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The social media calendar 2021 is here! Get your key marketing dates and hashtags to boost your content creation this year.
From random fun ideas like Croissant Day, to more serious matters like World Mental Health Day.
Don’t forget when Black Friday is this year, so you can plan accordingly!
Whether you’re looking for inspiration for your Instagram posts or need to create content on your blog, you’ve come to the right place.
Get inspired for each month of the year 2021 with lots of key dates that you can plan your content around or use to build your community.
I have included key marketing dates and holiday calendar for the UK, as well as some US ones that are still relevant.
You will also find the Instagram hashtags to use for each of these holidays. For some of these, there are multiple hashtags that you can use.
Why do I need a Social Media Calendar?
You might be wondering if you would even need a social media calendar at all.
Quick answer: yes, you do!
A social media content calendar will not only help you create useful and relevant content, but it will also keep you motivated and accountable for each month of the year.
Here are a few reasons why you need to use a social media calendar for your content strategy:
1. Content ideas for when you’re stuck
We all get to that point in our content creation journey where we get a bit stuck. We feel like either we’re being repetitive with our content (which is not always a bad thing if done right).
Or we might just be completely out of ideas.
Psst. I also wrote about 45 Instagram Stories Ideas if you need more inspo. Or maybe you need help knowing what, when and how to post on Instagram.
This is where the marketing holidays calendar will come in handy.
You obviously won’t want to celebrate or bring awareness to ALL of these social media holidays. But you can go through each month and pick the ones that are relevant to you or your niche.
This will make creating content easier.
It might also spark some post ideas you might not have thought of otherwise.
2. Pitch to brands for campaigns
Here’s one thing that is not often talked about. Brands create their influencer campaigns around major (or sometimes small) holidays.
You can better leverage your content creation skills if you show that you really understand your audience. And you have a specific content plan in mind.
So rather than writing emails saying: “Hi, let’s collaborate”.
Which – spoiler! – will most likely not get you a response back.
Instead, write an email along the lines of: “Hi, I am planning an Easter Day activity ideas for kids and I think your product would be a great feature in it. If you have any influencer campaigns around Easter Day, I would love to help out.”
Of course, maybe elaborate that email – I just wrote the gist.
But you get my point.
This type of email will make you look more professional. And it will show you know what you’re on about. Brands appreciate that.
3. Community feel
You can also use the social media calendar to bring awareness to a cause that is close to your heart. It can help build that community feel in your audience.
By using the right hashtags, you can also bring in more followers that are like-minded and have similar values to you.
And that is exactly what you want in your followers – people who are actually interested in what you have to say.
How to use the Social Media Calendar 2021
Included in this social media calendar for 2021 you will find up-to-date holidays that you can jot down in your own calendars.
I recommend bookmarking this page so you can come back to it when you plan your content for each month, so you don’t miss anything.
Then go through the days of the month and see which holidays apply to you, your business or your niche.
A content calendar will help you immensely to stay organised and motivated. And it also keeps you accountable to make sure you get things done each month.
So create your strategy for 2021 around this marketing calendar and you will surely see growth in either you blog or your Instagram, or just your social media business in general.
Social Media Content Calendar 2021 | Key Marketing Dates
The social media content calendar for 2021 below is organised by month and then by day. Some days will have more than one social media holiday – obviously you only pick the ones that suit your niche.
