Summer is here! Sunny days, fun-filled vacations, and backyard barbecues mean different things for different businesses. But regardless of whether you’re extending service hours or cutting back, make sure to keep your customers informed about your seasonal schedule!

If your business is ramping up

In tourist areas, local shops often stay open longer during the vacation season. However, if an internet search doesn’t reflect your extended hours, then the customers will end up at your competitor instead. 

Add your seasonal hours to your Google Business Profile and Yelp (if you do not have those, we recommend you create them ASAP to boost your online presence). Update your hours on Facebook and TripAdvisor (which currently do not offer an option of adding seasonal hours). Don’t forget to make the changes on your website and social media. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, or TikTok are great places to share updates about temporary changes to hours.

While you’re updating hours, make sure the following information is also up-to-date:

• contact information
• changes to services or products offered
• changes to conducting business 
• safety measures
• service options
• amenities

If your business is slowing down

Some businesses slow down operations over the summer or shut down completely. It is important that your customers are aware of those changes because if they show up and find a locked door, their trust in your business will erode quickly.

Just because you are taking a break during the summer doesn’t mean you need to pause all of your digital marketing strategies. Quite the opposite – this is a great opportunity to stay in touch with your customers and make sure they will remain loyal to your business, brand, or services. 

Here are five helpful tips to keep your online presence strong:

• Preschedule your posts
• plan out your content and preschedule your posts on your social media platforms. It’s easy to do, and it’s one and done. All you need to do after you preschedule your post is respond to comments or questions from your fans!

• Use light content 
• Keep it light during the summer months. People are vacationing and recharging – meet them where they are! Here are our suggestions for creating fun content. You will never run out of ideas! 

• Recycle high-quality content 
• Summer is the perfect time to recycle your best-performing posts that are still relevant and engaging. 

• Share summer events
• If you have any summer events or launches planned, use them to entice your audience!

• Include a summer giveaway 
• Who doesn’t love a great summer giveaway? It does not have to be anything elaborate – just show your appreciation and share the love!

We hope your summer season will be full of fun, sunshine, happy customers, and good vibes! Let us know if you need any assistance – summer or not, we are here to help!