9 Ways to Celebrate February 29 and the Leap Year On Social Media

This year is a leap year, which means we get an extra day in February!

My good friend Melodee happens to be a bisextile year baby (popularly known as a leap year, technically known as a bisextile year), and to her I say, Happy 10th Birthday!

Leap years are, by their very nature, rare. It’s a reminder to watch the Olympics and to vote for President. (Thanks, ancient ones!)

People like leap years, people like to talk about leap years, people are intrigued by leap years.

All of these characteristics add up to the perfect storm on social media!

How can you celebrate February 29th and the Leap Year overall on social media? Here are just a few ways.

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1) On Facebook, post a special Happy Birthday message to all the poor souls who only have a “real” birthday every 4 years.

2) Tweet every 29 minutes throughout the day –  not for the faint of heart (or faint of Twitter).

Use HootSuite or Buffer to schedule 29 tweets that day, or try to tweet/retweet every 29 minutes!

3) Create a special Pin Board on Pinterest of your 29 favorite images.

They can be 29 images that truly represent your mission, or 29 stories that showcase your impact.

Make sure they are visually compelling and entice people to repin them.

Get inspiration from The Trevor Project’s board of Affirmations and Inspiration and Grist’s board of different ways to Green Your Home.

4) Message 29 contacts on LinkedIn in celebration of the day. 

Send a connection request to 29 new people.

5) Create a playlist of 29 videos on YouTube.

People use YouTube like a search engine. You don’t have to create unique videos to get traction out of YouTube.

Create a playlist to celebrate the Leap Year of your favorite videos from the past four years and share it with your audience.

6) Create a Spotify playlist.

Share your top 29 favorite songs that inspire you and help you work.

Take requests from staff members and make it a collaborative playlist!

7) Ask the question “What are you doing to do with your extra day this year?” on your social networks.

8) Discuss what it means to have a Leap Year.

Research interesting celebrations around the world.

There are many international traditions and superstitions around the Leap Year.

For example:

In 2020 women are free to propose to their partner at any time they choose, but for centuries it was solely the gentleman’s prerogative. As such, ancient (and outdated) tradition states that once every four years on February 29 the tables are turned and matrimony-minded women have the chance to ask their sweetheart to marry them instead.

A superstition in Greece holds that marriages that take place in a leap year will end in divorce, and in Scotland it’s thought that those born on Leap Day will live a life of “untold suffering.” Yikes!

Anthony, on the Texas–New Mexico border, is the Leap Year Capital of the World and celebrates the affair with a huge festival, music, and food.

9) Ask people to donate $29 on February 29th.

See if you can get at least 29 people to donate $29 – or 29 people to run Leap Year fundraisers for you on Facebook, and invite 29 of their friends.

How do you celebrate February 29th and the Leap Year? Please leave your feedback in the Comments section, or email me at julia@jcsocialmarketing.com – Thanks for reading!