In 2023, more companies than ever are anticipated to celebrate Juneteenth. With this free Ultimate Juneteenth Social Media Toolkit, your company can join them! Perfect for marketing and PR professionals, small business owners, and all those who care about vocally supporting Juneteenth: this guide will help you demonstrate your values and honor this meaningful occasion.
With step-by-step instructions, this guide makes it easy to create a meaningful and impactful Juneteenth social media campaign.
Additionally, because Juneteenth is now a federal holiday, there’s even more reason to celebrate and recognize Juneteenth 2023 in both your internal and external communications! From social media posts to e-newsletters and staff communications, sharing about Juneteenth can help create a company culture that’s inclusive and affirming.
Read on to discover how planning your company’s Juneteenth communications might be easier than you think!
A few of our favorite Juneteenth social media ideas:
Read on for more information on these Juneteenth social post ideas, and more inspiration.
- Post Juneteenth quotes and trivia to help educate audiences
- Share about the history of Juneteenth
- Highlight the ways your company is celebrating Juneteenth, including closing your offices
- Share celebratory Juneteenth recipes, articles, and events
- Ask engaging questions to start a dialogue
- Educate audiences with a link to learn, watch, or read more about this holiday
TLDR: in this guide, you’ll find:
- When is Juneteenth?
- What Juneteenth is and why your company should honor the occasion
- A step-by-step guide for planning Juneteenth digital marketing efforts
- Tips for hosting a successful Juneteenth brainstorming session
- How to build your company’s Juneteenth content calendar
- Examples of engaging Juneteenth social posts from companies like Adobe, Edward Jones, Bain, and more
- Helpful resources and tools to celebrate Juneteenth on social media platforms
The Basics: What is Juneteenth & Why Does it Matter?
What is Juneteenth?
Juneteenth is a federal holiday that celebrates the emancipation of enslaved African American people in the United States. For this reason, the holiday is sometimes referred to as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day. Additionally, Juneteenth is a day to reflect on the atrocities and inequalities that African Americans have faced throughout history and in the present day.
Although President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, the new law was not widely enforced throughout the entire United States. For example, in Texas, it took two and a half years for many enslaved people to learn they had been freed.
On June 19, 1865, Union Army General Gordon Granger and his federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas. He told the enslaved people that they were now free, and he shared the news that the Civil War was over.
The celebration of Juneteenth as a holiday began in Galveston, Texas in the 1860s. Now, many Americans honor this day throughout the country. It is a day of celebration and hope. And, it is also a day to pay honor and respect to the many people who suffered greatly under slavery.
When is Juneteenth?
Juneteenth is celebrated on June 19th each year. In 2023, Juneteenth will be on Monday, June 19, 2023. During instances when Juneteenth falls on a weekend day, the holiday is typically observed on the closest weekday to the holiday.
Is Juneteenth a federal holiday?
Yes! Juneteenth became a United States federal holiday on June 17, 2021. That’s when President Joseph Biden signed into law the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, making Juneteenth the eleventh American federal holiday.
In fact, Juneteenth was the first new federal holiday declared since MLK, Jr. Day was officially designated one in 1983.
Why should companies prioritize Juneteenth social media and communications?
Juneteenth represents freedom, liberation, and equality. Celebrating Juneteenth is a great way to show your company’s values and priorities, as well as stand in solidarity with the Black community. Especially now that Juneteenth is a federal holiday, more companies than ever are honoring this important day.
For instance, a few of the companies that recognize Juneteenth as a paid holiday include Adobe, Allstate, Apple, Lyft, the NFL, Nike, Peloton, and Starbucks.
Additionally, many companies offer employee activities and celebrations during Juneteenth. This is especially meaningful and important because many people did not grow up learning about the impact and history of Juneteenth, since this holiday is not widely taught in schools.
What are some common Juneteenth activities?
Many communities celebrate Juneteenth with barbecues, picnics, and parades – as well as cultural events like lectures, exhibitions, performances, and workshops. Additionally, are a variety of foods traditionally associated with Juneteenth.
