How to Make Great Company Anniversary Social Media Posts

Your company anniversary is on the horizon.

You know it’s probably a good idea to put out something on social media about it, but your stomach gets wrapped up in knots at the prospect of creating something relevant, engaging, thoughtful, and that simultaneously draws genuine interest and attention to your company’s giant milestone.

And then, just as you get started, the doubt and anxiety really set in:

“Do our customers actually care about this?”
“Ugh. I feel like we sound just like every other business with this post.”
“Everything I can think of just sounds so braggadocious.”

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You’re not alone. And don’t worry; the problem isn’t with you, your business, or your social media acumen. Drawing meaningful attention to a company anniversary on social media is hard.

As the experts on company anniversaries, business histories, and corporate milestones, we’ve prepared a simple step-by-step path you can follow to know what to post, how to craft your message, how to execute strategically, and the emotional intent you should bring to the table when creating this company-focused social content.

Let’s dive in and learn how to create meaningful social media content about your business’s upcoming anniversary.

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What’s the Right Tone and Message for an Effective Company Anniversary Social Media Post?

First things first: We need to choose what the post is going to be all about.

And it’s on this first and most important step where even the best social media managers and content producers can feel a bit overwhelmed.

Thankfully, we’ve assembled a handy rundown of how you can judge if a potential post will leave its mark on your audiences.

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Use a positive and conversational tone.

Corporate messaging and flowery language have their place, but not in a celebratory social media post.

Not only can it come across as rigid or tone deaf, but it also tanks your audience’s interest in the post and all but guarantees their complete lack of engagement.

Keep the phrasing and overall tone of your post light, happy, grateful, and conversational -- just like you were talking to a friend.

By adopting this tone, you make your post more accessible and interesting to your current and prospective customers and infuse your post with a bit more authentic humanity that helps drive improved engagement.

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Always tie your messaging back to the customers and communities you serve.

Celebrating your company’s anniversary intrinsically demands some level of attention being paid to the brand itself.

Unfortunately, all too often, brands fall into the trap of making themselves the subject of every anniversary-related post. These are the posts that are scrolled past and forgotten as quickly as they load on your customers’ timelines.

Effective anniversary posts, however, just like all well-constructed marketing, always ties the subject of the content back to customers and the communities you serve.

After all, without your customers or without a community to host and support your business, this anniversary never would have happened.

Ultimately, you’re not just celebrating, say, your 25th year as a profitable business.

You’re celebrating 25 years of relationships with customers, staff, community members, and the city itself. You’re celebrating 25 years of being a part of the community, giving back, seeing it grow and evolve, and being a part of its story.

With this simple yet fundamental shift in focus, you change the tone and emotional feel of your message from one that could be misinterpreted as self-aggrandizing into a message of genuine gratitude to your customers.

Moreover, you show an appreciative reflection on the relationships you’ve built with them, and a humble thankfulness toward the communities that have supported your business and made it possible for you to achieve this milestone.

And by placing this focus back on the customer, you reinforce your brand’s authenticity and reap the rewards on social media: Higher engagement, greater share rates, and higher click-through rates per post.

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Celebrate the contributions of your past and current employees.

In the same way your business wouldn’t have stood the test of time without building relationships with customers, so too is the relationship with your employees.

Through their years of effort and sacrifice, they’ve helped make this anniversary a reality. And by celebrating your staff, you’re celebrating your community -- where a sizable portion of your staff (and customers) likely live -- at the same time.

Moreover, you’re showing your customers that you’re a brand that cares about its people and is cognizant of how much of themselves your employees have given to make this milestone possible.

Taking this time to reflect on your employees’ continuous efforts, their years of service, and how they’re making the mission and vision of your brand a reality doesn’t just resonate with your workforce -- it has an immense impact on how your customers and future talented hires perceive you.

Because now, more than ever, customers care deeply about how a company treats its employees.

If they feel you’re yet another cold-hearted company who treats their customers as disposable, you’re brewing a recipe for decreased sales, plummeting brand reputation, and an overall decrease in growth.

Tell their stories, how they came to the company, and shine a light on their successes.

Their stories naturally intertwine with the legacy and history of your company, and putting the spotlight on them shows the world how your brand genuinely cares for its products, people, customers, and communities alike.

Framing some of your celebratory posts around the stories and triumphs of your employees is a surefire win on any platform.

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Promote a vision for the future of your business, customers, and communities.

With each bit of social content that you’re creating, it’s always a good move to wrap up your post by setting your sights on the future.

In doing so, you neatly wrap up the narrative structure of your posts in a framework that honors the past, celebrates the present (your upcoming anniversary), and anticipates the future that awaits.

More importantly, you signal to everyone -- your workforce, customers, and the communities you serve -- that you’re here for the long haul. You’re genuinely invested in your communities, you’re a continually supportive force in the lives of your employees, and a longstanding partner to your customers.

In our era of mistrust, wherein customers trust brands less and less each year, you’ll stand out as a beacon of how things should be done in business and why your anniversary isn’t just a celebration of success for one company, but a celebration for an entire community, city, and industry.

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How Do You Construct the Body of an Effective Company Anniversary Social Media Post?

With your tone dialed in, you’re almost ready to get cracking on creating your stunning anniversary post.

Before you dive in, though, let’s cover a few quick best practices that can give you the leg up in the endless ocean of social media content you’re competing with for your customers’ attention.

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Know the platform norms first.

Before you fire up your Tweetdeck, take some time to get to know the content norms of the various platforms your company is targeting.

