Expert Showcase: How to use awareness days on social media

Here at Get Ahead VA our team includes experts in a wide variety of fields.  From Accounting to Admin, Hootsuite to Holiday cover, Email Marketing to Excel, our virtual assistants can add value to many aspects of your business.  Every month we deliver some of this expertise to you, with a series of ‘How to’ guides to help you get the best bang for your buck in your business.

In this guide one of our social media management experts Jenny talks about how awareness days can form an effective part of your social media strategy.

Did you know today is IT Professionals Day, celebrating the contribution IT professionals make to modern business?  If you run an IT business, today could be a great day to spread the word about how your company can benefit and support others.

Awareness days can be an excellent reason to talk about your business online and an important part of your social media strategy.

The key is to find Awareness Days that are relevant to your business.  You need to be able to relate the event – be it an awareness day, week or month, to your business and your customers, so that is has meaning for them.  Of course, you can be a little creative in how you make your links, but they do need to real links.  Anything too obscure simply won’t cut through to your audience.

Start by researching awareness days online.  There are various calendars available which you can look through to find events that might be relevant to your business.  We currently love the TrackMaven calendar, which is free to download.  You can also automatically integrate the calendar into your own Outlook or Gmail calendar, making it easier to reference on an ongoing basis.

The great thing about awareness days is that you can plan ahead.  Days are set out well in advance (usually annually), so you can find relevant days and create and schedule social media content prior to the event, as and when you have time available.

Check the policy of any awareness event you are planning on linking to.

Some events are more protective than others if they have sponsors to think about (like for example the Olympics, where only actual sponsors are able to talk about it).  That way you know you can safely associate yourself and your business with the event in a positive way.  Also check if the event has a relevant hashtag which you can use in your communications, to help maximise your exposure.

Some examples might be:

  • Small Business Saturday – relevant to any small UK business
  • National Walk your Dog to Work Week – relevant to any dog based business or charity, as well as any business whose employees have dogs and could walk to work
  • Financial Planning month – relevant to businesses that sell financial planning services or products, such as pensions or insurance

Once you have selected your events you can schedule relevant social media posts.  Don’t forget to include photos, images and links to increase engagement and really bring your posts to life.  You could also integrate the activity into your wider marketing strategy, such as email marketing, press releases, newsletters or blogs.


If you are still unsure about where to start with any of your social media marketing then Jenny and the rest of our highly experienced virtual assistants are here to help.  We love to take on the tasks you don’t have time to do, don’t have the skills to do, or simply don’t want to do.

Please get in touch on 01483 332220 or email us at office@getaheadva.com to find out more about our virtual assistant service.  We pride ourselves on being the staff you don’t see, but the difference you do.

Find out more about our services or call 01483 332 220 to discuss in more detail.