These events can be celebratory in tone, or more somber and learning-focused. Be mindful of the tone when attending Juneteenth events. When planning your own team activities, aim to create an environment of both respect and enjoyment. Juneteenth is a time to celebrate freedom and equality. But, it’s also a time to remember and learn about the inequities of the past and the present.
Remember to avoid stereotypes and plan activities that will educate and inspire team members.
Juneteenth Social Media Kit
Your step-by-step guide to create your company’s digital marketing plan for Juneteenth 2023.
Step 1: Define your purpose and goals for Juneteenth social media efforts.
There are many wonderful reasons to honor Juneteenth. Knowing your company’s reasons for sharing about Juneteenth will help bring clarity to your messaging and ensure you’re able to measure success.
Before you begin planning, meet with your company’s leadership, marketing team, and/or DEI committee to ensure everyone is aligned about why you’re promoting Juneteenth and what your overarching message will be.
For example, maybe your goal is to support Black-led causes and amplify Black voices. In that case, your content strategy might include a lot of re-sharing content (with permission) from Black historians or influencers, sharing articles written by Black authors, and sharing about your favorite Black-owned businesses.
On the other hand, your primary goal might be to showcase your company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. In that case, your content strategy might include sharing photos of your team learning about Juneteenth together, highlighting corporate Juneteenth initiatives, and sharing infographics about year-round DEI efforts.
From there, you can create additional goal metrics like engagement or click-through rates to determine whether your Juneteenth social media campaign is resonating with your audiences. For instance, you could choose to track follower growth, social post engagement metrics, anecdotal comment feedback, email click-through rates, specific actions your audiences takes, and more.
Step 2: Brainstorm Juneteenth ideas with your team.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion projects are all about amplifying a range of voices and lived experiences. For that reason, it can be helpful to host an open brainstorming session to explore everyone’s ideas for your company’s Juneteenth communications.
If your team is virtual, plan a video call that everyone is welcome to participate in. Be sure to include in your calendar invite a clear description of what attendees should do to prepare. For example, you might ask them to watch a brief video about Juneteenth, or even send them this post as a primer.
Sample Calendar Invite: Juneteenth Social Media Brainstorming Session
Hi team,
I’m sharing an invitation for an optional meeting to brainstorm Juneteenth digital marketing ideas for [Company Name].
As you may know, Juneteenth takes place on June 19. This holiday celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S. and honors the many struggles and injustices African Americans have faced throughout our country’s history and in the present day.
Because Juneteenth is a federal holiday, it’s especially important that [Company Name] demonstrates our corporate values by honoring Juneteenth in our internal and external communications during the month of June.
Join us for a lively virtual discussion in a safe, inclusive environment. Please come prepared with a general knowledge of what Juneteenth is, as well as your questions and ideas.
Step 3: Build your Juneteenth content calendar.
There’s a reason why your English teachers probably taught you to create an outline before you begin writing. It turns out that the human brain considers “planning” and “doing” to be two different tasks, best done in separate phases. For that reason, you may want create your Juneteenth content calendar before you dive into creating your content.
Tools to create your Juneteenth content calendar:
- A social media planning tool, like Later or Hootsuite
- A project management system like Asana, Trello, Monday, or Airtable
- Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar
- A collaborative spreadsheet
- A project manager to keep it all organized!
Group your calendar according to the type of communications you’re planning. For example, depending on the system you’re using, you might want to color-code all your e-newsletter topics with one color, social media posts with another color, blog ideas with another color, and so on. Your Juneteenth communications might include regular or recurring topics throughout the month of June.
If you’ve never made a content calendar before – or if you need a refresher – check out HootSuite’s guide: How to Create a Social Media Calendar.
