Hey Reader,

It's holiday season here in North America. As a social media professional, this time of year always comes with a very specific kind of dread. What kind of dread you ask? The kind of dread that comes from years of superiors demanding that I sign on to a company social account and post some stupid holiday graphic even though it's [INSERT HOLIDAY HERE] and I'm supposed to be off.

This week, in honor of all the unpaid hours I've dedicated to holiday social posts, I'd like to pose a question: Do you actually need to post for the holidays?

Probably not.

Despite my tendency for long-winded metaphors, I'm not going to bury the lede here. Do you actually need to post for the holidays? No, you probably don't.

I've actually posted a bunch of TikToks about this, here's one. Reason numero uno why you probably don't need to post on a holiday: you're probably not paying anyone to do it. There's this absolutely vile misconception that "logging on to publish something isn't really work." Oh really? Is it not? Then why don't you do it yourself?

It is someone's responsibility to post on social. Would you ask that person to come in on Christmas to fulfil one of their other responsibilities? And, if you read that and thought "but publishing on social is easy and only takes a few moments," then I would challenge you to add that responsibility to your task list for a week. Let me know how it goes.

No one cares.

I hate to break it to you, but your brand isn't the main character in anyone's story. There's probably not anyone out there thinking "if XYZ brand doesn't wish me a Happy Thanksgiving, my entire holiday season will literally be ruined. If there is someone out there who feels that way about your brand, you should probably get a restraining order.

Here's the thing, holidays have two types of people. You've got people who try to stay off socials for the day and spend time with friends and family (me), and you've got people who try to hide from friends and family and scroll socials while hiding in the bathroom (also me). Now, let's think logically about both of those people. Person 1 isn't looking at socials, thus they likely won't care if you wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. Person 2 is trying to avoid the holidays and disassociate online. Chances are they don't even want to be reminded of the holiday, let alone by a brand.

The job that engrained social-media-holiday-dread in me had this rule that, for every holiday, a branded holiday graphic must be posted. It led to a lot of underperforming posts like the one I've included below. I've obscured the brand name because the owners of this company have threatened to sue me before. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

What's the value add?

Take a good, hard look at the above graphic. What value does this add to the brand? That's not a rhetorical question either, I'm being sincere. My sincere answer is that there is none. If you've read this newsletter before, you've likely heard me talk about engagement rates and how the average engagement rate across the internet is between 1-3.5%. The above graphic was posted to an account with 3,654 followers and received 32 likes. That's an engagement rate of .008%. That's ass.

Posts like this are fluff. They're filler. They exist to check a box. They let someone who doesn't know anything about social look at a feed and say "look, we're doing it!" Here at Bahnfyre PR, I hold content to a higher standard. I hold you to a higher standard. Let's not clutter the internet with digital trash for no reason.

This may not apply to you!

There are dozens of incredibly legitimate reasons to post on the holidays. Are you a business that's still open on a major holiday? Probably worth posting about. Do you celebrate a less common holiday that you want to bring awareness to? Probably worth posting about? Do you have some genuine copy about how thankful you are for your community this year? Probably worth posting about. Did you pre-schedule your holiday content to go live without manual interaction? Then by all means, post that trash!

All I ask of you this year is that you consider whether or not you really need to make that holiday post. And if you do, you better not make some underpaid underling log on to do it for free.

-MC

p.s.

• Tell me about a time you had to work on a holiday.
• Forward this email to the person who made you work on that holiday.
• If someone forwarded you this email and you liked it, subscribe to this newsletter! Then, stop making people work on the holidays!

A Word of Advice About End-Of-Year Content Start working on it now! ​ Watch the Video

A New Sketch: Freelance Life Based on true events. ​ Watch the Video

A New Sketch: Freelance Life pt. 2 Based on different true events. ​ ​ Watch the Video

Leaving these numbers for one more week as a proof of concept. I gave all of the accounts below LESS THAN 5 MINUTES of direct help and together they've gained nearly 6000 followers. I can do this for you to, in fact, I'd love to. Hit me up, I'm ready.

• ​Cassie - Digital Artist - Gained 5 followers
• ​Supportive Mom - Mom Creator - Gained 27 followers
• ​Flotsam - Personal account - Gained 39 followers
• ​Mrs. Frankie Home Cooking - Cooking tips and finds - Gained 199 followers
• ​Craft Activist Pshyrein - Craftivist - Gained 206 followers
• ​Allie Wheelz - Disability Advocate - Gained 2000 followers
• ​Boa90 - Cosplay Dancer - Gained 3400 followers

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Let's celebrate your wins next. Ask me how!

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