Free guide for pub landlords — no sign-up wall
A month of what to post, on which day, and why
This is a real, ready-to-follow month of content for a pub's Instagram and Facebook, built from the data in our research on what actually gets pubs engagement. Four posts a week on the main feed, daily Stories for the small stuff, and a weekly Google Business Profile update kept separate from the rest. Copy it exactly, or use it as a template and swap in your own events and specials.
The one rule behind all of this
Never post a sales message on its own — a flyer-style "Book Now" post with nothing else going on is the exact format the data says underperforms. Every promotional post below is wrapped in a real moment: someone cooking, someone's dog, the weather, a regular's name. Direct, un-narrated offers are capped at one slot a week on the main feed — everything else does the work of getting people to actually see it.
| Day | Slot | What to post |
|---|---|---|
| Tue | Human / craft | Short video: cellar/bar staff tapping a new cask or setting up for the week. Caption: what it is, why you picked it, nothing about price. |
| Thu | Community / relatable | Dog of the Week. Photo of a regular's dog (ask first), tag the owner if they're happy to be tagged. This is your highest-performing content category — don't skip this slot. |
| Fri | Atmosphere / heritage | A beer garden or outdoor-space photo — whatever's actually happening this week (sunshine, autumn leaves, a frosty morning). Caption about the season, not the drinks list. |
| Sun | Hybrid right hook | Sunday roast, but narrated: a video of the joint coming out of the oven or being carved, caption naming the butcher/farm it's from, ending with a soft "still a few tables left this week" — not a standalone flyer. |
| Day | Slot | What to post |
|---|---|---|
| Tue | Human / craft | Staff spotlight: one team member, their favourite thing on the menu or a drink they'd recommend, filmed casually, not scripted. |
| Thu | Community / relatable | Dog of the Week (keep this weekly — it's a standing slot, not a one-off). |
| Fri | Atmosphere / heritage | An old photo of the pub (ask locals/regulars if anyone has one) next to a modern shot from the same angle. These consistently get shared and commented on by people with memories of the place. |
| Sat | Hybrid right hook | Whatever's on this weekend — live music, sport, a quiz — shown as it's being set up (chairs going out, the screen being tested), not as a static poster. Event details in the caption, not the image. |
| Day | Slot | What to post |
|---|---|---|
| Tue | Human / craft | Kitchen prep video — something being made from scratch, however small (a sauce, a garnish, bread). Real craft, not a plated finished dish. |
| Thu | Community / relatable | Dog of the Week, or if it's a quiet week for dog photos, a nod to a local event, sports result, or something happening in the village/town. |
| Fri | Atmosphere / heritage | Golden-hour or early-evening shot of the beer garden or the bar filling up — capture the feeling of the place, not a menu board. |
| Sun | Hybrid right hook | Sunday roast again, different angle this time — maybe a regular who always orders the same thing, or the Yorkshire puddings coming out of the oven. Keep it a standing weekly feature, not a one-off push. |
| Day | Slot | What to post |
|---|---|---|
| Tue | Human / craft | A "meet the regulars" post — with permission, a photo/quote from someone who's been coming for years. Real community, not stock-photo friendliness. |
| Thu | Community / relatable | Dog of the Week, plus consider a "which dog gets the most votes this month" round-up post — a light, shareable way to close the month. |
| Fri | Atmosphere / heritage | Whatever's changing with the season — new plants in, a fire lit for the first time, clocks changing. Small, real, seasonal detail. |
| Sat | Hybrid right hook | A look-ahead to next month — an upcoming event or menu change, shown in progress (planning the specials board, decorations going up), not announced as a flat poster. |
What happens every single day, separately
Instagram / Facebook Stories
The daily operational noise that would clutter the main feed lives here instead: today's guest ale, tonight's availability, a last-minute table free, the weather in the garden right now. Stories disappear after 24 hours, so posting here doesn't cost you anything on the main feed's mix.
Google Business Profile (weekly)
Once a week, update your Google listing directly: opening hours for the week ahead (especially bank holidays), any menu changes, upcoming events. This is the one place plain, informational, no-narrative-needed content belongs — someone searching Google has already decided to look you up.
The 10-minute daily routine that outperforms everything above
A customer's own photo of their dog, their pint, or their Sunday roast gets treated as more trustworthy than anything the pub posts itself — it's independent proof, not brand content. This costs nothing but a few minutes a day, and in most reported cases it outperforms every post above.
Morning: check tags
Open Instagram and Facebook, check who's tagged you, mentioned you, or checked in overnight. Two minutes.
Reshare to Stories, same day
Reshare anything decent straight to your Stories with a quick thank you. Most people who get reshared, reshare it again to their own followers — a new, local audience, free.
Ask before using it properly
For anything good enough for your main feed (not just Stories), DM first: "love this photo, mind if we share it to our grid with credit to you?" A photo belongs to whoever took it, so always ask before using it beyond a native reshare.
One more cheap win: put a small table card with a QR code straight to your Google review page, and ask specifically for a photo, not just a star rating — "snap your roast or your pint and pop it on our Google page." Photo-rich reviews convert noticeably better than text-only ones, and Google Search/Maps is already the single biggest source of new customers for most pubs.
Two small habits that quietly cost pubs reach
Don't edit a post after it's live
Spotted a typo or a wrong link an hour after posting? Fixing it can cut that post's reach by 30-40% — editing interrupts the algorithm's early testing window. Proofread before you hit post; if it's genuinely wrong, delete and repost rather than edit.
Google rewards a steady drip, not a one-off push
A profile with 40 reviews gaining two a week outranks one sitting on 200 old reviews with nothing recent. A 3-4 week gap with no new reviews can drag your ranking down. Keep that Google review QR code out permanently, not just for a one-time campaign.
Want this done for you, not just laid out for you?
We're currently offering a small number of pubs 1–3 months of this managed for free, in exchange for being a case study. No pressure, no obligation — just tell us where you're starting from.