Major holidays like New Year’s Eve, Independence Day, Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas are essential to your restaurant’s marketing calendar; they’re an opportunity to drive higher traffic. If you want to fill in the gaps between these larger events, consider micro-holidays and social media holidays — unofficial celebrations that honor everything from individual foods (National Donut Day) and beloved animals (International Cat Day) to silly photos (National Selfie Day) and acts of service (National Kindness Day).

Whether your restaurant is gearing up for fall or looking for opportunities to boost business during the rainy spring season, these fun national days and international days give you plenty of reasons to celebrate.

What are social media holidays?

Micro-holidays are also often known as social media holidays because they tend to be extremely popular on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. These not-quite-real holidays celebrate fun and random things people feel passionate about. Acknowledging micro-holidays on social media — and using the associated hashtag — can make your restaurant more relevant to a larger group of people.

Although you probably won’t find many greeting cards for social media holidays such as Mini Golf Day (September 21), World Smile Day (October 6), or Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day (November 15), they can still be great additions to your restaurant’s marketing plan and restaurant SEO tactics. Incorporating micro-holidays into your social media strategy may even boost delivery and in-person orders; 45% of U.S. customers say they’ve given a new restaurant a try after seeing posts on social media.

Why social media holidays matter for your restaurant

Social media holidays create opportunities for your restaurant to reach customers on a new level. When you celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science (February 11) or the National Day of Unplugging (first Friday of March), it attracts people who resonate with the topic. These connections can build a stronger relationship and a sense of familiarity, which helps you stay competitive.

Your restaurant can also use social media holidays to:

• Tap into trends. Participating in popular social media holidays helps you become a part of trending conversations online. The key? Use related keywords in your captions, and mark your posts with the holiday’s hashtag so it’s easier for users to discover and engage with your posts. This strategy also tells the platform’s algorithm that your content is relevant, so it’s more likely to drive more traffic to your posts.
• Increase engagement online. Like any internet trend, social media holidays tend to bring an exponential surge in attention. When you get involved, it’s an opportunity to get your brand in front of people around the world. Not all of those users will be able to stop by your restaurant, of course, but the extra attention can boost your profile on various social media platforms. Higher engagement rates due to comments, shares, and likes can encourage the platform to show all your content to more people. 
• Find content creation opportunities. Platforms such as Instagram and TikTok tend to reward users who post regularly, and social media holidays give you plenty of reasons to create content. Better yet, they come with ready-made themes and topics for your videos, stories, and posts. Whether you’re celebrating with a single post or a themed promotion, these national days and international days make it easier to maintain a consistent posting schedule. 
• Create special offers and discounts. Social media holidays can serve as the inspiration for special deals or promotions — discounts, for example, or limited-time menu items. This strategy can inform your marketing content and drive more traffic to your restaurant. You can offer it to your online and in-person customers to increase orders across all channels.

Popular social media holidays for restaurants

The year is packed with social media holidays that range from lighthearted to meaningful. No matter what mood you want to create, there’s a celebration to suit. Here are a few great options for restaurants and the relevant hashtags:

• January 15: National Bagel Day #NationalBagelDay
• February 17: Random Acts of Kindness Day #RandomActsOfKindnessDay
• March 14: Pi Day #PiDay
• March 20: International Day of Happiness #InternationalDayofHappiness
• April 10: Siblings’ Day #NationalSiblingsDay
• April 22: Earth Day #EarthDay
• May 6-10: Teacher Appreciation Week
• May 26: Memorial Day (U.S.) #MemorialDay
• June 4: National Cheese Day (U.S.) #NationalCheeseDay
• June 16: Father’s Day (U.S., UK + Canada)
• June 30: World Social Media Day #WorldSocialMediaDay
• July 7: World Chocolate Day #WorldChocolateDay
• August 19: World Photo Day #WorldPhotoDay
• September 15 – October 15: National Hispanic Heritage Month (U.S.)
• Oct 16: World Food Day
• November 13: World Kindness Day #WKD
• December 4: National Cookie Day

You can also add entire social media months to your calendar. October is Global Diversity Awareness Month, for example, and March is Women’s History Month. Other months to celebrate include Mental Health Awareness Month in May and National Poetry Month in April.As you’re planning marketing campaigns and promotions for social media holidays, look to Grubhub for support. Our promotional tools make it easy to create special discounts to go along with your celebration; you can even schedule limited-time menus in advance. And with our free social media templates, marketing is a breeze. Ready to try it? Get started with Grubhub today.