Do you celebrate International Cat Day, Pizza Day, or Talk Like a Pirate Day?
There are a plethora of observance days worldwide during which marketers can share content relevant to their industries, get involved in a movement, or simply generate more awareness. But odds are, you probably don’t acknowledge these days until you see your favorite brand posting about it.
These social media “holidays” are a fun way to connect with new and existing followers who share an affinity for a specific food, fictional character, or pet.
While we don’t suggest sharing content on social media and then adding an irrelevant holiday hashtag to it, these holidays can be a chance to promote your brand in a relevant way. Not doing so could cause you to miss valuable opportunities where your brand can join the conversations taking place among members of your target audience.
To help you plan for trending holidays, we created a list that you can bookmark, as well as a downloadable calendar so you can receive automatic reminders.
Downloadable Holiday Calendar
To help you keep track of all these unique holidays, here’s a Social Media Holiday Google Calendar.
Aside from 2022 holidays, we’ve also set dates on the calendar to repeat annually — either on the exact date they occur or the weekday they occur within the month.
Want to finish out your 2022 calendar with some upcoming holiday posts? Tap the + symbol in the lower right-hand corner of the calendar below to add it to your own Google calendar.
Use the Above Template to Plan Out Your Social Media Holiday Posts
National & Global Holiday Calendar: 2022
The list isn’t exhaustive (there are a lot of food-specific holidays out there), and these dates and hashtags may still be subject to change. But this is a great starting point for social media marketers who want to learn more about what’s trending and how they can plan their content in a way that will be fun and engaging on social platforms.
January 2022 Social Media Holidays
February 2022 Social Media Holidays
March 2022 Social Media Holidays
April 2022 Social Media Holidays
May 2022 Social Media Holidays
June 2022 Social Media Holidays
July 2022 Social Media Holidays
August 2022 Social Media Holidays
September 2022 Social Media Holidays
October 2022 Social Media Holidays
November 2022 Social Media Holidays
December 2022 Social Media Holidays
January 2022 Social Media Holidays
January 1: New Year’s Day #NewYearsDay
January 2: Science Fiction Day #ScienceFictionDay
January 4: National Trivia Day #NationalTriviaDay
January 5: National Bird Day #NationalBirdDay
January 11: Human Trafficking Awareness Day #HumanTraffickingDay
January 10: Clean Off Your Desk Day (Second Monday of January) #CleanOffYourDeskDay
January 13: National Sticker Day #NationalStickerDay
January 15: National Hat Day #NationalHatDay
January 17: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (Third Monday of January) #MLKDay
January 20: Cheese Lovers Day #CheeseLoversDay
January 20: Get to Know Your Customers Day (Third Thursday of January) #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay
January 21: National Hugging Day #NationalHuggingDay
January 24: National Compliment Day #NationalComplimentDay
January 24: Community Manager Appreciation Day (Every 4th Monday of January) #CMAD
January 25: Opposite Day #OppositeDay
January 28: Data Privacy Day #PrivacyAware
February 2022 Social Media Holidays
February 1 – 28: Black History Month
February 1: Chinese New Year (Varies Each Year) #ChineseNewYear
February 2: Groundhog Day #GroundhogDay
February 2: World Wetlands Day #WorldWetlandsDay
February 4: World Cancer Day #WorldCancerDay
February 5: National Weatherperson’s Day #NationalWeatherpersonsDay
February 7: National Send a Card to a Friend Day #SendACardToAFriendDay
February 8: National Boy Scouts Day #BoyScoutsDay
February 8: Safer Internet Day (Second Tuesday of February) #SID2022
