Setting Up Your Social for Success Ahead of the Busy Season
Ribs prepared by Lorainne’s Premium BBQ.
Seasonal businesses face many unique challenges, but they also have an opportunity to use downtime to prepare for busy times ahead. The slower Winter months are a great time for reflection, dreaming, and planning. Take advantage of this time to set your business up for success in the upcoming months–you won’t regret it during your peak season!
Post During the Off-Season
The best way to prepare for an upcoming season is to maintain an active presence on social accounts even during your slow months. You likely have less content to share during this time, so posting regularly requires more creative thinking.
Content Ideas for the Slow Season
A snapshot of your personal life
History of your business
Community resources and relevant articles
Plans and changes for the upcoming season
Don’t wait for your new season to begin to post regularly, relationship-building requires consistency!
Dig into the details of choosing content for social media in this blog post!
Reflect on Past Successes and Failures
Take some time to review your insights and analytics from the past year. Some key metrics to review include:
Follower growth
Top posts based on likes, comments, shares, and saves
Worst performing posts based on likes, comments, shares, and saves
Types of posts, such as photos, reels, and stories
Content topics
Look for key traits on your best and worst posts and try to get to the root of your successes and failures. Maybe your audience loves photos and videos of you but doesn’t engage with standalone photos of your products. Use these insights as you brainstorm for the upcoming season and build out your content plan!
Plan Your Content
Spending an afternoon planning your content, and making a general schedule of when to post on social media is well worth the effort! Having a plan laid out means less decision-making in the moment, which is incredibly useful to busy small business owners prone to decision fatigue.
Build Out Your Content Calendar
Create or update your content calendar for the upcoming season. Using a spreadsheet can be especially helpful during this stage, so you can lay out the date of the post, topic, any relevant links, hashtags to use, and more.
Stock Up on Relevant Resources
Generate a list of links to articles, recipes, and anything else your target audience might find valuable.
Organize a Photo Bank
Go through photos from previous seasons and compile your best photos into a folder. Make any necessary edits to the photos, so they are ready to go when you need them!
Learn more about brand imagery, and how to align your photos with your brand in this blog post.
Plan Collaborations & Engagement Ideas
Have you been thinking about collaborating with another local business? Send them a message and get the conversation started. Working out the details for collaborative posts or giveaways early in the season will make it feel less overwhelming later.
Refresh Your Profile
It’s never a bad idea to give your profile a glow up! Consider the following ideas for updating your profile to increase visual appeal and visibility in search results.
Update Your Bio
Make sure your name is set to your business name to ensure people can find you. Including details about your location, the products and services you offer, and where people can find you is key!
Check to make sure your website is linked and working, and add any additional links that will help you serve your customers!
Add a New Profile Image
Does your profile image still reflect your brand? If so, keep it! But if it’s been a few years since you updated it, swapping it for a high-quality, more current photo may entice people to visit your profile if they haven’t in a while.
Update or Add Key Information
Create a post with updates for the upcoming season, and pin it to the top of your profile. Make sure to unpin posts that have outdated information.
Saving stories to your highlights is also a great way to organize key information and make it accessible to your audience.
Create or Update Brand Assets
Take inventory of your brand assets, like your social media templates and photos, and assess your needs. Do you have social media templates? Do you need to design some? Or do your templates need updating?
Make a list of the assets you need to develop or edit and create a plan to implement those changes.
Looking for more ways to get ahead during the off-season? Explore this free download for more!
Being Prepared is Key!
Your future self will thank you for the energy you spent during the slower months to prepare for the future. If you need any support planning for the busy season ahead, don’t hesitate to reach out!