Season Is Coming: How to Market to Snowbirds and Winter Visitors
Can you feel it? The traffic on PGA is a little thicker, there's a line at your favorite coffee spot that wasn't there in August, and you just saw your third Ontario license plate of the week. Season is coming, friend. And if you run a local business in Palm Beach County, the next few months are your big wave.
Here's the thing about a big wave: you don't catch it by paddling the second it shows up. You catch it by being in position before it breaks. Marketing to snowbirds and winter visitors works the same way. The businesses that win season are the ones that start getting ready in the fall, not the ones scrambling in January.
So grab an iced coffee and let's get you in position.
First, know who's actually coming to town
"Snowbirds" gets used as a catch-all, but your winter crowd is really three different groups, and each one wants something a little different from you.
Seasonal residents. They own or rent a place here for months at a time. They're looking for "their" spots: their hair stylist, their brunch place, their boutique, their Pilates class. Win them once and they come back every week until spring, and again next year.
Short-stay visitors. In town for a long weekend or a week. They want the best of the best, fast. They're searching on their phones, reading reviews and making decisions in minutes.
Visiting friends and family. Your year-round locals hosting relatives from up north. These guests usually find you through a local's recommendation, so your regulars are your best salespeople here.
Knowing which of these groups matters most to your business tells you what to post. A salon wants seasonal residents booking standing appointments. A restaurant on the water wants all three. A boutique might want short-stay shoppers looking for something they can't get back home.
Visitor content vs. local content: you need both
One of the most common mistakes I see in season is a feed that suddenly forgets the year-round locals who kept the lights on all summer. The other mistake is the opposite: a feed so full of inside jokes that a visitor scrolling through has no idea what you do or where you are.
The fix is a simple mix. Think of your posts in two buckets:
Visitor-friendly posts
Say where you are, plainly. "Right off US-1 in Juno Beach" or "two blocks from the Jupiter Riverwalk" beats a cute caption with no location. Visitors don't know our shortcuts yet.
Show the experience. The patio at sunset, the fitting room with great light, the view from your chair. People visiting Florida are buying the feeling as much as the product.
Answer first-timer questions. Do you take walk-ins? Is there parking? Do you ship purchases home? A quick Reel or carousel answering these saves a dozen DMs.
Tie into what's happening around town. Discover The Palm Beaches keeps an events and things-to-do guide for the county. Pick the events your customers actually care about and post about them ("Heading to the boat parade? Grab dinner with us first.").
Local-love posts
Thank your regulars. A "summer crew appreciation" post, a locals' night or a punch card goes a long way.
Share season survival tips. Best times to come in to skip the wait, how to book ahead, where to park. Locals will love you for it, and it helps manage your busiest hours too.
Keep your personality. The behind-the-scenes, the team faces, the goofy moments. That's what makes you feel like "their place" to everyone, seasonal or year-round.
A good rhythm for most businesses is roughly half and half, leaning more visitor-friendly at the peak of season and more local-love as spring winds down.
Get your reviews in shape before peak season
If I could only give you one piece of advice for season, it would be this: build up your Google reviews now, while it's still a little quieter.
When someone lands here for a week and searches "brunch near me" or "nail salon Palm Beach Gardens," they're standing on the sidewalk comparing stars and recent reviews. They don't have a friend to ask. Your reviews are the friend.
A few easy ways to get ready:
Ask your happiest regulars this month. A quick, friendly "Would you mind leaving us a Google review? It really helps us before season" works better than you'd think. Keep it simple and never offer anything in exchange for a review.
Make it easy. Put your review link in a text, an email, a QR code by the register, or a card in the bag.
Reply to every review. Visitors read your replies as much as the reviews themselves. A warm, real response (even to a so-so review) tells them how you treat people.
Clean up your Google Business Profile. Update hours (especially holiday and extended season hours), add fresh photos, and double-check your address and website link. If you've never verified your profile, Google walks you through it in its Business Profile help guide.
Your pre-season social media checklist
Before the crowds arrive, run through this list. It takes an afternoon, and it'll make the next five months so much smoother.
Refresh your bio. Town name, what you do, and a clear next step (book, order, visit) right at the top.
Update your link. Make sure the link in your bio goes to booking, reservations or your shop, not a page from two summers ago.
Pin your three best posts. Think: "who we are," "what we're known for," and "how to visit or book." That's what a visitor sees first.
Add or update Highlights. Menu, services, hours, reviews, FAQs. Visitors tap these before they ever scroll your feed.
Plan your posting schedule now. Season is busy for you too. Pick a schedule you can keep up with when the shop is packed. Our free Posting Schedule Builder will map one out for you in a couple of minutes.
Batch some content. Shoot a handful of Reels and photos in the next few weeks while you have breathing room, so you're not trying to film at the height of the rush.
Plan around the holidays, too
Season and the holidays overlap, which is a gift if you plan for it. Seasonal residents are often in town for Thanksgiving and the December holidays, and visiting family pours in right behind them. Gift cards, holiday hours posts and "shop local" moments all do double duty with both crowds. I put together a full holiday social media plan for Palm Beach County businesses with ideas week by week, so you can line it all up at once.
Keep them coming back after they fly home
Here's the sneaky secret about snowbirds: they leave in the spring, but they don't stop following you. A seasonal resident who loved your shop in February will happily watch your Stories all summer from up north, and they'll walk right back in next November.
Invite them to follow before they leave. A sign at the register or a line in your receipts: "Heading home? Follow along and we'll see you next season."
Collect emails. Online orders, gift cards and shipping-home options can keep them buying in the off-season.
Do a "welcome back" post every fall. It's one of the most loved posts a local business can share, and it signals to everyone that season has officially started.
The bottom line
Season rewards the businesses that show up early, look good online, and make visitors feel like locals. Get your reviews in, polish your profiles, plan a mix of visitor and local content, and give yourself a schedule you can actually keep when it gets busy.
And if you'd rather spend season serving customers than filming Reels, that's exactly what we do. Our monthly social media packages take shooting, posting and DMs off your plate. Tell me about your business and let's get you ready to catch the wave.