JANUARY
January 1. New Year’s Day #NewYearsDay
January 2. Science Fiction Day #ScienceFictionDay, World Introvert Day #WorldIntrovertDay
January 4. National Trivia Day #NationalTriviaDay
January 5. National Bird Day #NationalBirdDay
January 6. National Technology Day #NationalTechnologyDay, National Shortbread Day #NationalShortbreadDay
January 8. Bubble Bath Day #BubbleBathDay
January 10. Houseplant Appreciation Day #HouseplantAppreciationDay
January 11. Human Trafficking Awareness Day #HumanTraffickingDay
January 13. Clean Off Your Desk Day #CleanOffYourDeskDay, National Sticker Day #NationalStickerDay
January 14. Dress Up Your Pet Day #DressUpYourPetDay
January 15. National Hat Day #NationalHatDay
January 18. Blue Monday #BlueMonday
January 19. Popcorn Day #PopcornDay
January 20. Cheese Lovers’ Day #CheeseLoversDay
January 21. Hugging Day #HuggingDay
January 24. Compliment Day #NationalComplimentDay
January 25. Opposite Day #OppositeDay
January 27. Chocolate Cake Day #ChocolateCakeDay
January 28. Data Privacy Day #DataPrivacyDay
January 29. Puzzle Day #PuzzleDay
January 30. Croissant Day #CroissantDay
January 31. Grammy Awards #GrammyAwards
FEBRUARY
February 2. Groundhog Day #GroundhogDay, World Wetlands Day #WorldWetlandsDay
February 4. World Cancer Day #WorldCancerDay
February 5. World Nutella Day #WorldNutellaDay
February 6. Beginning of Six Nations #SixNations
February 7. Send a Card to a Friend Day #SendACardToAFriendDay
February 9. National Pizza Day #NationalPizzaDay
February 11. Safer Internet Day #SID2021, National Inventors’ Day #NationalInventorsDay
February 12. Chinese New Year #ChineseNewYear
February 13. World Radio Day #WorldRadioDay
February 14. Valentine’s Day #ValentinesDay
February 15. Singles Awareness Day #SinglesAwarenessDay
February 16. Pancake Day #PancakeDay
February 17. Random Acts of Kindness Day #RandomActsOfKindnessDay
February 20. Love Your Pet Day #LoveYourPetDay, World Day of Social Justice #SocialJusticeDay
February 21. International Mother Language Day #MotherLanguageDay
February 25. Digital Learning Day #DigitalLearningDay
February 28. Golden Globes 2021 #GoldenGlobes
MARCH
March 2. National Read Across America Day #ReadAcrossAmerica
March 3. World Wildlife Day #WorldWildlifeDay
March 4. World Book Day #WorldBookDay, National Grammar Day #NationalGrammarDay
March 5. Employee Appreciation Day #EmployeeAppreciationDay, National Day of Unplugging #NationalDayOfUnplugging
March 6. Dentist’s Day #DentistsDay
March 7. National Cereal Day #NationalCerealDay
March 8. International Women’s Day #InternationalWomensDay
March 9. National Napping Day #NationalNappingDay
March 14. Mother’s Day #MothersDay
March 15. World Consumer Rights Day #WorldConsumerRightsDay
March 17. St. Patrick’s Day #StPatricksDay
March 19. Red Nose Day #RedNoseDay, Sleep Day #WorldSleepDay
March 20. International Day of Happiness #InternationalDayofHappiness, First Day of Spring #FirstDayofSpring
March 21. World Poetry Day #WorldPoetryDay
March 22. World Water Day #WorldWaterDay
March 23. National Puppy Day #NationalPuppyDay
March 25. International Waffle Day #InternationalWaffleDay
March 26. Purple Day #PurpleDay
March 27. Earth Hour Day #EarthHour
March 28. Daylight Saving Time #DaylightSavingTime
March 30. Doctor’s Day #NationalDoctorsDay
March 31. World Backup Day #WorldBackupDay
APRIL
April 1. April Fools’ Day #AprilFoolsDay, National Walking Day #NationalWalkingDay
April 2. World Autism Awareness Day #WorldAutismAwarenessDay, Good Friday #GoodFriday
April 3. Find a Rainbow Day #FindARainbowDay
April 4. Easter Sunday #EasterSunday
April 5. Easter Monday #EasterMonday
April 7. World Health Day #WorldHealthDay
April 10. The Grand National #TheGrandNational, Siblings Day #NationalSiblingsDay
April 11. National Pet Day #NationalPetDay
April 12. Ramadan begins #Ramadan2021, International Day of Human Space Flight #InternationalDayOfHumanSpaceFlight
April 13. Equal Pay Day #EqualPayDay
April 15. Tax Day #TaxDay
April 16. Stress Awareness Day #StressAwarenessDay
April 19. Bicycle Day #BicycleDay
April 20. Look Alike Day #NationalLookAlikeDay
April 21. National Tea Day #NationalTeaDay, Queen Elizabeth’s Birthday #QueensBirthday
April 22. Earth Day #EarthDay2021
April 23. World Book Day #WorldBookDay
April 25. The Oscars Academy Awards #Oscars2021, World Malaria Day #WorldMalariaDay
April 26. Arbor Day #ArborDay
April 29. International Dance Day #InternationalDanceDay
April 30. International Jazz Day #JazzDay
MAY
May 1. May Day #MayDay, International Workers Day #InternationalWorkersDay
