Creator marketing campaigns tied to holidays, product launches, and other special events are key for brands, as well-executed content promoting those events helps lead to spikes in brand awareness and, hopefully, conversions.
But that tentpole event strategy cannot be the only strategy, and that’s where always-on creator marketing comes into play.
Always-on campaigns are aimed at continuously generating engagement and awareness, and, as the name suggests, they are long-term efforts, not tied to a single event, product, or promotion.
Of course, the goal of any marketing initiative is to eventually drive conversions, but always-on social marketing helps brands advance toward that goal by maintaining a consistent presence and building community and loyalty.
Much of the content in always-on campaigns is evergreen, including contests, educational fare, polls, and takes on trending topics.
And the evergreen nature of that content boosts return on investment, since much of the content is relevant for longer periods of time than, say, a video promoting a holiday sale.
Getting Started
Like most types of marketing campaigns, the initial step should be determining key performance indicators, meaning what the brand wants to accomplish from the campaign.
Next comes the testing phase, which helps zero in on which combinations of creators and content resonate best with the target audience and deliver the most engagement.
Open Influence Vice President of Partnerships John White and Senior Vice President and Head of East Coast Partnerships Christa Zambardino recommended starting out with multiple creators with varying follower counts and personas, with the brand’s needs and budget determining the number to go with.
They added that the creators who emerge as the best fits to represent the brand can be designated as brand ambassadors and help produce content for always-on initiatives.
White and Zambardino shared some questions that brands should be prepared to answer while nailing down their always-on creator marketing strategies:
- What are the demographics of the audience being targeted and the influencers being used to target them?
- What is the ideal marketing cadence?
- Which products or services are the focus?
- Which holidays or other seasonal moments are important to include in non-evergreen content creation?
- Should experiential elements be involved, such as event tie-ins or store openings, where creators attend in person and produce content on-site?
- Is there a desire or need for creator assets beyond organic and/or paid posts?
And elements to incorporate into an always-on creator marketing strategy include:
- Keep the content coming regularly. Consistency helps the brand stay relevant and maintain visibility.
- On that note, plan and schedule content in advance to keep that steady flow coming.
- Maintain consistent messaging and a consistent voice across all content and all platforms.
- Agility is key. Remain informed on developments such as algorithm changes from social networking platforms and emerging trends. Be ready to shift gears when needed.
Why Go Always-On?
The backbone of an always-on content strategy is evergreen content, which can be used and/or reused at any time to maintain a steady flow of awareness and engagement.
This steady flow helps the brand become a constant companion—always there, always relevant, always engaging, and not reliant upon the typical key dates on the calendar.
However, those key dates should not be ignored. White and Zambardino suggested that this evergreen content be combined with content developed for specific products, promotions, or seasons for maximum effectiveness, offering as suggestions back to school, brand-specific product lines, holiday gift guides, holiday promotions, new product lines, spring essentials, summer pool parties, tentpole sale moments, trend-based activations, and wardrobe refreshes.
Brands can use a combination of their standard content packages and mini-packages to control the footprint for each of those moments, while remaining on track to meet their content goals for the entire year.
Top-performing content can be incorporated into those packages for reuse, removing the need for brands to lock in creators for an entire calendar year or enter into a long-term contractual commitment before the performance of those creators has been proven out.
Key Social Media Holidays in 2024
Social media never sleeps, and there’s always an imminent holiday, whether it’s a major one (merry Christmas) or a day based on a specific topic (hola, National Taco Day).
Campaign managers should never sleep on holidays, either, with preparations ideally starting weeks, if not months, in advance. Waiting until Aug. 25 to set your brand’s plans for National Dog Day Aug. 26 may put you in the doghouse.