February 9: National Pizza Day #NationalPizzaDay
February 11: Inventors Day #InventorsDay
February 13: World Radio Day #WorldRadioDay
February 13: Super Bowl LV (Varies each year based on the U.S. Football season) #SBLV #SuperBowlSunday #SuperBowl
February 14: Valentine’s Day #ValentinesDay
February 17: Random Acts of Kindness Day #RandomActsOfKindnessDay
February 18: National Battery Day #NationalBatteryDay
February 20: World Day of Social Justice #SocialJusticeDay
February 20: Love Your Pet Day #LoveYourPetDay
February 21: International Mother Language Day #IMLD
February 21: Presidents Day (Third Monday of February) #PresidentsDay
March 2022 Social Media Holidays
March 1: Mardi Gras (Varies Each Year) #MardiGras
March 2: National Read Across America Day #ReadAcrossAmerica & #DrSeuss
March 3: World Wildlife Day #WorldWildlifeDay
March 4: National Grammar Day #NationalGrammarDay
March 4: National Employee Appreciation Day (First Friday of March) #EmployeeAppreciationDay
March 4: National Day of Unplugging (First Friday of March) #NationalDayOfUnplugging
March 6: National Dentist’s Day #DentistsDay
March 7: National Be Heard Day #NationalBeHeardDay
March 7: National Cereal Day #NationalCerealDay
March 8: International Women’s Day #BeBoldForChange
March 8: National Proofreading Day #NationalProofreadingDay
March 10: National Pack Your Lunch Day #NationalPackYourLunchDay
March 10: National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day #NWGHAAD
March 10: Popcorn Lover’s Day (Second Thursday of March) #PopcornLoversDay
March 11: National Worship of Tools Day #WorshipOfToolsDay
March 12: National Girl Scout Day #GirlScoutDay
March 14: Potato Chip Day #NationalPotatoChipDay
March 14: Pi Day #PiDay (To go the extra mile, post this at 1:59, as Pi equals 3.14159…)
March 13: Daylight Savings (Second Sunday of March) #DaylightSavings
March 14: National Napping Day (the day after Daylight Savings) #NationalNappingDay
March 15: World Consumer Rights Day #WorldConsumerRightsDay
March 15: Equal Pay Day (Varies Each Year) #EqualPayDay
March 16: National Freedom of Information Day #FreedomOfInformationDay
March 17: St. Patrick’s Day #StPatricksDay
March 18: Awkward Moments Day #NationalAwkwardMomentsDay
March 18: World Sleep Day (the Friday before Spring Vernal Equinox) #WorldSleepDay
March 19: National Let’s Laugh Day #NationalLetsLaughDay
March 20: International Day of Happiness #InternationalDayofHappiness
March 20: World Storytelling Day #WorldStorytellingDay
March 20: First Day of Spring #FirstDayofSpring
March 21: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination #RacialDiscriminationDay
March 21: World Poetry Day #WorldPoetryDay
March 22: World Water Day #WorldWaterDay
March 22: American Diabetes Association Alert Day (Fourth Tuesday of March) #AmericanDiabetesAssociationAlertDay
March 23: National Puppy Day #NationalPuppyDay
March 25: Tolkien Reading Day #TolkienReadingDay
March 26: National Spinach Day #NationalSpinachDay
March 26: Purple Day #PurpleDay
March 26: Earth Hour Day (Last Saturday of March) #EarthHour
March 30: Doctor’s Day #NationalDoctorsDay
March 30: National Take a Walk in the Park Day #NationalWalkInTheParkDay
March 31: World Backup Day #WorldBackupDay
March 31: Transgender Day of Visibility #TDOV
April 2022 Social Media Holidays
April 1 – 30: National Stress Awareness Month
April 1: April Fools Day #AprilFools
April 2: World Autism Awareness Day #WAAD
April 3: Find a Rainbow Day #FindARainbowDay
April 4: Hug a Newsperson Day #HugANewsperson
April 6: National Walking Day #NationalWalkingDay
April 7: World Health Day #LetsTalk
April 10: National Siblings Day #NationalSiblingsDay
April 10: Encourage a Young Writer Day #EncourageAYoungWriterDay
April 11: National Pet Day #NationalPetDay
April 12: International Day of Human Space Flight #InternationalDayOfHumanSpaceFlight
April 15: National Tax Day #TaxDay
April 16: National Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day #PJDay