May 3. Early May Bank Holiday #MayBankHoliday, World Press Freedom Day #WorldPressFreedomDay
May 4. Star Wars Day #Maythe4thBeWithYou #StarWarsDay, International Firefighters Day #InternationalFirefightersDay
May 5. Cinco de Mayo #CincoDeMayo, Thank a Teacher Day #ThankATeacher
May 6. World Password Day #WorldPasswordDay
May 7. Space Day #SpaceDay
May 9. Europe Day #EuropeDay
May 11. National Eat What You Want Day #NationalEatWhatYouWantDay
May 13. World Cocktail Day #WorldCocktailDay
May 15. International Day of Families #InternationalDayofFamilies, Endangered Species Day #EndangeredSpeciesDay
May 16. Love a Tree Day #LoveATreeDay, International Day of Light #InternationalDayofLight
May 17. International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia #IDAHOT, World Baking Day #WorldBakingDay
May 18. National Museum Day #MuseumDay
May 20. World Bee Day #WorldBeeDay
May 21. National Memo Day #NationalMemoDay
May 28. World Hunger Day #WorldHungerDay
May 29. National Paperclip Day #NationalPaperclipDay, National Biscuit Day #NationalBiscuitDay
May 30. National Creativity Day #NationalCreativityDay
May 31. Spring Bank Holiday #SpringBankHoliday, World No-Tobacco Day #NoTobacco
JUNE
June 1. Global Day of Parents #GlobalDayOfParents, International Children’s Day #InternationalChildrensDay
June 2. Leave The Office Early Day #LeaveTheOfficeEarlyDay
June 3. National Fish and Chip Day #NationalFishAndChipDay
June 4. National Donut Day #NationalDonutDay
June 5. World Environment Day #WorldEnvironmentDay
June 6. National Cancer Survivor’s Day #NationalCancerSurvivorsDay
June 7. Chocolate Ice Cream Day #ChocolateIceCreamDay
June 8. World Oceans Day #WorldOceansDay, Best Friends Day #BestFriendsDay
June 10. Iced Tea Day #IcedTeaDay
June 11. European Championship start #EuropeanChampionship
June 12. Queen’s Birthday #QueensBirthday
June 14. World Blood Donor Day #WorldBloodDonorDay
June 15. National Beer Day #NationalBeerDay
June 18. International Sushi Day #InternationalSushiDay
June 20. Father’s Day #FathersDay2021, First Day of Summer #FirstDayofSummer
June 21. National Selfie Day #NationalSelfieDay, World Music Day #WorldMusicDay, International Yoga Day #InternationalYogaDay
June 23. Women in Engineering Day #WomeninEngineering
June 25. National Cream Tea Day #NationalCreamTeaDay, Take Your Dog to Work Day #TakeYourDogToWorkDay
June 26. London Pride #LondonPride
June 27. National Sunglasses Day #NationalSunglassesDay
June 28. Wimbledon begins #Wimbledon2021
June 30. Social Media Day #SocialMediaDay
JULY
July 1. National Postal Worker Day #NationalPostalWorkerDay
July 2. World UFO Day #WorldUFODay
July 4. American Independence Day #IndependenceDay #4thofJuly
July 6. National Kissing Day #NationalKissingDay
July 7. World Chocolate Day #WorldChocolateDay
July 11. Cheer Up the Lonely Day #CheerUpTheLonelyDay, World Population Day #WorldPopulationDay
July 12. Simplicity Day #SimplicityDay, Malala Day #MalalaDay
July 14. Bastille Day #BastilleDay
July 15. Give Something Away Day #GiveSomethingAwayDay
July 17. World Emoji Day #WorldEmojiDay
July 18. Nelson Mandela International Day #MandelaDay
July 19. Ice Cream Day #NationalIceCreamDay
July 20. International Chess Day #InternationalChessDay
July 30. World Day Against Trafficking in Persons #EndHumanTrafficking, Day of Friendship #DayOfFriendship
AUGUST
August 1. Respect for Parents Day #RespectForParentsDay, Planner Day #PlannerDay, World Wide Web Day #WorldWideWebDay
August 2. Summer Bank Holiday #SummerBankHoliday, National Coloring Book Day #NationalColoringBookDay
August 6. International Beer Day #InternationalBeerDay
August 8. International Cat Day #InternationalCatDay
August 9. National Book Lovers Day #NationalBookLoversDay
August 10. National Lazy Day #NationalLazyDay, World Lion Day #WorldLionDay
August 12. International Youth Day #InternationalYouthDay, World Elephant Day #WorldElephantDay
August 13. International Left Handers Day #LeftHandersDay
August 15. National Relaxation Day #NationalRelaxationDay
August 16. National Tell a Joke Day #NationalTellAJokeDay
August 19. World Humanitarian Day #WorldHumanitarianDay
August 20. National Lemonade Day #NationalLemonadeDay
August 21. World Entrepreneurs Day #WorldEntrepreneursDay
August 26. National Women’s Equality Day #WomensEqualityDay, International Dog Day #InternationalDogDay
August 30. Summer Bank Holiday #SummerBankHoliday
SEPTEMBER
September 4. National Wildlife Day #NationalWildlifeDay, World Beard Day #WorldBeardDay
