Plan October to December in one afternoon: list the dates, decide a few posts for each, and draft them now. Treat Remembrance Day with plain respect or leave it alone, and never attach a promotion to it.

The busiest quarter to improvise

The last three months of the year are when most small businesses post the most and plan the least. Posts get written on the day, between customers, about whatever comes to mind.

By early December the ideas run out just as the season peaks, and the feed fills with the same sale announcement in three different photographs.

Yet most of what the quarter needs is predictable. The dates are fixed, customers ask the same questions every year, and the photographs can be taken in October, before the rush.

One afternoon now, with a calendar and a list, replaces dozens of rushed decisions later.

The dates in the quarter

The third is the one that needs a decision rather than a post. Remembrance Day is not a marketing occasion, and the right plan either marks it plainly or leaves it out.

Small Business Week: show who you are

Small Business Week is a natural moment for posts showing who is behind the counter: the owner, the staff, the workshop, how long you have been here.

It gives a reason to say you are local and independent without sounding like an advertisement.

Plan three posts: one about the people, one about a supplier or neighbouring business you rely on, and one about the neighbourhood you serve.

Tag that neighbouring business only with its agreement. It can then share the post with its own followers.

Halloween, kept to the week

Halloween works best when it is about your business rather than a generic graphic. A shop can show its window, a restaurant a special, an electrician a word about outdoor extension cords and decorations.

Staff in costume suit some businesses and not others. Where it fits, one photograph on the day is plenty.

Keep it to the last week of October. A Halloween photograph still at the top of the page in mid-November says nobody is minding the page.

Remembrance Day, respectfully or not at all

Remembrance Day needs deciding in advance, because a post scheduled weeks earlier goes out on November 11 whether or not anybody checks.

If you mark it, keep it plain: a short line of remembrance, perhaps a photograph of a wreath at the local cenotaph. No logo across it, and no link to anything for sale.

In Canada the remembrance poppy is a trademark of the Royal Canadian Legion, which does not permit its commercial use. Another reason to keep it well away from anything that sells.

If you close for the morning or the day, say so in a separate post the week before. Hours are information; they do not belong in the remembrance post. Many businesses post nothing at all, which is entirely appropriate.

A worked example

An independent pet store on a small-town main street posted most days last December, writing each post that morning.

By the second week the ideas had run thin, and the page repeated the same window photograph with new captions.

A month earlier, a sale post scheduled weeks ahead by a part-time staff member had gone out on the morning of November 11. Nobody meant any disrespect. Nobody had looked at the date.

This year the owner spent an afternoon in early October with a printed calendar, giving each week two or three planned posts.

The staff and the town for Small Business Week. The Halloween window. Gift ideas for dogs and cats. Holiday hours and last order dates. A thank-you after Christmas.

November 11 was marked no posts, in red, before anything else was scheduled. The photographs for the gift posts were taken in the first week of October, before the shop filled up.

Hours and last order dates

The most useful posts of the season are the plainest: when you are open, the last day to order for Christmas, the last day to book before the holidays, and when you reopen.

Write them now, from the same list as your Google My Business special hours, and schedule each a few days before the date it describes.

Pin the current one to the top of the page, and replace it when the next one goes out.

Gift ideas that are actually yours

From mid-November, gift posts carry most of the season. They work best when specific: one product, its price, who it suits and how to get it.

Plan them by person rather than by product: something for a teenager, a host, a grandparent, all under a set price. Each is one post and one photograph.

Service businesses have gifts too: gift cards, a package, a booking for the new year. If you sell gift cards, say how and where, and say it more than once.

Year-end thanks

The last post of the year is the easiest to write and the most often skipped: a plain thank-you to customers, with your reopening date if you close.

A photograph of the team and two sentences say more than a year in review nobody asked for.

Schedule it for a day the business is open, so somebody can answer the replies.

Leave room for the unplanned

A calendar is a floor, not a script. Leave space for what cannot be planned: a new delivery, a snow day, a customer's story.

Check the schedule every week. A post written in October can be wrong by December if a price changes or an item sells out.

And make sure whoever manages the page knows how to pause scheduled posts. When something serious happens locally, a cheerful promotion going out on time is the last thing the business wants.

The counter-case

Not every business has a season. A trade whose busy months are in spring may need only a handful of posts this quarter, on hours and thanks.

Nor does a plan replace being present. Comments and messages in December still need same-day answers, whatever the calendar says.

But for most businesses with a seasonal peak, an afternoon now beats a December of improvising. Plan the quarter, draft the posts, and leave Remembrance Day to remembrance.

This afternoon

  1. Print a calendar for October to December.
  2. Mark the fixed dates and your own.
  3. Mark November 11 before scheduling anything.
  4. Draft two posts for each week.
  5. Take the photographs this month.
  6. Schedule the hours posts from your holiday list.
  7. Check the schedule every Monday.

Step three is the one to do first. Every scheduled post is then checked against it, and an automated sale on the wrong morning is the one mistake that is hard to apologise for.

Keeping a recurring schedule on your own site is covered in Facebook events for something that happens every week.

Frequently asked questions

When should I plan holiday social media posts?

Now, in one afternoon. The dates are fixed, the questions are predictable, and photographs taken before the rush beat those taken during it.

How should a business handle Remembrance Day?

Mark it plainly with a short line of remembrance, or post nothing. Never attach a promotion, logo or sales link, and check no scheduled post falls on it.

Can I use the poppy in posts?

The remembrance poppy is a trademark of the Royal Canadian Legion, which does not permit commercial use. Keep it away from anything connected to selling.

What should Small Business Week posts show?

The people behind the business, a supplier or neighbouring business you rely on, and the neighbourhood you serve. Tag neighbours only with their agreement.

Which holiday posts matter most?

The plain ones: opening hours, the last day to order or book, and when you reopen. Write them from the same list as your Google My Business special hours.

Should every post be scheduled in advance?

No. Leave room for deliveries, snow days and customer stories, check the schedule weekly, and make sure someone knows how to pause scheduled posts.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Improvising every post until Christmas?

Spend an afternoon with us. We will plan your quarter's posts and the dates to leave alone.

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