Juneteenth social media ideas for your content calendar:
- Post quotes about Juneteenth from noteworthy historical figures or influential people
- Share Juneteenth recipes and hosting ideas
- Teach audiences some historical facts or trivia about Juneteenth
- Promote Juneteenth community events and activities such as picnics or parades
- Repost a Juneteenth news article relevant to your industry or location
- Share photos of your team celebrating Juneteenth
- Highlight the ways in which your company supports Black-owned businesses
- Ask your audience a thought-provoking question and encourage them to respond
- Use interactive social media features, like Instagram Story polls and questions
Step 4: Build your Juneteenth social media posts.
Once you’ve determined your purpose and goals, brainstormed Juneteenth ideas, and built your content calendar, it’s time to create your Juneteenth digital marketing content!
While your Juneteenth communications should reflect the overall mood and visuals of the holiday, it’s also important to stay mindful of your company’s existing brand standards (colors, fonts, logo, visual style guidelines, tone and personality, etc.).
Resources to create your company’s Juneteenth marketing materials:
- Canva’s Black Lives Matter resource library of photos and digital graphics (must have a Canva account to view, can sign up for free).
- The Jopwell Collection is a diverse collections of work-related stock photos, free to use with attribution.
- Find the Juneteenth color HEX codes as well as RGB and CMYK codes.
- Virtual Juneteenth learning resources from the National Museum of African American History & Culture
Step 5: Continue the dialogue year-round.
Ideally, your company’s Juneteenth marketing efforts will spark a dialogue, both in your company and with your digital audiences. Continue the dialogue by engaging with any comments, DMs, or inquiries you receive as a result of your communications.
Even negative comments can give your company an opportunity to engage respectfully and demonstrate your values. That said, it’s also perfectly acceptable to delete comments that are hateful or make others feel unsafe, in the spirit of fostering a safe and welcoming community.
It’s a great idea to debrief with your team after your Juneteenth social media campaign. Share your metrics or analytics, if appropriate, as well as any feedback about your Juneteenth social posts, emails, etc. You can also ask everyone what they think worked well, as well as what could be improved.
As part of this process, take a look at how other companies honored Juneteenth. What do you think they did well? What would you have done differently? The section below includes a variety of examples of other companies’ Juneteenth posts. Use this as a starting point for your team’s dialogue!
Finally, ask everyone to share personal insights or reflections about your company’s Juneteenth efforts, if they feel comfortable doing so. It can be helpful to provide an option for anonymous feedback. That way, you can include that feedback in your planning for next year’s Juneteenth communications.
Examples: Corporate Juneteenth Social Media Posts
Adobe
Adobe designated Juneteenth 2022 to be a Global Day of Learning for its employes. This company is known for its creative software tools and an ongoing commitment to professional education. As a result, this Juneteenth learning day is aligned with their overarching corporate goals to “unlock creative potential in everyone and impact the world in ways both big and small.” Employees spent the day learning about Black history and inclusion initiatives.
Adobe combined their Juneteenth experience with Windrush Day on June 22, which Adobe shares, “recognizes the first cohort of migrants from the Caribbean to London in 1948.”
By posting about their Day of Learning on social media, Adobe can inspire other companies to create similar programs. They also included a click-through to a blog post with employee insights from their day of learning.
Bain & Company
Global consulting firm Bain & Company shared a message on their social media channels to inform followers their offices would be closed on Juneteenth. Additionally, they shared how their teams honored this holiday with a variety of learning forums at their offices across the Americas.
Moreover, Bain took this opportunity to promote and highlight an organization that they work with, the OneTen Coalition. They shared how this organization is helping serve the Black community and brought awareness to the cause.
CLIF Bar & Company
CLIF Bar creates on-the-go snacks for athletes, hikers and cyclists, busy professionals and parents, and kids. From nutrition bars to granola to sports gels, CLIF focuses on nutritious foods that fuel people with energy. This company has long been known for its “five aspirations,” which the company describes as: “Sustaining our People, Community, Planet, Brands, and Business.”