September 5. International Day of Charity #CharityDay, National Grandparents Day #NationalGrandparentsDay
September 6. Labor Day #LaborDay, Read a Book Day #ReadaBookDay
September 8. International Literacy Day #LiteracyDay
September 10. World Suicide Prevention Day #WorldSuicidePreventionDay
September 11. National Day of Service and Remembrance #911Day
September 12. National Day of Encouragement #DayOfEncouragement, National Video Games Day #NationalVideoGamesDay
September 13. Roald Dahl Day #RoaldDahlDay
September 15. Online Learning Day #OnlineLearningDay
September 16. 100 days until Christmas #100DaysUntilChristmas, Guacamole Day #NationalGuacamoleDay
September 18. National Cheeseburger Day #NationalCheeseburgerDay
September 19. Talk Like a Pirate Day #TalkLikeAPirateDay
September 21. International Day of Peace #PeaceDay
September 22. Car-Free Day #CarFreeDay, National Women’s Health and Fitness Day #FitnessDay, Autumn Equinox #AutumnEquinox #FirstDayofAutumn
September 26. European Day of Languages #EuropeanDayofLanguages
September 27. World Tourism Day #WorldTourismDay
September 28. National Good Neighbor Day #GoodNeighborDay
September 30. International Podcast Day #InternationalPodcastDay
OCTOBER
October 1. International Coffee Day #InternationalCoffeeDay, World Vegetarian Day #WorldVegetarianDay
October 2. International Day of Nonviolence #InternationalDayOfNonviolence, World Smile Day #WorldSmileDay
October 3. National Techies Day #TechiesDay
October 4. World Animal Day #WorldAnimalDay, National Taco Day #NationalTacoDay, World Teachers Day #WorldTeachersDay, World Habitat Day #WorldHabitatDay
October 10. World Mental Health Day #WorldMentalHealthDay
October 11. International Day of the Girl #DayOfTheGirl
October 14. National Dessert Day #NationalDessertDay, World Sight Day #WorldSightDay
October 15. Global Handwashing Day #GlobalHandwashingDay
October 16. World Food Day #WorldFoodDay
October 17. International Day for the Eradication of Poverty #EndPoverty
October 20. World Statistics Day #WorldStatisticsDay
October 24. United Nations Day #UNDay
October 25. World Pasta Day #WorldPastaDay
October 30. Checklist Day #ChecklistDay
October 31. Halloween #Halloween2021, Daylight Saving Time
NOVEMBER
November 1. World Vegan Day #WorldVeganDay, National Authors Day #NationalAuthorsDay
November 3. National Sandwich Day #NationalSandwichDay, International Stress Awareness Day #StressAwarenessDay
November 4. Diwali #Diwali2021, National Candy Day #NationalCandyDay
November 5. Bonfire Night #BonfireNight
November 8. National Cappuccino Day #NationalCappuccinoDay, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Medicine (STEM) Day #STEMDay
November 11. Remembrance Day #RemembranceDay
November 13. World Kindness Day #WorldKindnessDay
November 14. Remembrance Sunday #RemembranceSunday
November 15. Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day #CleanOutYourRefrigeratorDay
November 16. International Day for Tolerance #ToleranceDay, National Entrepreneurs Day #EntrepreneursDay
November 17. International Students Day #InternationalStudentsDay
November 19. International Men’s Day #InternationalMensDay
November 20. Universal Children’s Day #UniversalChildrensDay
November 21. World Hello Day #WorldHelloDay
November 25. Thanksgiving Day (US) #Thanksgiving2021
November 26. Black Friday #BlackFriday2021
November 27. Small Business Saturday (The last Saturday of November) #ShopSmall
November 29. Cyber Monday #CyberMonday2021
November 30. Computer Security Day #ComputerSecurityDay
DECEMBER
December 1. World AIDS Day #WorldAidsDay
December 3. International Day of Persons with Disabilities #IDPWD
December 4. National Cookie Day #NationalCookieDay
December 5. World Soil Day #WorldSoilDay
December 6. St Nicholas Day #StNicholasDay
December 9. Christmas Card Day #ChristmasCardDay
December 10. Human Rights Day #HumanRightsDay, Nobel Prize Day #NobelPrize, International Animal Rights Day #InternationalAnimalRightsDay
December 11. International Mountain Day #InternationalMountainDay
December 14. Christmas Jumper Day #ChristmasJumperDay
December 21. First Day of Winter #WinterSolstice #FirstDayofWinter
December 24. Christmas Eve #ChristmasEve2021
December 25. Christmas Day #ChristmasDay2021
December 26. Boxing Day #BoxingDay2021
December 31. New Year’s Eve #NewYearsEve2021
I hope the Social Media Calendar 2021 was useful!
Thank you so much for this guide! I’ve started planning my content for the whole year and this is going to be really helpful!
Joanne Sherrell x
That’s amazing, Joanne. Glad I could help! Keep on blogging 🙂