Here are some of the more noteworthy social media holidays on the calendar for 2024:
January
- Jan. 1: New Year’s Day
- Jan. 3: International Mind-Body Wellness Day
- Jan. 15: Martin Luther King Jr. Day
- Jan. 25: Opposite Day
February
- Feb. 1: First day of Black History Month
- Feb. 4: World Cancer Day
- Feb. 6: Safer Internet Day
- Feb. 10: Chinese New Year
- Feb. 11: Super Bowl LVIII
- Feb. 14: Valentine’s Day
- Feb. 17: Random Acts of Kindness Day
- Feb. 19: Presidents’ Day
March
- March 1: First day of Women’s History Month
- March 1: National Employee Appreciation Day
- March 3: World Wildlife Day
- March 8: International Women’s Day
- March 14: Pi Day
- March 17: St. Patrick’s Day
- March 19: First day of spring
- March 23: National Puppy Day
- March 31: Easter
- March 31: Transgender Day of Visibility
April
- April 1: April Fools’ Day
- April 2: World Autism Awareness Day
- April 7: World Health Day
- April 7: National Beer Day
- April 10: National Siblings Day
- April 11: National Pet Day
- April 22: Earth Day
- April 23: World Book Day
- April 26: National Pretzel Day
May
- May 1: First day of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
- May 1: First day of Mental Health Awareness Month
- May 4: Star Wars Day
- May 5: Cinco de Mayo
- May 12: Mother’s Day
- May 17: International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia
- May 18: Armed Forces Day
- May 20: National Rescue Dog Day
- May 25: National Wine Day
- May 27: Memorial Day
- May 28: National Burger Day
June
- June 1: International Children’s Day
- June 1: Global Day of Parents
- June 7: National Doughnut Day
- June 14: Flag Day
- June 16: Father’s Day
- June 19: Juneteenth
- June 20: First day of summer
- June 21: National Selfie Day
- June 30: World Social Media Day
July
- July 4: Independence Day
- July 17: World Emoji Day
- July 21: World Dog Day
- July 24: National Tequila Day
- July 28: Parents’ Day
- July 30: International Friendship Day
August
- Aug. 2: International Beer Day
- Aug. 8: World Cat Day
- Aug. 9: National Book Lovers Day
- Aug. 11: National Sons and Daughters Day
- Aug. 13: International Left-Handers Day
- Aug. 14: National Financial Awareness Day
- Aug. 19: World Humanitarian Day
- Aug. 19: World Photo Day
- Aug. 23: Hashtag Day
- Aug. 26: National Women’s Equality Day
- Aug. 26: National Dog Day
September
- Sept. 2: Labor Day
- Sept. 5: International Day of Charity
- Sept. 6: Read a Book Day
- Sept. 7: National Beer Lover’s Day
- Sept. 8: International Literacy Day
- Sept. 8: Grandparents’ Day
- Sept. 10: Suicide Prevention Day
- Sept. 11: National Day of Service and Remembrance
- Sept. 12: National Video Games Day
- Sept. 15: First day of Hispanic Heritage Month
- Sept. 21: International Day of Peace
- Sept. 23: First day of fall
- Sept. 27: World Tourism Day
- Sept. 28: National Drink Beer Day
October
- Oct. 1: First day of Global Diversity Awareness Month
- Oct. 1: International Coffee Day
- Oct. 2: International Day of Nonviolence
- Oct. 4: National Taco Day
- Oct. 5: World Teachers Day
- Oct. 10: World Mental Health Day
- Oct. 14: Indigenous Peoples’ Day
- Oct. 27: International Day Against Breast Cancer
- Oct. 31: Halloween
November
- Nov. 1: First day of Men’s Health Awareness Month
- Nov. 1: First day of American Indian Heritage Month
- Nov. 1: All Saints Day
- Nov. 5: Election Day
- Nov. 8: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Medicine (STEM) Day
- Nov. 11: Veterans’ Day
- Nov. 12: Deepavali/Diwali
- Nov. 13: World Kindness Day
- Nov. 19: International Men’s Day
- Nov. 28: Thanksgiving
- Nov. 29: Black Friday
- Nov. 30: Small Business Saturday
December
- Dec. 1: World AIDS Day
- Dec. 2: Cyber Monday
- Dec. 3: International Day of Persons with Disabilities
- Dec. 4: National Cookie Day
- Dec. 10: International Human Rights Day
- Dec. 10: International Animal Rights Day
- Dec. 21: First day of winter
- Dec. 23: Festivus
- Dec. 24: Christmas Eve
- Dec. 25: Christmas
- Dec. 25: First day of Hanukkah
- Dec. 26: First day of Kwanzaa
- Dec. 31: New Year’s Eve
Open Influence’s team stays on top of the latest trends and is here to help you maximize your creator campaigns. Open Influence is a leading global creator marketing agency dedicated to creating engaging campaigns.
Credit for image in banner: S-E-R-G-O/iStock. Credit for 2024 calendar image: new look casting/iStock.
