On the 14th of February every year, couples all around the world celebrate their love for one another. Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate romance – a day where lavish gifts and grand gestures are perfectly acceptable, and where everyone can play out their own idea of a happily ever after.
And we love it!
We’re far from being the only ones, of course. Australians spent more than a billion dollars on Valentine’s Day celebrations in 2021, splurging on a variety of products and services including romantic meals, holiday getaways, greeting cards, chocolates, jewellery, apparel, and of course, flowers. So if you’re not capturing this market on Valentine’s Day, you may be losing out.
If you’re looking for content ideas for your content strategy during the season of love, we’ve got you covered! These 11 Instagram content ideas for Valentine’s Day are all you need to really make an impression.
When should I start sharing Valentine’s Day content?
This is a question we get asked often when it comes to celebratory periods. Whether it’s Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, or Christmas, keep in mind that the best time to start sharing content is about 4-6 weeks before the special occasion. So in this case, you should ideally start sharing your Valentine’s Day ideas from around early to mid-January.
If you’re reading this at the end of January or even early February, don’t fret! You can still switch gears and start sharing Valentine’s Day content right now. There are plenty of Valentine’s Day content ideas in the list below that you can create within just a few minutes, so keep reading!
What about content ideas for Galentine’s Day?
Galentine’s Day is celebrated on February 13th, a day before Valentine’s Day. Originally created to celebrate single ladies, it’s now become a way to celebrate the love between friends, which in itself is worthy of recognition!
Where the focus of Valentine’s Day is on partners, lovers, spouses, and significant others, Galentine’s Day is one for your besties. So there’s plenty of opportunity to market your products or services to those who want to shower their closest friends with lots of love, gifts, and good fun!
So feel free to use the ideas below and tweak them to focus on friends and besties if you want to shine a spotlight on Galentine’s Day.
Valentine’s Day content ideas for social media
Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are the perfect place to share content related to Valentine’s Day. Even if your product or service doesn’t directly relate to Valentine’s Day, it’s a great opportunity to consider how your business can help make your customer’s celebration of love that little bit more special.
If you’re looking for content ideas for Valentine’s Day, keep scrolling!
1. Share some love stories
This is an easy one to do! If you or your team members are off the market and in loving relationships, ask if they’d like to share their love stories with your followers. It doesn’t have to be too involved or sappy (although people do love a good love story).
Here are some ideas to inspire you:
- What’s your meet-cute? Tell your audience how you met your significant other, and make sure to mention how their support helps you in running your business too
- Share an appreciation post for your team’s significant others with a carousel of couple photos
- Are you unattached? Are your team members all solo? No worries, you can always share love stories from movies or celebrity couples. For example, list your Top 3 favourite fictional couples, and ask your audience to share their Top 3.
2. Create a gift guide
Here’s a tip: whenever there’s a holiday or celebration of any kind that’s relevant to your audience, create a gift guide featuring your products or services. Gift guides are a great way to showcase your offerings and spark gifting inspiration for your followers.
It’s important to note, however, that gift guides work best when shared early on in your Valentine’s Day marketing campaign. While there’s a good chunk of people who are prone to last-minute shopping, 54% of shoppers start researching gifts two months in advance.
Research has also shown that 31% of consumers say that social media can trigger a gift purchase, and in fact, 46% of Gen Z uses social media to find inspiration for their gifts. So don’t forget to share a Valentine’s Day gift guide ASAP!
Here are a few ways to share your gift guide for Valentine’s Day:
- Share a carousel post featuring your Valentine’s Day-appropriate products or services. Make sure your images and graphics are love-themed!
- Create a PDF gift guide and direct your followers to it by popping it into your link in bio, or via Instagram Stories’ link sharing. You could also share a direct link to it on your other social media accounts.
- Craft a gift guide Reel showing your products or services being used in a Valentine’s Day-related way! Don’t forget to find appropriate trending audio for this.
3. Reel them in
There’s no escaping it – Reels are here to stay! Creating Valentine’s Day videos for Instagram is an easy way to show off your business and making it relevant to what your audience is searching for right now.
As long as you keep things related to love, or Valentine’s Day celebrations, it can work. Here are a few tips:
- Use trending audio that’s directly relevant to Valentine’s Day. This might take some research but it’s the best way to ensure your content is being pushed by Instagram!
- Add Valentine’s Day stickers to your videos. This is the easiest and quickest way to show that your content is relevant to this day of love.
- Use love or heart-themed decorations, backdrops, and other accessories when shooting your videos.
4. Give it away
What’s a celebration without a giveaway? A giveaway on social media is a great way to boost engagement within your community while also connecting with new audiences at the same time.
A couple of things to keep in mind here: make sure the giveaway is actually something relevant and valuable, and also time it so that plenty of people get a chance to join in. If you’re lucky, your giveaway winner (or winners) might even share their gifts on social media, giving you a chance at sharing some user-generated content.