April 17: Haiku Poetry Day #HaikuPoetryDay
April 18: National Columnists’ Day #NationalColumnistDay
April 20: National Look-Alike Day #NationalLookAlikeDay
April 21: National High-Five Day (Third Thursday of April) #NH5D
April 21: National Administrative Professionals Day #AdministrativeProfessionalsDay
April 21: Get to Know Your Customers Day (Third Thursday of April) #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay
April 22: Earth Day #EarthDay2022
April 23: National Picnic Day #NationalPicnicDay
April 23: World Book Day #WorldBookDay
April 25: National Telephone Day #NationalTelephoneDay
April 25: World Malaria Day #EndMalariaForGood
April 27: Denim Day (Last Wednesday in April) #DenimDay
April 28: National Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day (Fourth Thursday in April) #COUNTONME
April 29: Arbor Day (Last Friday in April. May vary by state) #ArborDay
April 29: International Dance Day #InternationalDanceDay
April 30: National Honesty Day #NationalHonestyDay
April 30: National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day #AdoptAShelterPetDay
April 30: International Jazz Day #JazzDay
May 2022 Social Media Holidays
May 1: May Day #MayDay
May 1: International Workers Day #IntWorkersDay
May 3: World Press Freedom Day #WPFD2022 #PressFreedom
May 3: World Asthma Day (First Tuesday of May) #WorldAsthmaDay
May 3: National Teacher Appreciation Day (first Tuesday of the first full week of May) #ThankATeacher
May 4: Star Wars Day #StarWarsDay & #Maythe4thBeWithYou
May 4: International Firefighters Day #InternationalFirefightersDay
May 5: Cinco de Mayo #CincoDeMayo
May 5: World Password Day (First Thursday of May) #WorldPasswordDay
May 6: National Nurses Day #NursesDay
May 6: Space Day (First Friday of May) #SpaceDay
May 8: Mother’s Day (Second Sunday of May) #MothersDay
May 9: Europe Day #EuropeDay
May 11: National Receptionist Day (Second Wednesday of May) #NationalReceptionistDay
May 12: National Limerick Day #NationalLimerickDay
May 15: International Day of Families #FamilyDay
May 16: Love a Tree Day #LoveATreeDay
May 17: International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia #IDAHOT2022
May 20: National Bike to Work Day (Third Friday of May) #BTWD
May 20: Endangered Species Day (Third Friday of May) #EndangeredSpeciesDay
May 21: National Memo Day #NationalMemoDay
May 24: National Scavenger Hunt Day #NationalScavengerHuntDay
May 26: National Red Nose Day (Last Thursday of May) #RedNoseDay
May 27: Heat Awareness Day (Last Friday of May) #NoFryDay
May 28: Hamburger Day #NationalHamburgerDay
May 29: Paperclip Day #PaperclipDay
May 30: Memorial Day (Last Monday of May) #MemorialDay #MDW
May 31: World No-Tobacco Day #NoTobacco
June 2022 Social Media Holidays
June 1: Global Day of Parents #GlobalDayOfParents
June 3: National Donut Day (First Friday of June) #NationalDonutDay
June 5: World Environment Day #WorldEnvironmentDay
June 5: National Cancer Survivors Day (First Sunday of June)#NCSD2022
June 6: Higher Education Day #HigherEducationDay
June 8: World Oceans Day #WorldOceansDay
June 8: Best Friends Day #BestFriendsDay
June 12: International Children’s Day (Second Sunday of June) #ChildrensDay
June 14: World Blood Donor Day #GiveBlood
June 14: National Flag Day #FlagDay
June 19: Juneteenth (Freedom Day) #Juneteenth
June 19: Father’s Day (Third Sunday of June) #FathersDay
June 20: World Refugee Day #WithRefugees
June 21: First Day of Summer (Varies between June 20-22 each year) #FirstDayofSummer
June 21: National Selfie Day #NationalSelfieDay
June 21: World Music Day #WorldMusicDay
June 21: International Yoga Day #InternationalYogaDay
June 24: Take Your Dog to Work Day (First Friday after Juneteenth) #TakeYourDogToWorkDay
June 27: National Sunglasses Day #NationalSunglassesDay
June 30: Social Media Day #SMDay
June 30: National Handshake Day (Last Thursday of June) #HandshakeDay