For instance, beautiful, long-form, educational infographics and imagery are the perfect fit for Pinterest, but they might not look so great -- and, thus, get overlooked entirely -- on someone’s mobile feed as they scroll by on Facebook.

Look up some of your favorite brands on each of these platforms and take notes on the bits of content that you liked, what sizes they were in, and what caught your eye.

If you’re still not that confident after your research, there’s almost certainly someone in your office who’s intimately familiar with the platform and what they love seeing from the brands they follow.

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Keep the body of your post as concise as possible.

On average, posts that contain between 80 to 120 words gain the most attention and engagement on most social media platforms, with Twitter and its 100-character sweet spot being the exception.

Why? It’s all a matter of attention span and the post-infinite-scrolling era of social media.

According to Microsoft’s 2015 study of how the average North American consumer engages with digital content, you’ve only got a 1.7-second window (at best) to catch the eye of your customer, communicate your message, and make your call to action clear before their infinitely scrolling to the next bit of content.

This is why visually-rich media paired with a concise to-the-point body of text within the post is the pivotal 1-2 punch your anniversary posts need to capture attention.

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Include images, videos, or articles from your company and its history.

Humans are visually-driven creatures. We’re drawn to color, movement, and novelty; and every time we satiate our brain with a new visual stimulus, we get a small dopamine boost.

This hard-wired desire to engage with visually-rich experiences translates directly into how we consume social media.

On average, when compared with text-only posts, your customers are 7X more likely to engage with visually-rich posts.

Whether it’s an article, image, animated .gif, or video, it’s always worth the investment of time to curate or create imagery that compliments the message you’re trying to get your audiences to absorb.

Not sure what compliments your message? We’ve got you covered.

Here’s a simple rundown that, while not exhaustive, can help you get the creative juices flowing as to which bits of media you’ll include in your company’s anniversary post.

• Newspaper or magazine clippings from articles published about your brand
• Historical images of your company’s founders or first leadership teams
• Documents, videos, or images from a store or office opening
• Before-and-after photos of how your offices or other locations have changed
• Photos chronicling the transformation of the community throughout the years
• Current photos of your longest-tenured team members or leaders
• Documentation of your first sales, first customers, or first store
• Old photos from office parties in the company’s earliest years
• Early design documents for legacy products

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No matter the media you choose to incorporate into your post, tie the story and history of the media back to your customers and the future you’re determined to build alongside them.

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Don’t lose your company’s legacy to the ether. We help companies like yours rediscover, preserve, and share your historical assets, putting your history to work for your brand. Reserve your place today.

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How Do You Increase the Reach of a Company Anniversary Social Media Post?

Now that we know how to craft our post with the right emotional tone, the right subject matter, and include visually-rich elements, let’s dive into how to maximize your reach and get more attention drawn to your upcoming anniversary.

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Include relevant hashtags and links in the body of the post.

Hashtags are a great way to bring your post directly to the digital communities and subcommunities your audience is in, as they help the platform better associate your anniversary post with those interested in similar content and associated industry events.

While it’s certainly never recommended to go crazy with them, placing 1 to 4 within the body of your post -- ideally at the very bottom of the post -- is a great way to get started and helps both your audiences and the social platform better understand the intent of your messaging.

Lastly, if you happen to have a great “About” page on your website that highlights your core values or, even better, a dedicated company history website that celebrates your legacy and tells the story of your brand, be sure to include it if it compliments your post’s message. If not, having a dedicated post just to draw attention to those pages and assets is definitely worth the additional effort.

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Tag relevant people, customers, or associations in your post.

If you have the opportunity to share a great story about one of your longtime customers, community programs your business has contributed to, or associations your company is a member of, tag them in the post!

Not only does it let those people and groups know you’re proud of your relationship, but it authentically shows prospective customers how genuinely you cherish the people and communities you do business with.

Moreover, it further proves to your audiences that you don’t see your business’s anniversary -- and, therein, success -- as a product of your own doing. You see it and earnestly celebrate it as the continually-fruitful result of mutual trust, hard work, and investment in one another.

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Include your post in relevant community and industry groups.

Facebook Groups, shared Pinterest boards, Reddit’s “subreddit” communities, and other niche community groups for your city, industry, or product niche can be a great way to draw relevant attention to your upcoming anniversary and tell the story of your company’s history.

Naturally, it’s always best to read up on each group’s posting guidelines to ensure your post isn’t in violation of that group’s guidelines.

Once you’re sure your post adheres to the rules, your content can become a great place for meaningful engagement.

With your anniversary post now in a community dedicated to what you’re talking about, so you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more interested group of people keen to comment on your post and ignite a conversation.

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Conclusion

Together, we’ve seen how you can perfect the tone, structure, and reach of your business’s social media posts for your upcoming company anniversary.

And while the best practices we’ve laid out can help you create a great post that drives engagement, it’s crucial to remember why all of this work and effort should be invested in the first place: You’re celebrating relationships.

You’re celebrating the relationships with your customers, without whom there wouldn’t even be a milestone to celebrate.

You’re celebrating your staff and leadership that, through their investment and dedication to the business, have helped transform it into a purpose-driven organization that could stand the test of time.

You’re celebrating the communities that have given a home to your business and from which the majority of your staff likely calls home themselves.

It’s a celebration -- but not just for your business. It’s the bonds, the trust, the commitments, and the people that have made it work, helped it grow, and, through these relationships we’re celebrating, continue to help it flourish for years to come.

If you want to celebrate your company’s anniversary the right way, we’re ready to help you get to work. Let’s create an anniversary celebration that shows your customers, your community, and your industry why your brand is here to stay.

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