5 Content Marketing Ideas for December 2016

Holiday how-to articles or videos, a look back and ahead, and any of several quirky holidays offer plenty of opportunities to create engaging content in December 2016. When you entertain or inform your customers, you are building lasting and potentially profitable relationships.

Content marketing is the act of creating, publishing, and distributing content like articles or videos with the specific aim of attracting, engaging, and retaining customers. Content marketing creates a relationship wherein you provide your audience with valuable content and encourage a sense of reciprocity.

Here are five ideas to inspire your content marketing in December 2016.

1. Holiday How-to

How-to articles that demonstrate in step-by-step detail everything you need to complete a task or solve a problem are content marketing’s highest form. Above all else, content that is useful is valuable.

In December 2016, try to create how-to articles or videos related to Christmas, Hanukkah, or New Year’s Eve that make sense in the context of your business. You might:

• Describe how to make holiday crafts;
• Offer recipes for holiday meals;
• Suggest tips and tricks for wrapping gifts;
• Explain holiday-related projects.

Here is an example how-to video from multichannel retailer Michael’s. The video describes how to tie a holiday bow.

2. A Janus Article

In Roman mythology, Janus is the god of transitions. He lords over physical portals like gates and doorways as well as metaphysical changes like beginnings or ends in your relationships, career, or emotional state.

When you see depictions of Janus, the mythical deity is often shown with two faces. One face looks back at the past whilst the other gazes into the future.

The mythological god Janus has one face that looks back and one that looks forward.

A Janus article, then, is one that looks back retrospectively on what has happened and based on that history makes predictions about the future.

As the year comes to a close in December, consider publishing articles or videos that describe 2016’s trends in your industry and make predictions about how those trends will play out in 2017.

3. International Ninja Day: December 5

Focus on the ninjas in your industry for this off-the-wall holiday.

International Ninja Day, or The Day of the Ninja as it is sometimes called, is a pseudo-holiday created in 2003. To celebrate, folks are encouraged to dress like a ninja, act like a ninja, and disseminate ninja-related information.

The term “ninja” can, as International Ninja Day implies, describe a covert agent in feudal Japan, but it can also describe a person who does some particular skill very well. For your December content marketing, consider producing an article or video that focuses on the latter definition.

• A store that sells fishing gear could publish a series of articles about becoming a “fishing ninja.”
• A store selling woodworking tools could interview several “woodworking ninjas” for tips and tricks.
• An online store selling beard grooming supplies could highlight several “beard ninjas.”

4. National Chocolate Covered Anything Day: December 16

The second of three made-up holidays for your consideration this December is National Chocolate Covered Anything Day. As the name indicates, this sweet but obscure holiday is meant to celebrate chocolate.

For your content marketing, try to make your posts humorous and entertaining. For inspiration, consider Mark Sparrow’s chocolate-covered Brussels sprouts tweet from Halloween.

Mark Sparrow’s chocolate-covered Brussels sprouts tweet from Halloween 2016 generated a mini-storm of interest online. Learn from this vitamin-rich, chocolate-covered veggie as you produce your December content.

This single post received more than 12,000 likes, was retweeted more than 10,000 times, and was featured on many websites and videos. If possible, try to associate your chocolate-covered content with the industry you serve.

5. National Eggnog Day: December 24

Perhaps not too surprisingly, Christmas Eve is also National Eggnog Day. The holiday is celebrated with a glass of eggnog. National Eggnog Day is also a good source of content marketing inspiration.

Publish your favorite eggnog recipe as part of your holiday content marketing.

Here are a few ways to write about eggnog.

• Publish a post describing the history of eggnog.
• Post your own eggnog recipe.
• Compare several already-posted eggnog recipes.
• Show off a list of products that are the same color as eggnog.

2 Bonus Ideas

This article is the third installment of our content marketing suggestions for the month of December, following the lists for 2014 and 2015.

Both of these earlier lists included two potent content marketing recommendations for December. But I excluded them from this 2016 list to avoid repetition. So, as a bonus, here are two more ideas to take from these earlier lists.

• Express a genuine holiday sentiment. “If a business honestly cares about its customers, it can, in a very genuine way, offer Christmas or holiday content that is personal, authentic and sentimental, without being contrived.”

• New Year’s resolutions. “Tradition dictates that with the start of each new year, one should resolve to improve, trading in bad habits for good ones, or striving for long sought goals anew.” Offer your target customers ideas for their New Year’s resolutions.