Here are a few ideas for Valentine’s Day giveaways:
- The classic giveaway is the easiest one! Create a giveaway post where people can win your products or services by just liking, following, and/or tagging their friends in the comments.
- Alternatively, you can create a competition hashtag where people upload their own posts on their accounts, tag you, and use your hashtag for a chance to win. Just make sure it suits the Valentine’s Day theme!
- For product-based businesses, host a competition for existing customers where they can share some Valentine’s Day themed images of your products for a chance to win.
5. Tutorial time
Whether you sell a product or offer a service, Valentine’s Day is a great time to share some how-to videos! As long as you showcase your offerings in a way that’s relevant to love, romance, and relationships, it’ll resonate with your audience during the season of love.
Here are a few ideas to inspire your Valentine’s Day tutorials:
- Show your audience how to use your products as part of their V-Day celebrations
- Share some tips and tricks to help your followers improve their love life in a way that’s relevant to your biz
- Can customers use your products for a Valentine’s DIY? Give them some step-by-step instructions for it
6. Take them behind-the-scenes
People love to have a look behind the curtain, so why not let your audiences get a sneaky peek at some of your processes? After all, taking your audience behind the scenes is an excellent way to engage and connect with them.
Perhaps these ideas might work for you:
- Are you planning a Valentine’s Day photoshoot for your products? Make sure to share some photos and videos from the day
- If you’ve got some special, limited edition products in the pipeline made especially for Valentine’s Day, share a little more about the creative process and all the effort that goes into that
- For a more personal touch, share some Stories from your own Valentine’s Day celebration with your partner
7. Connect & collaborate
One of the savviest things you can do on social media is connecting and collaborating with other accounts. Whether you’re connecting with influencers or other businesses, social media collaborations are an incredibly effective way to grow your influence, increase brand awareness, and reach new audiences.
Here are a few ways you can collaborate with other social media accounts:
- Launch an influencer campaign specifically for Valentine’s Day, making sure to emphasise the overarching theme of love and romance
- Arrange a brand collab photoshoot so you can work with other businesses to showcase your products or services with similar brands whose values and audiences are aligned with yours
8. Flaunt your feed
It’s so important to express clear visual branding in everything you post on social media. This is particularly relevant on Instagram, where an aesthetically pleasing feed illustrates your professionalism in addition to boosting your overall brand presence. It’s so important, in fact, that we’ve created a whole micro course about perfecting your Instagram grid!
When it comes to Valentine’s Day, make sure you’re slowly transforming your feed in the weeks leading up to it. It needs to be all about love! No matter what your specific grid pattern may be, there are different ways you can express your love for Valentine’s Day:
- Share more red and pink hues across your posts! Do this via backdrops or product photos
- Share photos and icons like a couple holding hands, flowers, or heart shapes
- Romantic or even funny relationship quotes are a fun way to inject a bit of personality to your feed
9. Impress them in person
Depending on your business and your target market, you may make more of an impression by hosting a Valentine’s Day themed event! This isn’t just a useful way to market your wares to your customers in person. It also provides an opportunity to shoot content that you can use for Valentine’s Day for years to come.
Here’s a few ways to do this:
- Host a pop-up event or market stall with Valentine’s Day specials
- Host a Valentine’s Day (or Galentine’s Day) party for influencers and your top customers
- Offer a free couples photoshoot for existing customers as a thank you for their support (this can be part of #7!)
10. Represent your community
It’s so important to showcase diversity in your content, particularly when it comes to love and relationships. Make it a point to prioritise inclusion and representation in your Valentine’s Day content. After all, love is love!
Here are some ways you can celebrate love in all its forms:
- Use images and icons that celebrate relationships between couples of every gender and racial identity
- Make your language more inclusive, whether by being gender neutral or accurately using a variety of pronouns
- Avoid tokenism by being authentic in your representation at all times – not just on special occasions!
11. Don’t forget self-love
While Valentine’s Day has long been about love between couples, this day has also become a reminder to love yourself. As more people realise how self-love translates into being a better partner and improving relationships with the people we love, this concept has become really popular when it comes to Valentine’s Day celebrations.
Help people focus on self-love with these ideas:
- Remind your followers to treat themselves this Valentine’s Day (using your products and/or services, of course)
- Share inspirational quotes and stories that champion self-love
- Be honest on Stories by sharing your own take on self-love, and how that impacts your life and business
Spread the love this Valentine’s Day
It can be really difficult to come up with content ideas for social media, so we hope this list has inspired you to create content that helps your brand connect with your audience for Valentine’s Day. Whether you opt for one idea or all of them, we know your brand will stand out on social media with these tips!
If you’re looking for more ways to boost your brand presence on Instagram, we’ve got heaps of digital products – including micro-courses and hashtag sets – that will make it easier for you to do it yourself. Make sure to check out the Content Savvy shop to have a look!
Leave a Reply