With the official start of summer quickly approaching, The Motherhood’s social listening team compiled a few ideas to heat up your summer marketing tactics by integrating influencer campaigns that take advantage of trending topics and seasonal events.

Social posts on mobile devices increase by about 30 percent in the summer, and posts with the keyword “travel” spike by 46 percent, so this is no time for online marketing strategy to take a vacation. Brands can reach consumers online during this peak vacation and travel time by knowing the trends and drawing on natural topics and tie-ins for the season.

According to Facebook, the top summer topics from 2015 were running, beach, parties, parks and forests, and movies. This summer, consider crafting an authentic influencer marketing campaign to create valuable content while leveraging these summer events and trends.

Here are some seasonal events and search trends to be aware of when creating your summer marketing campaigns or your brand’s social posts:

June

SCHOOL’S OUT FOR THE SUMMER – As kids’ annual vacation from schoolwork begins, parents plan activities. There are more than 40,500 searches of “summer activities for kids” in June alone. Celebrate summer break and include your product in posts or pictures of fun summer activities.

TRAVEL PLANNING – Make your brand top-of-mind during summer travel planning. Fun fact: Tuesday is the most popular day to make travel-related purchases online. If possible, post early in the week about how your brand purchase can help with consumers’ travel plans!

FATHER’S DAY – Searches related to “Father’s Day,” specifically related to “gifts” and “ideas,” peak this month! Mobile dominates Father’s Day searches and social posts and the most likely requirements for gifts are “fun” and “practical”.

Fun June Holidays: National Candy Month & National Adopt-a-Cat Month

July

INDEPENDENCE DAY – The average American spends about $300 on Fourth of July celebrations. Searches for “grilling” peak around this holiday. Festival- and holiday-related content brings 1.5x more engagement than average. Creating Independence Day themed content can generate high engagement and value yearly.

STAYCATIONS – Searches about “staycations” peak in July and increase in popularity every year. A surprising number of travel searches are for hotels near home. This trend promises to increase in popularity in the future, so creating evergreen content could bring high value over time.

Fun July Holidays: National Ice Cream Month 

August

RIO OLYMPICS – Nothing brings the world together like the Olympic games, with millennials more focused on team victory than individual glory. It is an inherently social event, with 86 percent of online users planning to use Facebook for “voicing Olympic reactions.”

MOVING MONTH – Searches for real estate and house hunting peak in late summer. This, as well as all of the college students moving into their new dorms, leads to a increase in moving.

BACK-TO-SCHOOL – Be early and be online: consumers search for information on back-to-school products before searching for a store near them to purchase. Pay attention to the must-haves in your product category this season and bridge the gap between search and store.

Fun August Holidays: Family Fun Month & National Picnic Month

September

LABOR DAY – Searches related to “Labor Day” are highest on the day itself, including a high number of searches for sales around this holiday.

GRANDPARENTS DAY – There are more than 450,000 searches for “Grandparents Day” in September. While only 13 percent of grandchildren communicate with their grandparents via social media, younger generations will still be posting about the holiday on their social channels!

Fun September Holidays: Baby Safety Month & Self Improvement Month

Timing is everything with these summer trends and events, especially on social media. By posting content at the beginning of the week or month that is focused on planning and activities, you can fuel inspiration long-term! Posting slightly before peak periods will allow your brand to lead the conversation as well as provide opportunity to rise to the top of online search results. Furthermore, these trends and events resurface every year, so evergreen blog content from trusted influencers created with SEO in mind will continue to provide value for years to come.

Keep in mind that for every topic and event listed above, there is bound to be a trending hashtag with it, so consider adding a trending hashtag or two to your social posts to increase the reach of your summer marketing efforts.

Happy Summer!

Interested in building an influencer marketing campaign with these trends in mind? Contact us!