July 2022 Social Media Holidays
July 1: National Postal Worker Day #NationalPostalWorkerDay
July 2: World UFO Day #WorldUFODay
July 4: Independence Day (United States)
July 7: World Chocolate Day #WorldChocolateDay
July 8: National Video Games Day #NationalVideoGamesDay
July 11: Cheer Up the Lonely Day #CheerUpTheLonelyDay
July 12: Malala Day #MalalaDay
July 15: Give Something Away Day #GiveSomethingAwayDay
July 17: World Emoji Day #WorldEmojiDay
July 18: Nelson Mandela International Day #MandelaDay
July 21: Get to Know Your Customers Day (Third Thursday of July) #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay
July 29: Talk in an Elevator Day (Last Friday of July) #TalkInAnElevatorDay
July 30: International Day of Friendship #DayOfFriendship
August 2022 Social Media Holidays
August 1: Respect for Parents Day #RespectForParentsDay
August 2: National Coloring Book Day #NationalColoringBookDay
August 8: International Cat Day #InternationalCatDay
August 9: National Book Lovers Day #NationalBookLoversDay
August 10: National Lazy Day #LazyDay
August 11: National Sons and Daughters Day #SonsAndDaughtersDay
August 12: International Youth Day #YouthDay
August 12: World Elephant Day #WorldElephantDay
August 13: International Lefthanders Day #LefthandersDay
August 15: National Relaxation Day #NationalRelaxationDay
August 16: National Tell a Joke Day #NationalTellAJokeDay
August 19: World Photo Day #WorldPhotoDay
August 19: World Humanitarian Day #WorldHumanitarianDay
August 20: National Lemonade Day #NationalLemonadeDay
August 26: National Dog Day #NationalDogDay
August 26: National Women’s Equality Day #WomensEqualityDay
September 2022 Social Media Holidays
September 4: National Wildlife Day #NationalWildlifeDay
September 5: International Day of Charity #CharityDay
September 5: Labor Day (First Monday of September) #LaborDay
September 6: Read a Book Day #ReadABookDay
September 8: International Literacy Day #LiteracyDay
September 9: Stand Up To Cancer Day (Second Friday of September) #KissCancerGoodbye
September 11: National Day of Service and Remembrance #911Day
September 11: National Grandparents Day (First Sunday of September after Labor Day) #NationalGrandparentsDay
September 12: National Day of Encouragement #DayOfEncouragement
September 15 – October 15: Hispanic Heritage Month #hispanicheritagemonth
September 18: Civic Day of Hacking (Exact date sometimes varies by year) #HackForChange
September 19: Talk Like a Pirate Day #TalkLikeAPirateDay
September 21: International Day of Peace #PeaceDay
September 21: Miniature Golf Day #MiniGolfDay
September 22: Car-Free Day #CarFreeDay
September 22: Hobbit Day #HobbitDay
September 22: First Day of Fall (Varies between September 22-23 each year) #FirstDayofFall
September 26: National Pancake Day #NationalPancakeDay
September 26: European Day of Languages #EDL2022
September 27: World Tourism Day #WTD2022
September 28: World Rabies Day #WorldRabiesDay
September 28: National Good Neighbor Day #GoodNeighborDay
September 28: National Women’s Health and Fitness Day (Last Wednesday of September) #FitnessDay
September 30: International Podcast Day #InternationalPodcastDay
October 2022 Social Media Holidays
October 1: International Day of Older Persons #UNDOP
October 1: International Coffee Day #InternationalCoffeeDay
October 1: World Vegetarian Day #WorldVegetarianDay
October 2: International Day of Nonviolence #InternationalDayOfNonviolence
October 3: National Techies Day #TechiesDay
October 3: World Habitat Day (First Monday of October) #WorldHabitatDay
October 4: World Animal Day #WorldAnimalDay
October 4: National Taco Day #NationalTacoDay
October 5: World Teachers Day #WorldTeachersDay
October 7: World Smile Day (First Friday of October) #WorldSmileDay
October 10: World Mental Health Day #WorldMentalHeathDay
October 11: International Day of the Girl #DayOfTheGirl
October 13: World Sight Day (Second Thursday of October) #WorldSightDay
