The bun is eaten before you get a chance to photograph it
The working day starts in the small hours. The counter fills and empties, and by the evening, when there would finally be a moment for social media, the day's baking was eaten long ago. Photographing always competes with selling, and selling comes first.
That is the strange contradiction in a baker's day: few trades have a product this photogenic, and few have this little time to photograph it.
The good news is that a bakery's year is already a content calendar. Shrove buns, Runeberg tortes, May Day doughnuts, summer berry cakes, Christmas tarts: these dates are known in advance, and they are exactly when people go looking for them on social media. Material was never the bottleneck. Time to plan and write it was.
What a bakery should post
You need no photo studio and no content calendar on the wall. Certain post types will carry a bakery through the whole year, and all of them come out of the work you already do every morning. Here are a few examples.
Fresh out of the oven
The morning's first treats are a bakery's best post. One photo from the oven or of the counter just filled, taken before the first customer makes it through the door.
Seasonal treats
A bakery's year is full of days your customers remember on their own. Announce the seasonal product ahead of time, and you will have time to take pre-orders too.
The person behind the dough
Baking is craft, and craft is interesting to watch. A photo of you or a team member at work is a reminder that a person makes these, not a factory.
Pre-orders and cakes
This post brings orders directly. Cakes and celebration bakes are planned weeks in advance, so remind people in good time.
A realistic rhythm: start with three, aim for daily
It is true that the algorithm rewards those who manage to post every day, but a plan is only good once it survives your busiest week too. Posting regularly matters more than a few really good posts now and then, and when a product only lasts a day on the shelf, being regular and current matters all the more.
A good idea is to start with three posts a week, and once the rhythm feels familiar, add more. A bakery is worth aiming close to daily, because the selection changes every morning and yesterday's news is already old. Stories are the easiest way there: even one ten second clip of a tray coming out of the oven tells people what is on offer today, and makes followers feel they are following you and your journey, not just your adverts.
A bakery's year on social media
A few of the treat days Bobbi lifts into your plan in good time:
What Bobbi actually does, and what stays yours
Bobbi takes care of the part that costs you the most time: it plans the week's topics, writes the captions in your voice, picks the photos and schedules the posts. What stays yours is the baking, a few photos in the morning, and the final say on every post.
- 1
Bobbi learns how your bakery sounds
From your website and your earlier posts, Bobbi picks up your products, your opening hours and the way you talk to customers. Drafts sound like you, not like a chain bakery advert.
We still recommend giving Bobbi feedback at the start, so the voice gets even closer. Bobbi also learns on its own by comparing its drafts with your earlier Instagram posts, so even if you do nothing, the results keep improving.
- 2
Bobbi plans and writes your week
Post ideas, captions and timing arrive ready. A bakery's year comes with the plan: Shrove Tuesday, Runeberg day, May Day and Christmas are in the calendar before you have had time to think about them. Posts are scheduled around when your own Instagram followers are active, if you have more than 100 followers.
- 3
Bobbi even picks the photos, you just approve
Upload your own photos or bring them in from Canva, and Bobbi picks a suitable shot for every post. Bobbi also offers free stock photos and videos, but a bakery should really use mostly its own photos, because people buy based on what the baking actually looks like. Everything stays editable: swap the photo, rewrite a line or throw out the whole draft. Nothing is published without your approval.
Doing it yourself vs Bobbi
Both are valid choices. The real difference is where your hours go.
| Task | Doing it yourself | With Bobbi |
|---|---|---|
| Planning what to post | An hour or two a week, usually in the evening once the bakery is cleaned | Done for you 3-4 weeks ahead |
| Writing captions | If you are quick you can have it in five minutes, but many spend far longer on a caption. | Drafted in your voice, edit if you want to |
| Taking photos | Your job, but a few shots in the morning is enough | Still yours, and a phone is plenty |
| Choosing the photo | Ten minutes of scrolling the camera roll | Chosen for you from your own photos, swap anytime |
| Remembering the seasons | Shrove Tuesday takes you by surprise every year | Seasons in the plan weeks ahead |
| Publishing on time | Depends on whether you remember, or have time, in the morning rush | Scheduled, publishes itself |
| Cost | Free in money, expensive in time | Typically the price of a couple of cake orders a month |
Questions bakers actually ask
How often should a bakery post on social media?
A bakery can manage a daily rhythm more easily than most trades, because the counter changes every morning. If you have time, post in the morning and add a story later in the day. If you do not, three posts a week is plenty, as long as they land on the same days: that is when customers learn to expect them.
What time of day should a bakery post?
Morning is a bakery's best moment, because that is exactly when people decide where to get coffee or breakfast. Schedule the post between six and seven and it will be in the feed before people head out. In the afternoon, a reminder of what is still left works well.
Will I have time to photograph anything in the morning rush?
A few shots a week is enough. Take the photo when a tray comes out of the oven or the counter has just been filled, it takes ten seconds. One good morning gives you photos for a whole week, and Bobbi picks the right ones from them.
What if it sells out right after I post?
That is not a problem, it is the best message you could send. Say in a story that it sold out and when there will be more. Selling out teaches customers to come early, and next time they will, and you can prepare more to sell.
Will the posts Bobbi writes sound like me?
Yes. Bobbi learns from your own website and earlier posts, and you see every caption before it goes out. You can edit any draft or reject it entirely. We recommend giving Bobbi feedback at the start so the voice sharpens. Bobbi also learns on its own by comparing its drafts with your earlier Instagram posts.
What does social media automation cost for a small bakery?
Tools in this category generally cost around 20 to 100 euros a month depending on how much they do for you. For a larger company the price tag can be higher still.
A good rule of thumb: if the tool saves you even four hours a month, it pays for itself with a couple of cake orders.
How is this different from just asking an AI chat to write my posts?
A chat gives you text. Bobbi gives you a finished week of social media. Bobbi reads your website, your documents and your past posts, plans the topics and writes the posts in your voice. It remembers the feedback you have given and knows which season is coming up.
Bobbi also picks a photo for every post from your own photos or the stock library, so you are not hunting for one every time. From your analytics it sees when your followers are online and suggests the posting times to match. You never have to open Instagram at all: you press Approve and Bobbi publishes for you. The text from a chat, on the other hand, still has to be copied over and posted by hand in the Instagram app.
A chat only does something when you sit down and know what to ask for. Bobbi works on its own: new posts are waiting for you every week even if you do nothing.
Is my business data safe?
Yes. Bobbi is a Finnish company and handles your data under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Every business's data is isolated at the database level into its own workspace, connections are encrypted, and access is limited to what running the service actually requires.
Your Instagram and Facebook connection goes through Meta's official API, so we never see your social media passwords, and you can disconnect at any time. The business agreements with the AI services we use forbid using your data to train their models, and we do not sell your data to anyone.
Our privacy policy sets out openly what we process, how long we keep it and when it is deleted. You can delete your account whenever you want. And nothing is ever published without your approval.
Curious what you could improve on social media?
Paste your website address and Bobbi runs a quick, free analysis of your brand and your presence on social media. You will see where you already shine and where the easiest improvements are. And if you want to talk it through afterwards, you can book a short call with us right from the results.
Takes about a minute. Free, no account needed.