If you are struggling for content for your social media activity and looking for inspiration, awareness days can be a great starting place. Every day is dedicated to something. You only have to log into Twitter to see a ‘hashtag holiday’ trending! You might feel they are rather silly but with careful selection, they can be fruitful.
Awareness days were created to draw attention to an issue, to unify people to support a cause or celebrate achievements of society. However, as businesses realised the potential to exploit this as a marketing opportunity, thousands of new awareness days have sprung up.
Unless you are the biggest fan of Nutella and you can find a relevant link to your business, I would stay clear of World Nutella day (5th February if this is you!) So be conscious of not just jumping on the bandwagon with awareness days and ensuring the days you choose are a good fit and the content you share is of value to your audience. They are however a fantastic marketing tool and allow you to show your creative side, have fun and share your passions with your audience. The most popular awareness days on social media will generally involve a hashtag, which means they often start trending. If you can get involved in timely conversations, you’ll be able to reach and engage with a large audience, quickly.
Looking for awareness days and be like disappearing down a rabbit hole, so I have done the hard work for you and created a list of days and important dates to inspire you. You could use these awareness days for your social media content, maybe an Instagram post or a few Tweets to a blog article, perhaps you could run a competition, or you could even use an awareness day as a reason to run your own event. If you discover any I have missed, message me and I'll add them to the list!
January
10th January - House Plant Appreciation Day
17th January - Blue Monday
21st January - Squirrel Appreciation Day (Squirrel Accord UK)
28th to 30th January - Big Garden Bird Watch (RSPB)
29th January to 4th February - National Story Telling Week
February
1st February - Chinese New Year
2nd February - Hedgehog Day (British Hedgehog Preservation Society)
2nd February - World Wetlands Day
14th February - Valentines Day
14th to 21st February - National Nest Box Week
16th February - Shrove Tuesday
17th February - Random Acts of Kindness
March
1st March - St David's Day
1st March - Shrove Tuesday
3rd March - World Wildlife Day
3rd March - World Book Day
8th March - International Women's Day
14th March - International Day of Action for Rivers
14th to 20th - National Compost Week
17th March - St Patrick's Day
18th to 27th March - English Tourism Week (Visit Britain)
18th March - Comic Relief
20th March - Spring Equinox
20th March - International Day of Happiness
20th March - World Sparrow Day
21st March - Garden ReLeaf Day (Greenfingers charity)
21st March - International Day of Forests (United Nations)
22nd March - World Water Day (United Nations)
23rd March - World Meteorological Day
27th March - Earth Hour
27th March - Mother's Day
27th March - British Summertime begins
April
1st April - April Fools Day
1st to 31st April - Stress Awareness Month, Pet Month, National Garden Month
4th April - International Carrot Day
15th April - Easter Friday
17th April - Easter Sunday
22nd April - Earth Day (United Nations)
23rd April - St Georges Day
25th April to 1st May - National Gardening Week (RHS)
TBC - National Parks Fortnight
TBC - International Dark Sky Week
May
1st to 31st May - National Walking Month (Living Streets)
1st to 31st May - No Mow May (Plantlife)
1st May - International Dawn Chorus Day
2nd to 8th May - Hedgehog Awareness Week (British Hedgehog Preservation Society)
7th May - World Naked Gardening Day
8th May - Garden Day
9th to 15th May - Mental Health Awareness Week
16th to 22nd May - Vegetarian Week
19th May - Outdoor Classroom Day
20th May - World Bee Day
24th to 28th May - Chelsea Flower Show
28th May to 5th June - National Children's Gardening Week (Greenfingers charity)
29th May - Learn about Composting Day
30th May to 5th June - National BBQ Week
TBC - Great British Bee Count (Friends of the Earth)
TBC - National Camping & Caravanning Week (Camping and Caravanning Club)
TBC - British Tomato Fortnight (British Tomato Growers Association)
June
1st to 31st June - 30 days wild (Wildlife Trust)
1st to 31st June - National Camping Month
3rd June - Queen's Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday
5th June - World Environment Day (United Nations)
5th to 11th June - National Gardening Week
8th June - World Oceans Day (United Nations)
12th June - Open Farm Sunday
16th to 19th June - BBC Gardeners' World Live Show at the NEC
18th June - International Picnic Day
19th June - Father's Day
20th to 26th June - National Insect Week
21st June - Summer Solstice
24th June - Bring your Dog to Work Day
27th June to 10th July - Wimbledon
28th to 29th June - Glee event at NEC
29th June - International Mud Day
30th June - Social Media Day
TBC - National Growing for Wellbeing Week (Life at no 37)
July
1st to 31st July - Plastic Free Month, National Picnic Month,
2nd July - Meadows Day ( Magnificent Meadows)
4th July - Independent Retailer Day
4th to 10th July - Great British Pea Week ( Yes Peas)
4th to 9th July - RHS Hampton Court Flower Show
10th July - Don't Step on a Bee Day
16th July - World Snake Day
16th July to 8th August - Big Butterfly Count (Butterfly Conservation Society)
21st July - Beginning of school summer holidays
23rd to 31st July- Moth Week (British Conservation & Aptropos)
27th July - Take your Houseplant for a Walk Day
TBC - National Marine Week (The Wildlife Trusts)
TBC - Love Parks Week (Keep Britain Tidy)
TBC - Garden Wildlife Week
TBC - Dragonfly Week (British Dragonfly Society)
August
4th August - International Owl Awareness Day
8th August - International Cat Day
8th to 15th August - National Allotments Week (National Allotment Society)
19th August - World Photography Day
26th August - International Dog Day
27th August - International Bat Night (Bat Conservation Trust)
TBC- PlayDay (Play England)
September
1st to 31st September - Organic month (Soil Association)
6th September - Children return to school
5th to 9th September - Zero Waste Week
9th to 18th September - Heritage Open Days
15th to 17th - The Glamping Show
17th September to 2nd October - British Food Fortnight
22nd September - Car Free Day (Living Streets)
22nd September - Autumn Equinox
23rd September to 22nd October - Seed Gathering Season (Tree Council)
25th September - World Rivers Day
TBC - Forest Stewardship Council Friday
TBC - Bike to School Week (Sustrans)
TBC - National Red Squirrel Week (Red Squirrel Survival Trust)
October
2nd October - UK Fungus Day (British Mycological Society)
4th October - World Animal Day & World Habitat Day
6th October - National Badger Day (Badger Trust)
10th October - World Mental Health Day
21st October - World Earthworm Day (Earthworm Society)
23rd October - National Mole Day
21st October - Apple Day
30th October - British Summertime ends
31st October - Halloween
TBC - Forest School Day
TBC - Conker championships
TBC - World Mammal Week (National Mammal Society)
TBC - World Puddle Jumping Championships
November
1st to 31st November - Men's Health Awareness month
1st November - World Vegan Day
2nd November - International Stress Awareness Day
3rd November - Outdoor Classroom Day
5th November - Bonfire Night
11th November - Remembrance Day
13th November - World Kindness Day
13th November - Remembrance Sunday
14th to 20th November - Road Safety Week
18th November - Children in Need Day
19th November - International Men's Day
20th November - Stir Up Sunday
24th November - Thanksgiving
25th November - Black Friday
26th November to 5th December - National Tree Week (Tree Council)
29th November - Giving Tuesday
30th November - St Andrew's Day
December
4th December - Tree Dressing Day
5th December - Soil Day
8th December - Christmas Jumper Day (Save the Children)
12th December - Poinsettia Day
21st December - Winter Solstice
24th December - Christmas Eve
25th December - Christmas Day
31st December - New Year's Eve