For Juneteenth, CLIF Bar created an on-brand initiative geared around equity and the outdoors. This is another great example of partnership, as CLIF partnered with Outdoor Afro for this program that inspired people to get outdoors and spend time reflecting on the meaning of freedom.
Dr. Bronner’s
Dr. Bronner’s is known for their castille soaps, organic lotions and self-care products, and even a special vegan peppermint chocolate bar! On Juneteenth, Dr. Bronner’s posted a branded graphic sharing briefly about the history of Juneteenth.
Additionally, the post caption informed audiences that Dr. Bronner’s would be closed in observance of the holiday. Finally, they shared a brief list of actionable ideas to learn more and make an impact, including supporting Black-owned businesses.
Duolingo
Language-learning app Duolingo has amassed some buzz for their on-trend, often pop culture-infused TikTok videos. On Facebook, Duolingo shared with audiences about the meaning and history of Juneteenth.
Additionally, they invited followers to click a link to a Washington Post article to learn more about Juneteenth, with suggestions for how to honor the day.
Edward Jones
Investment firm Edward Jones posed in celebration of Juneteenth with a simple message and photo. Their image conveys a sense of family and warmth, in line with Edward Jones’ focus on a more personal approach.
Sometimes, a simple approach is best. If you’re not sure what to post on your company’s social media accounts for Juneteenth, get started with a short message that’s celebratory and respectful. In that way, you’ll show what your company values while also keeping with the tone of the day.
NPR
As a news media outlet, it’s not surprising that NPR posted a more in-depth story about Juneteenth for followers to read. Their original reporting includes vibrant, bright photos that draw readers in, along with a historical narrative. Additionally, NPR included an audio version of the story, helping to make the content more accessible for those with vision challenges as well as people on-the-go.
NPR’s post gets to the origins of Juneteenth – when, where, and how did it begin? It is said that we can only understand our present by understanding our past. As a result, NPR’s post sharing about the history of this holiday is an impactful way to share knowledge and shape the way we see diversity, equity, and inclusion today.
Penguin Random House
Book publisher Penguin Random House posted on social media with reading recommendations for Juneteenth. Making a connection between a holiday and your company’s mission or product can help engage audiences in authentic way. However, it’s important to note that using a holiday like Juneteenth to sell your own products can come across as opportunistic or disrespectful. Some companies have come under fire in the media for featuring “Juneteenth” themed products that don’t benefit or take input from the Black community.
Penguin Random House’s social media post is focused on celebrating amazing African American authors and uplifting their voices. The tone is respectful and uplifting, encouraging audiences to learn more and delve into important stories. Additionally, Penguin Random House supports a variety of causes to promote diverse authorship – including the Black Creatives Fund, Black-owned bookstores, Black Caucus of National Council of Teachers of English, and more.
Publix Supermarkets
Southeastern U.S. grocery chain Publix posted about Juneteenth with a simple message in recognition of the holiday. Including their brand colors and logo, they created a simple graphic that catches the eye with a short, respectful message.
Get more inspiration with CNN’s report: Companies are Celebrating Juneteenth in Unique Ways This Week.
Go Beyond Social Media: Book a Live Virtual Team Building Experience for Juneteenth
Unexpected Virtual Tours’ interactive Juneteenth Team Building experience was featured in Lonely Planet as one of the best ways to honor Juneteenth! This hour-long virtual session is an approachable and engaging way for your team to learn about Juneteenth together.
Enjoy incredible treats from Black-owned businesses and learn about the history of this important holiday. Moreover, your team will hear from two on-location guides in Hampton, Virginia, and Austin, Texas. Preferred by companies like Coca-Cola, this activity is NOT a lecture, but a truly interactive experience that your team will never forget!
Learn more and book your Virtual Juneteenth Team Building experience!
We wish you and your team a safe, happy, and celebratory Juneteenth filled with learning and fun. Looking for more virtual Juneteenth ideas? If so, check out our guide, Juneteenth Virtual Events & Activities.
Located in Atlanta? Check out Unexpected Atlanta Tours & Gifts