Chapter 4: How to Datejack
From the Initial Idea to Implementation
Chapter 4: How to Datejack
From the Initial Idea to Implementation
A Brief Introduction
Ready to take your content marketing to the next level with datejacking? Now you know what datejacking is, let’s dive into how you can use datejacking to superpower your content marketing efforts and ride the wave of popularity and enthusiasm around key dates and topics.
We have broken the basics of #datejacking down into 3 simple steps:
Dates
Firstly, review all relevant dates. This guide includes some of the big and obvious ones and you can download our Datejacking PDF at the end of this article for a fully comprehensive list with over 100 dates and resources to easily identify many more. You will want to compile all the relevant dates and add them to a calendar. Google Calendar allows you to easily create a calendar which you can use for this.
The dates you use can be fun or they can be serious. They can be closely aligned with your industry like the start of a specific season or they can be popular holidays. Don’t be too rigid here – outline a number of dates that you think may be useful and then brainstorm content ideas with your team around these dates.
These dates should include:
Festive Holidays
Christmas, New Year, Halloween
Events in your Niche Calendar
Talks, events, conferences
Popular Culture
Film,TV, book & theatre releases, music performances, sports events
Awareness/National Days
National Video Game Day, Talk Like A Pirate Day, Shakespeare Day, World Mental Health Day
Plumber + Halloween
DIY PLUMBING HORROR STORIES
SEO + Star Wars
SPAM WARS & THE DARKSIDE OF SEO
Think about the different formats your content could take. Videos, blog posts and images are all popular choices. Decipher what is popular with your audience and how your ideas could be communicated effectively.
Also, ensure that your brand is properly aligned with that date. Think about how your brand fits into the event, be creative and find an angle that can fit it. However, if you can’t find an idea that fits your brand, don’t force it. If your brand isn’t really related and your content idea isn’t very strong, ultimately, prospects will not engage as effectively and your goals may not be achieved.
Don’t forget that educational content can be fun by latching onto popular dates and creating an informative content marketing article in the style of a pirate for National Pirate Day will likely help the user enjoy and remember your post – it will certainly help you stand out, so don’t be afraid to sprinkle some levity on your lessons.
Promote
Once you have your awesome piece of content that fits with your chosen date, promote it like there’s no tomorrow. Whether your content takes the form of a blog post, video, image, or event, you need to get it out there and maximise its natural visibility. Whether the date lasts for just the day, the month, or week, keep getting it out there whenever and wherever people are talking about it to keep expanding your audience and impact.
Social media is a great starting point for this, as your chosen date will most likely be trending on various platforms. Promote the content on all your social media platforms. We see new dates trending on Twitter every day, so use the date’s hashtag to engage followers and get your update out there. Retweet it on Twitter, repin it on Pinterest, and repost it on Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin in the given time frame of the date.
Promote
Once you have your awesome piece of content that fits with your chosen date, promote it like there’s no tomorrow. Whether your content takes the form of a blog post, video, image, or event, you need to get it out there and maximise its natural visibility. Whether the date lasts for just the day, the month, or week, keep getting it out there whenever and wherever people are talking about it to keep expanding your audience and impact.
Social media is a great starting point for this, as your chosen date will most likely be trending on various platforms. Promote the content on all your social media platforms. We see new dates trending on Twitter every day, so use the date’s hashtag to engage followers and get your update out there. Retweet it on Twitter, repin it on Pinterest, and repost it on Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin in the given time frame of the date.
Things to consider about promotion:
- Promote the post on all your social media platforms.
- Boost the post through advertising on Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter to gain further reach and interactions.
- Identify those who have shared and linked to similar content on your event, date or topic and let them know about your content.
- Identify influencers who may share your post and pitch them your article.
- Send your content in your email newsletter.
You can’t just hope people find the article – this is time sensitive – push it out there and promote the hell out of it.
Free 30-Minute Consultation
If you have any questions or would like some advice, please drop us an email via the link below. We offer a free 30-minute consultation in which we analyse your requirements and provide you with a strategy to get started.
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