October 14: National Dessert Day #DessertDay
October 15: Global Handwashing Day #GlobalHandwashingDay
October 16: World Food Day #FoodDay
October 16: Bosses Day #BossesDay
October 17: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty #EndPoverty
October 20: World Statistics Day (Held every 5 years; it will next be celebrated in 2025) #StatisticsDay
October 21: Reptile Awareness Day #ReptileAwarenessDay
October 20: Get to Know Your Customers Day (Third Thursday of October) #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay
October 24: United Nations Day #UNDay
October 25: Greasy Foods Day #GreasyFoodsDay
October 30: National Publicist Day #NationalPublicistDay
October 30: Checklist Day #ChecklistDay
October 31: Halloween #Halloween
November 2022 Social Media Holidays
November 1-30: National Novel Writing Month #NaNoWriMo
November 1: National Authors Day #NationalAuthorsDay
November 1: World Vegan Day #WorldVeganDay
November 1: National Cook For Your Pets Day #CookForYourPetsDay
November 2: National Stress Awareness Day (First Wednesday of November) #StressAwarenessDay
November 3: National Sandwich Day #NationalSandwichDay
November 4: National Candy Day #NationalCandyDay
November 6: Daylight Saving Time Ends (First Sunday of November) #DaylightSavings
November 8: National Cappuccino Day #CappuccinoDay
November 8: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Medicine (STEM) Day #STEMDay
November 11: Veterans Day #VeteransDay
November 13: World Kindness Day #WKD
November 14: World Diabetes Day #WDD
November 15: Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day #CleanOutYourRefrigeratorDay
November 15: America Recycles Day #BeRecycled
November 15: National Entrepreneurs Day (Third Tuesday of November) #EntrepreneursDay
November 16: International Day for Tolerance #ToleranceDay
November 17: International Students Day #InternationalStudentsDay
November 19: International Men’s Day #InternationalMensDay
November 20: Universal Children’s Day #UNChildrensDay
November 21: World Hello Day #WorldHelloDay
November 24: Thanksgiving Day (Fourth Thursday of November) #Thanksgiving
November 25: National Day of Listening (the day after Thanksgiving) #DayOfListening
November 26: National Cake Day #NationalCakeDay
November 27: Small Business Saturday (Last Saturday of November) #ShopSmall
November 29: Electronic Greeting Card Day #ElectronicGreetingCardDay
November 30: Computer Security Day #ComputerSecurityDay
December 2022 Social Media Holidays
December 1: World AIDS Day #WAD2022
December 3: International Day of Persons with Disabilities #IDPWD
December 4: National Cookie Day #NationalCookieDay
December 5: World Soil Day #WorldSoilDay
December 6: Microwave Oven Day #MicrowaveOvenDay
December 8: Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day #PretendToBeATimeTravelerDay
December 9: National Salesperson Day (Second Friday of December) #SalespersonDay
December 10: Human Rights Day #HumanRightsDay
December 10: Nobel Prize Day #NobelPrize
December 11: International Mountain Day #InternationalMountainDay
December 21: Crossword Puzzle Day #CrosswordPuzzleDay
December 21: First Day of Winter (Varies between December 20-23 each year) #WinterSolstice
December 27: No Interruptions Day #NoInterruptionsDay
December 31: New Year’s Eve #NYE
Social Media Holidays Will Help You Grow Your Brand
Partaking in social media holidays will help you create a stronger brand voice and share posts about trending topics, helping you earn more followers in the long run. While it’s not important to celebrate every single social media holiday, being aware of the holidays can help you brainstorm ideas for your marketing and implement fun, themed posts into your social media content calendar.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in January 2017 but is updated annually for comprehensiveness. The most recent update of this post was April 2022.