This is a guest contribution from Jennifer Johnson.

Creating amazing content for your blog or social media accounts is only half the battle – the other half is making sure people see the content. And a major factor of that is timeliness.

Timeliness represents a key characteristic of what engages readers. If you publish content when it’s culturally relevant, you’ll have significantly increased your odds of attracting readers’ attention because your content will be topical.

Luckily for bloggers, there are several significant cultural events throughout the year that are worth leveraging. But make sure you’re creating and posting your content at the best times so you can optimize your efforts.

April Content

Here at Alexa, we recently launched a comprehensive editorial calendar to help strategize when to start developing different kinds of content, when to publish, and when to promote. Although we’ve outlined schedules for every month of the year, we’ll focus on the types of content you should work on in April.

March Madness

March Madness is in full swing in the US, and the first week of April is still an optimal time to be publishing blog posts related to this event. From the heated office rivalries over brackets to the actual action on the court, there are many opportunities to connect with your readers. And you can do so even if your audience isn’t particularly sports-minded.

Some angles for a blog on March Madness in April include the following:

• A recap of the best moments from the March Madness tournament
• A “reaction”-type post with a list of the best or funniest fan-reaction tweets
• An analysis of the best players and the worst
• A create-your-own bracket competition, like BuzzFeed’s “90s March Madness” reader poll

Mother’s Day

In April, it’s time to start producing any infographics or other highly visual content for Mother’s Day as well as their accompanying posts. Visual content is particularly important for this occasion because the social networks with the highest average Mother’s Day shares are Facebook and Pinterest: two image-heavy platforms.

Mother’s Day is a crucial shopping holiday as well. If your blog has anything to do with retail, don’t miss out on this opportunity to create timely content for this month as well as May. But there are more possibilities out there than just the typical buying guides. Consider the following angles:

• Unique ways to celebrate the holiday
• Recognition or exploration of noteworthy mothers
• How motherhood has changed over the years
• Emotionally resonant stories about family

Once you’ve decided what topic you’ll pursue, think about whether an infographic, video, slideshow, photo essay, or other visual content type will best suit the voice of your blog. Then, get started on your posts. The best time to publish and promote Mother’s Day content starts on April 18 and runs through May 10.

Graduation

Graduation is right around the corner, for many families –  capitalize on this exciting time by creating content related to this special day. April is an optimal time to start thinking about graduation topics, whether they’re related to grade school, high school, or college. Creating more involved pieces, such as infographics, require more lead time. Aim for early-April production dates.

Graduation is a highly talked–about topic. Bloggers can take so many different angles, including:

• General education
• The state of the job market
• The confidence of new graduates
• Emotionally resonant graduation stories
• Graduation rituals or fun things to do with your children to mark the milestone
• Graduation gifts

Whether your audience is interested in education, the job market, the U.S. economy, the millennial generation, or any other relevant graduation-related topics, April is the time to start brainstorming the content they’ll find valuable and beginning to produce it.

Father’s Day

Similar to Mother’s Day, this emotionally rich holiday offers another way to connect with your audience. This US June event may seem far away, but it’s still key to begin your more laborious material (e.g., videos, interactives, and infographics) in the month of April.

Visual content is essential for this holiday; Facebook and Pinterest garner the most social shares for its related content. Some ideas for blog posts and content for 2016:

• Best Father’s Day brunch recipes
• Shopping guide for gifts he’ll love
• Emotional stories tied to fathers – similar to this compilation of the best soldier homecoming videos
• Throwback photos of famous dads

Memorial Day and Fourth of July

To start summer with a bang, begin any production-intensive content about Memorial Day and the Fourth of July in April. As the weather heats up, readers will take to their backyards and celebrate these hot-weather holidays with friends and family.

Cuisine is an extremely general topic to connect with your audience on – even if they aren’t foodies. You can also leverage posts on the history of these holidays, how our traditions have evolved, and more. Sink your teeth into these ideas:

• Tasty barbecue ideas for the best cookout ever
• Fun facts about the origins of these patriotic holidays
• Why we should give thanks to our servicemen and women
• Community posts: Ask your readers, “What do these holidays mean to you?”

March is winding down, and a new month (and content cycle) is set to begin. Take time to ensure your editorial calendar is optimized to include seasonal events. What are the big events celebrated in your country? Perhaps you would like to do a run of posts on the topic of Passover, something special to commemorate ANZAC Day, or some May Day celebration ideas?

Your content should engage your audience with the right message, at the right time. You’ll thank yourself later when you reap the rewards and avoid the time crunch that comes with seasonal content creation.

Jennifer Johnson is Marketing Coordinator at Alexa. With a knack for syntax and passion for building connections, she drives daily content strategy to bring you the latest and greatest happenings within Alexa and the wide world of web analytics and marketing.