Most shops post on the big day and wonder why it fell flat. The trade is won in the weeks before, not on the day itself. By the time the date arrives, people have already decided where they are going, so the run-up is where the real work happens.
Here is the part that surprises people: the waiting is not dead time before the event. Looking forward to something is a pleasure in its own right. In one well-known study, people would even pay more to put off a treat so they could savour the anticipation (Loewenstein, Anticipation and the Valuation of Delayed Consumption, The Economic Journal). So three weeks of “something is coming” is not filler. It is part of the fun you are offering.
Halloween is the clearest case. The businesses that win it start about three weeks out, with something that is not even ready yet. You can see this on the Halloween run-up: a teaser before anything is finished builds the wait, and the wait is half the sale.
This means you should start before you are ready, on purpose. Do not wait until the menu is finalised or the stock has landed. Post that it is coming. “We are planning something for half-term, more soon” is a good post, precisely because it is unfinished. It gives the keen ones something to look forward to and gives you a reason to post again as it takes shape.
A run-up also lets you build in stages, which is easier than one big reveal. Post that it is coming. Then show it half-made. Then show the finished thing with the price. Then, near the day, say what is nearly gone. Each stage is a small, natural post, and together they keep you in front of people for weeks instead of one hopeful day.
It works because it gives people time to plan you in. Nobody rearranges their week for a post they see that morning. But tell them a fortnight out and the organised ones lock it in, tell the keen crowd early, and then catch the ditherers as the day nears. Different people decide at different times, so a run-up quietly reaches all of them.
Think of a butcher and Christmas. The customer who wants a fresh turkey has to decide and order well ahead, so a post on Christmas Eve is useless to them; they sorted it a fortnight ago, with whoever asked first. The butcher who started three weeks out, “orders open for the big day”, is the one who got that order. The day itself is far too late to win it.
A caution. A run-up is not permission to nag. Space the posts out and make each one worth seeing, a genuine step forward, a real glimpse, a true update, not the same “don’t forget” over and over. And only start the build-up for something that is actually happening. Anticipation you cannot pay off turns into disappointment, which is worse than silence.
The short version: stop pinning everything on the day. Win the weeks before it. Start before you are ready, tell people it is coming, and let the build-up do its work, because the looking-forward is part of what they are buying. A handful of small posts across a fortnight beats one big post on the day, every time.
To do this you need to see the date coming far enough ahead to plan the run-up. Open the UK social media calendar, find the next date that fits your trade, and open its run-up page to see the posts to line up in the weeks before, so you are ready long before the day.