Content Marketing for the 4th of July

Another 4th of July has come and gone. If you are like me, it is one of your favorite holidays. In my opinion, it doesn’t get much better than celebrating what it means to be American with grilling out, eating watermelon and enjoying the warm weather and fireworks surrounded by great friends and family. Just the thought of red, white and blue, the American flag and fighting for our country brings feelings of great pride, joy and admiration. Many fond memories are associated with celebrating our Independence Day. As a content marketer, it is important to remember that tapping into your consumer’s emotions can be a great way to connect with them on a personal level. Below are some examples of companies that used the holiday to their advantage.

1. Budweiser

Budweiser hosted its Made in America Music Fest in June where they celebrated being produced in America. Recently, they have also sold their beer in red, white and blue bottles. Their Facebook page has an American vibe throughout with pictures and commercials.

2. Walt Disney World

Disney is capitalizing on the holiday by being the helpful friend. They created a Pinterest page (which they shared throughout their other social pages) with backyard BBQ ideas and recipes. This is a great idea to help consumers with ideas and planning, but still getting out their products in a subtle way.

3. Bath and Body Works

Bath and Body Works had one of the top 4^th of July posts on Instagram this weekend. When they posted this photo of their new American Apple scent. The post had over 42,247 likes and 182 comments. Over the weekend Bath and Body Works posted many red, white and blue photos on Instagram to emphasis the holiday and their products that fit in with the theme.

The above examples all used some type of emotional appeal to draw in and connect with their consumers. Using great images, commercials and videos, these companies created a sense of American pride.  Some content marketing strategies that I saw over the weekend could be incorporated into any holiday weekend with a little modification. Here are a few other ideas that you can use in your content strategy for the next 4^th of July, or you can modify them for any holiday.

• Run a photo contest or sweepstake. This makes your viewers an active part of your company and social media page. They can return back to the page to check on the status of the contest, and also share it with others to vote. Making them a part of the page instead of just a viewer.
• An American trivia game is another way to get your followers involved. Asking questions that pertain to America and being American will bring out not only some competition, but a sense of nostalgia and patriotism too.
• Like Disney did, creating a sense of value for your consumers is important. Sharing holiday themed recipes, clothing, games and ideas add value to your consumer’s life. It makes the company seem like they are genuinely interested in helping their consumers in all aspects of life, not just trying to sell their products.

I hope you can incorporate some of these tips and examples into your own content marketing in the future. If you would like further suggestions we can help your company strengthen its content marketing strategies. I would love to know what other interesting or emotionally appealing 4^th of July content marketing you came across!

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Elizabeth Muckensturm—Communications and Media Professor