It is Thursday night. You remember you have not posted anything in three weeks, open the app, stare at the empty box, and post a stock photo with "Happy Thursday!" on it. Nobody reacts. You close the app and feel slightly worse than before.

Most owners do not have a social media problem. They have a "what do I say" problem. The fix is not more inspiration; it is a short list of post types that come from your normal working week, so you are never starting from nothing. Post a few of those regularly, on the one or two platforms your customers actually use, and make sure your Google profile, reviews and website are ready for the people who come looking. That is most of it.

1. Know what social media is for, so you know what to post

For a local business, social media rarely brings in a stranger who books on the spot. What it does well is keep you familiar, show that you are real and active, and give someone who is already considering you a reason to trust you.

Picture someone who hears about a local landscaper from a neighbour. Before calling, they look the business up. If the last post was two years ago, they wonder whether it is still running. If they see last week's finished patio, the crew, and a short answer to "when should I book spring clean-ups?", they call.

So the job of your posts is mostly to answer, without being asked: are you open, are you good, are you the kind of people I want to deal with? Every post type below does one of those.

2. A simple mix that works for almost anyone

You do not need a content calendar with twenty themes. Rotate through six kinds of post:

  1. Finished work. Photos or short videos of what you made, fixed, cleaned or delivered. Before-and-afters work especially well, where your industry allows them.
  2. The people. Who is behind the counter, on the truck or answering the phone. A face and a first name go a long way.
  3. Answers to common questions. Whatever customers ask you every week, answered in a sentence or two. These are the easiest posts to write, because you already know the answer.
  4. Behind the scenes. The 5 a.m. prep, the new equipment, the messy middle of a job. People like seeing how things are made.
  5. Local moments. The street festival, the first snow, the school team you sponsor, the neighbouring business you buy lunch from. This is what makes you local rather than just nearby.
  6. The occasional offer. A seasonal service, a new product, a short booking window. Keep it occasional; a feed that is only offers reads like a flyer.

Here is how that mix looks for three very different businesses.

Say you run a bakery. Finished work is easy: the morning's trays, the custom cake for the weekend. The people are your bakers, and the regular who has come in every Saturday for years, if they are happy to be shown. Common questions: do you do gluten-free, can I order a birthday cake for Friday, what time do the croissants sell out? Behind the scenes is the dough at dawn. Local moments are the farmers' market and the holiday rush. The offer is the pre-order window for holiday pies.

Picture a landscaper. Finished work is the before-and-after of a front yard. The people are the crew, ideally in the same shirts on the same trucks so they are recognisable on the street. Common questions: when should I aerate, is it too late to plant, do you do snow clearing? Behind the scenes is the stone delivery or the new mower. Local moments are the first green week of spring and the cleanup after a storm. The offer is booking spring clean-ups before the rush.

Say you are an accountant. Finished work is harder to photograph, so lean on the other five. The people are you and your team, with a line about who you help. Common questions are your richest seam: what can I claim for a home office, when are instalments due, do I need to register for sales tax? (Keep answers general, point people to the official source, and never discuss a real client.) Behind the scenes is the office in tax season. Local moments are the business association breakfast. The offer is a planning session in the quiet months.

3. How often, and where

How often: what you can keep up beats what sounds impressive. For most small businesses, a couple of good posts a week is realistic and plenty. One a week is fine if it is consistent. A burst of daily posting followed by two months of silence is worse than steady and modest.

A trick that helps: take photos as you work, every day, without deciding what to do with them. Then spend twenty minutes once a week picking a few and writing a line or two for each. Most platforms let you schedule posts ahead, so a single sitting can cover the week.

Where: pick one or two platforms and do them properly, rather than five badly. As a rough guide:

  • Visual businesses such as food, beauty, home renovation, landscaping and retail usually do best on the photo- and video-led platforms, where people browse for ideas.
  • Neighbourhood businesses often find their customers on the platform where local community groups and events live, which tends to skew older and very local.
  • Professional services such as accountants, lawyers and consultants usually get more from the professional networking platform, where business owners and referral partners spend time.
  • Short video suits businesses with something satisfying to watch: a transformation, a process, a personality.

If you are unsure, ask your last ten customers which apps they use. Their answer beats any general advice, including this.

One more place that is easy to forget: your Google Business Profile accepts photos and short updates too, and it is often where a local customer sees you first. See how to get more customers from Google Maps.

4. Why posting alone rarely brings customers

This is the part most social media advice skips. A good post can make someone interested. Whether they become a customer depends on what happens next.

They will usually do one of three things: search your name on Google, look at your reviews, or tap through to your website. If your Google profile has old hours, your reviews are thin or unanswered, or your website is slow and gives them no easy way to book or call, the interest you built leaks away.

So before you put serious time into posting, check the basics:

  • Your profile bio says what you do, where, and how to get in touch, with a working link.
  • Your Google profile is complete, current and has recent reviews. If reviews are the gap, start with how to get more Google reviews.
  • Your website loads quickly on a phone and makes the next step obvious.
  • Messages and comments get a reply within a day. An unanswered question in public is worse than no post at all.

If you want posts to reach people who have never heard of you, that usually means paying to promote them, which is a different skill from posting. If you have tried that and it went nowhere, see why aren't my Facebook ads working.

5. Small habits that make posts better

  • Real photos over stock. Slightly imperfect pictures of your actual work beat polished images anyone could have used.
  • Write like you talk. One or two sentences, in your own voice. Say what it is, where it is, and what to do if they want the same.
  • Ask before you show a customer, their home or their kids. Get permission every time.
  • Name the neighbourhood. "Finished this backyard in Leslieville this week" tells people you work near them.
  • Do not chase trends that have nothing to do with your business. Familiar and useful beats clever.

What to do first

  1. Pick your one or two platforms, based on where your customers are.
  2. Make a note on your phone with the six post types, and add three ideas under each from your normal week.
  3. Start taking photos as you work, every day, without overthinking it.
  4. Fix your bio link, Google profile and website basics before you worry about posting more often.

If you would rather hand it off, social media is part of our growth retainer, run alongside your Google profile, website, ads and email so the posts and everything around them point the same way.