History is filled with triumphs and tragedies, but both should be acknowledged. Writing happy posts for things like Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Day can be the easiest social media content you’ll ever create. This guide, however, is dedicated to the sensitive holidays like Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day that you still need to honor equally, but are hard to write posts for.
Keep it Simple
As with any of your posts, keep your text brief and subject broad. The more you write, the more likely you are to offend someone. For example, you should never write “Happy Memorial Day – Stop by the store for a fantastic sale!” While some major retailers may advertise this federal holiday as a reason to shop, many companies have received negative publicity for trying to exploit this national day of remembrance. Your post should be one to two sentences long and read something like, “Thinking of our veterans today. Thank you for all you’ve sacrificed.” This simple message will show your users you value the importance of a particular anniversary and you will gain more respect from clients by doing so.
Find a Silver Lining
Positive things have come out of tragedies. For example, in 1981, a son was abducted and murdered in Florida. The boy’s father, John Walsh, went on to host “America’s Most Wanted” and helped catch more than 1,200 violent criminals. It is easy to dwell on the negative, but as part of your brand awareness you should work hard to find the silver lining in any situation. A simple line like, “Thank you for all the sacrifices you’ve made.” can go a long way.
Honor It
Whatever you do, do not ignore the holiday altogether and post your usual content. For thousands of people, a particular event may have changed their life and they want others to acknowledge the anniversary in some way. Once you’ve written a remembrance post, we recommend not posting for the rest of the day. Some users might get offended if you post about a sensitive subject in the morning and then cover their newsfeed in promotional content later in the day. Give people an entire day to reflect and honor a national holiday.
Keep these three tips in mind and you will have a much easier time creating content on these days of remembrance.
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