy over all things Euphoria, including the show’s makeup, videography, cast, soundtracks, and aesthetic in general. 

If you want to honor the release of the second season, dedicate a portion of your marketing activities to the show.

For example:

• Beauty salons can recreate Euphoria makeup and hair looks
• Stylists can break down the new season’s clothing
• Any business can adapt their products to the Euphoriaverse (e.g. ‘Which character would love which product’)
• Feature the show’s soundtracks 
• Create something in Euphoria’s signature purple color palette

January 10

National Houseplant Appreciation Day

Up until recently, we wouldn’t have singled this one out, but the pandemic has changed everything! For a lot of people that have been confined in their homes during coronavirus lockdowns, houseplants have become real friends. 

On January 10, people and businesses have a chance to show their appreciation of indoor plants and celebrate the benefits of having one.

Some marketing activities to take note of:

• Get loads of user-generated content: encourage your customers to share pics of their plants with your products in the photo
• Show the houseplants you have in your office 
• Decorate your social media posts with plant patterns

January 11

International Thank You Day

World Thank You day is a January highlight. It’s a beautiful occasion for both customers and brands to express their gratitude to each other and the community. 

There are lots of different activities your marketing team can take up on: 

• Start a chain of Thank You’s on social media
• Say ‘Thanks’ to those who help your business exist
• Give back to your community
• Let your customers say thank you to their network and gift them your products 
• Send your mailing list a Thank You email 

World Sketchnote Day

Every great drawing gets sketched first. On January 11, the world celebrates sketch notes and doodles. Your business can, too, partake in the celebration:

• Share your business ‘sketches’ — let your audience know what you’re working on
• Start a chain of sketches 
• Hold a sketch contest 
• Create a list of useful tools and tips for effective sketching 
• Design your social media content to look like sketches 

January 13

National Sticker Day

A couple of years ago, the world was crazy about stickers. We’d put them everywhere — laptops, notebooks, books, bags, and pretty much any other surface we could think of. 

You would’ve thought by 2022, the hype around stickers would die out, but… Instead, stickers became a classic. Moreover, there are now digital stickers, too! So, if you want to celebrate this holiday, you have plenty of options to stick to (pun intended!):

• Give away brand stickers 
• Create a digital sticker pack 
• Play the ‘guess what’ game on social media by covering parts of pictures with stickers 
• Decorate your office with stickers

January 15

Wikipedia’s Birthday

On January 15, 2001, Wikipedia’s first article was published and edited. Ever since then, every January 15, Wikipedia fans organize their own parties in their communities to discuss Wikipedia and share cake. 

Your business, too, can get a piece of Wikipedia cake (figuratively speaking) and celebrate:

• Create Wikipedia pages for your products 
• Design a post Wikipedia-style

January 16

Global Wordsearch Day

As a kid, you either loved word searches or hated them, there’s no in-between. But now that you’re an adult and have a business to market, you can’t help but love them. All because they’re an easy way to grab your customers’ attention online.

On Global Wordsearch Day, create a custom word search related to your business and publish it on social media. There are several benefits to doing that:

• You raise your brand awareness
• You increase your brand recognition
• You improve engagement rate (if you publish the word search as a post, you can expect loads of comments; if you put in on your Story, it’s likely viewers will interact with it for longer)

January 17

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Although Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, his life and accomplishments are celebrated worldwide two days later, on January 17. 

On this date, you can talk about the significance of King’s figure in world history and prepare your brand for Black History Awareness month that’s in February. 

Just make sure you think this one through — there’s a history of MLK day marketing fails. You need to keep your marketing respectful and planned; don’t just piggyback on existing holiday hashtags to promote your brand. 

If a brand feels the need to post on MLK day, they need to do it in a thoughtful and respectful way that makes sense for their business. Proof your posts.

Sarah Hoffman, social media marketing/management

January 19

Museum Selfie Day

While quite niche and specific, museum selfie day can be a good occasion for your marketing activities regardless of the industry your business works in. 

On the date, you can hold a lot of marketing activities. For instance:

• Collab with a local museum and live stream from there, using a selfie camera, of course
• Encourage your audience to go to a museum and take a picture with your product
• Host the best museum selfie contest among your followers
• Create an AR filter that would place users in virtual museums
• Create a virtual museum of your brand and let people take selfies in the Metaverse

January 21

International Hug Day

International Hug Day sounds just right after International Thank You Day celebrated earlier in January. Use this occasion to hug everyone who makes a difference for you and your business, and prompt your audience to do the same.

Make sure you schedule a fun, warm post and give your social media followers a virtual hug. 

Alternatively, you can take things offline and join the Free Hugs Campaigns. It was started back in 2004 by an Australian man known only by the pseudonym “Juan Mann”, and hasn’t lost its popularity since. 

If you do decide to give real-life hugs, make sure you wear a mask, though! COVID is still very much a thing.

January 23

International Pie Day

If you love pies, you don’t need a reason to eat one. But on January 23, you actually do have a pretty good reason to enjoy some baked goods — International Pie Day!

Here are a couple of ways for your business to celebrate this occasion:

• Bake a pie with your logo
• Make a pie in your brand colors 
• Host a pie giveaway
• Start a bake off

And if your business has absolutely nothing to do with pies and baking, you can still celebrate. Just in a slightly less conventional way: prepare a bunch of fun pie charts that are relevant to your business and industry, and share them with your audience.

National Handwriting Day

If you aren’t a fan of pies (weird, but okay!), you still have a fun holiday to celebrate on January 23 — National Handwriting Day. 

Here’s what you can do on this date:

• Add a written note to every order you receive on that day
• Post a written quote on social media
• Get your followers to handwrite your brand name and post it online

January 25

National Opposite Day

Opposite Day is a game usually played by children. But adults, too, can partake — there’s a special date for them to play, January 25.

On this day, your business can mix things up and, for a day, do things in a way that conflicts with how they’re usually done. If you want to prank your audience, you don’t have to wait for April’s Fool Day — you can start on January 25!

Here are a couple of things you can do online:

• Launch a guerilla marketing campaign
• Post some ‘opposite’ tips on your blog or social media (just make sure you specify they’re the opposite of what should be done not to harm anyone)
• Mess with your social media followers a bit: start the day off by wishing them a good night, and end with Stories of your morning bowl of cereal

January 28

International LEGO Day

Considering the fact that the history of LEGO as a brand started back in 1932, it’s safe to say that there isn’t a person who didn’t wish for a set of LEGO bricks to play with as a kid. We all have a soft spot for it!

So, why not celebrate International LEGO Day on January 28? Thanks to the versatility of LEGO, there are plenty of ways in which different businesses can do so:

• Collab with LEGO
• Build one of your products/your brand logo using LEGO bricks
• Publish social media posts LEGO-style

Data Privacy Day

All businesses need to celebrate this one, but especially if they’re in the SaaS industry. If your main product is software, you absolutely must use this opportunity to show your audience how much you care about their data privacy. It’s the day to prove your business is safe to work with!

Here are a couple of activities to prepare for the occasion:

• Explain how your business protects customer data 
• Educate your audience about data privacy
• Explore the recent changes in data privacy laws 
• Show behind the scenes of your business’s email marketing

January 29

National Puzzle Day

Traditionally, January 29 is the day to celebrate jigsaw puzzles, so you can branch out and simply dedicate your marketing to a wider range of little brain exercises. 

Here are a couple of festive marketing ideas for this occasion:

• Gamify your Instagram Stories by posting mazes
• Create a brand crossword for your customers to solve 
• Throughout the day, give your followers riddles to solve

Every day is a holiday if you make it one!