October’s almost here, international coffee chains are offering pumpkin spiced lattes and winter is most definitely coming. Halloween is coming which means you can have some spooktacular fun with your content. I’m also hoping that if you are a retail/product based business that your Christmas social media strategy is planned and ready to go? You do have a plan – right?!
I offer a number of services and can tailor my support depending on your needs. You’re reading my content prompts (gold star), did you know I post regularly on my socials (Facebook, IG, LinkedIn), I have a monthly newsletter, and I host events and networking groups for businesses? Want to know more, follow my socials, sign up to the newsletter, get in contact for a free (yes, free) spotlight call.
Now that the children have safely returned to school, October sees the return of Walk to School Month. You may not want to post images of your children online, but backs of head or little feet still keep them anonymous. Maybe you run your business around your children’s school hours, maybe you offer child-related services, maybe you are a café who wants to remind parents that after the walk to school there may be time for coffee, cake and chatter. You’ve got an entire month to decide.
As we’re talking about school, celebrate Ada Lovelace’s contribution to STEM Ada Lovelace Day 10/10/2023. World Space Week begins 04/10/2023, World Teachers’ Day is 05/10/2023. Apple for teacher? Apple Day is 21/10/2023.
It will be Black History Month during October. Community organisations, hospitality and tourism businesses, and companies owned by and catering for black people, there will be something to post and celebrate. All communities have their opportunities to share their histories, October is for Black History Month.
Wear it pink on 20/10/2023 in support of Breast Cancer Now.
Caters and hospitality businesses, though practically everyone knows someone with a habit, International Coffee Day will be 01/10/2023. Whether you like it frothy or with only the slightest dashes of milk or just prefer your coffee in cakes, today’s the day to show some love for your favourite bean.
National Poetry Day returns on 05/10/2023. It might be a good time to consider signing up to a poetry writing class. While it might seem a good way to improve how you write your social content, having taken part in a writing group I can recommend the benefit it has to wellbeing.
Hey Ho Smile by Anna M. Pratt
When the morning is chilly and misty.
And clouds are gloomy and gray;
Then, hey for a smile!
And ho for a smile!
To brighten a rainy day.
A short poem to link National Poetry Day with World Smile Day on 07/10/2023, which marks the creation of the smiley face.
Community organisations may want to highlight International Credit Union Day on 19/10/2023. Access to finance support is vital and the work of credit unions should be celebrated.
The World Health Organisation Mental Health Day is 10/10/2023 which is about raising awareness of mental health and driving positive change for everyone’s mental health. Typically October is also the United Nation’s Mental Health month, with sessions throughout the month for conversations about mental health. World Menopause Day is 18/10/2023.
International Coming Out Day is 11/10/2023. It’s okay to come out, it’s okay if one is not quite ready, the best thing we can do is offer space to all. On a similar theme, Intersex Awareness Day is 26/10/2023. Providing safe spaces protects us all, it does not reduce the rights nor erase other people.
In Mexico it is Day of the Dead. In Peru it is known as Dia de la Canción Criolla. Throughout the Northern Hemisphere it is known as Samhain, in the Southern Hemisphere it is Beltane. Cornwall knows it as Allantide. It is of course Halloween on 31/10/2023. However you celebrate it in your socials, make sure you do it respectfully of the ways different cultures mark this day. Halloween also means it’s time to roll out the picture of my son in a pumpkin.
And that’s it for summer time. British Summer Time ends on 29/10/2023 and the clock goes back. The dark nights and mornings set in, make sure you keep those vitamin D levels up if you are like me and want to hibernate at this time of year.
Other awareness days
- UK awareness months: Black History Month,
- International months: Breast Health Month (Europe), Breast Cancer Awareness (USA), World Blindness Awareness Month,
- World Cerebral Palsy Day is 06/10/2023
- Grandparents Day is 01/10/2023
- World Habitat Day (UN) will be 02/10/2023
- International Day of Older Persons will be 01/10/2023
- Lincolnshire Day is 01/10/2023
- International Music Day (UN) tunes up on 01/10/2023
- World Animal Day is 04/10/2023
- International Day of No Prostitution is 05/10/2023
- USA Noodle Day is 06/10/2023
- World Post Day is 09/10/2023
- SANDS Baby Loss Awareness Week and National Braille Week begins 09/10/2023
- International Day of the Girl Child is 11/10/2023
- World Sight Day is 12/10/2023
- UN Spanish Language Day is 12/10/2023
- International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction is 13/10/2023
- Global Handwashing Day scrubs for at least twenty seconds each hand on 15/10/2023
- Navratri (First day, Hindu) is 15/10/2023
- World Food Day is 16/10/2023
- World Anaesthesia Day is 16/10/2023
- Baháʼí Faith – Birth of the Báb is 16/10/2023, Birth of Bahá’u’lláh is 17/10/2023
- International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is 17/10/2023
- World Osteoporosis Day is 20/10/2023
- Trafalgar Day is 21/10/2023
- International Stuttering Awareness Day is 22/10/2023
- United Nations Day, World Development Day, and World Polio Day are all on 24/10/2023
- World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is 27/10/2023
- World Stroke Day is 29/10/2023