Comparison
Your hours don't belong on Instagram
When a location cannot change its website, the owner posts new hours on Instagram or Facebook and hopes people see them. It is a sensible workaround. It is also where hours go to get lost.
Facts checked September 26, 2026
The short answer
Post on Instagram too. Just make the website right first.
Social posts are good for telling followers what is new. They are a poor home for hours. People checking whether you are open tend to start with a search, which leads to your listing and your website, not your feed, and last week's post keeps showing last week's hours. The fix is not a better posting habit. It is a website the owner can change from the same phone, in the same minute. That is what Brandyland gives every location.
| Hours on Instagram | Brandyland | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can update it | Anyone with the login, from a phone | The franchisee, from a phone |
| Where it shows up | In followers' feeds, for a day or two | On the location's site, until it changes |
| A new customer searching | Sees it only if they open your profile | Sees it on the site they land on |
| Old information | Old posts stay up | Notices end on their date, holidays set ahead with a nudge |
| Regular hours | In a post or the bio | On the site, with a "still right" tap to confirm them |
| Weekly schedule | A graphic, reposted when it changes | Named sessions by day, edited from a phone |
| Brand look | Whatever the owner designs | The brand's theme, set by corporate |
| Inquiries | Direct messages, answered when someone checks | Forms with an on-brand reply within sixty seconds, and a leads inbox |
| Corporate's view | Scroll each account | Network health dashboard, worst first |
| Cost | Free to post | $99 or $199 per location per month |
How hours end up on Instagram
It usually starts with a website that only corporate, an agency or a developer can change. A snow day comes up, or a new Saturday class, and the request would take days. The owner has a phone and an Instagram account, so the post goes up in a minute.
After a while, the website itself says "check our Instagram for current hours." At that point the site has handed its most important job to a feed.
Why the post does not do the job
A post is made for the moment. Hours are a standing fact, and a feed is a hard place to keep one current.
- Posts move down. A closure posted Tuesday is buried under Thursday's photos.
- Old posts stay up. Last month's holiday hours are still there for anyone who scrolls.
- Not everyone follows you, or uses Instagram at all. A new customer checking before a first visit may never see the post.
- Search results show hours from your listing and your website, not from your latest post.
- Corporate has no single view of which locations posted what, or when.
Put the change where people look
The fix is a website as easy to change as a post. In Brandyland, the franchisee opens the admin on a phone, taps the day, types the new time and saves, and the site shows the new hours. Corporate's theme and any locked sections stay as they are, so a quick change never costs the brand.
From the same phone, a franchisee can change:
- Today's hours, without touching the regular week
- Holiday hours, with a nudge ahead of each holiday
- Regular hours, confirmed with a "still right" tap
- A weekly schedule of named sessions, such as open play, classes or drop-off windows
- A notice bar for a snow day or a private event, with an end date that takes it down
- Events, photos and their own pages
Keep posting, and point to the site
Instagram and Facebook still matter. They are where followers see the new class, the party photos and the team. Keep posting.
What changes is the direction of the link. Instead of the website sending people to Instagram for hours, the post sends people to the website, where the hours are right today and the inquiry form answers within sixty seconds.
A parent asking about a party, or a pet owner asking about boarding, gets an on-brand reply in the brand's words, and the inquiry lands in the location's leads inbox. Follow-ups stop when a person answers.
What corporate sees
When hours live in a dozen feeds, corporate often learns a location was closed from a complaint. Brandyland's network health dashboard lists every location worst first: stale hours, holidays not set and leads waiting.
Bookings stay on each location's existing system, such as Roller, Zenoti or Gingr, linked from the site or shown on a Book page where the system allows.
A post on its own is enough if
- Your customers are mostly regulars who follow you and check your feed
- The post is a heads-up, and your website already shows the change
- You are trying out an idea, like a one-off session, before it joins the schedule
Put hours on your website with Brandyland if
- New customers find you through search, not your feed
- Franchisees cannot change the website today, so hours go to social instead
- Corporate needs to see which locations have stale hours
- You want holiday and closure notices that take themselves down
Questions
Questions people ask
Is it bad to post business hours on Instagram?
No. Posting a change is useful for followers. The trouble starts when Instagram is the only place the change appears, and the website keeps showing the old hours.
Why don't our franchisees just update the website?
Often they cannot. Many location sites are built so that only corporate, an agency or a developer can change them, so every change becomes a request. Brandyland gives each franchisee a phone-first admin for hours, schedules, notices, events, photos and their own pages.
Can we stop franchisees from changing the brand?
Yes. Corporate sets the theme, fonts and colors and can lock them, along with any shared section. Franchisees edit their location's details inside those rules.
How do holidays work?
Each location sets holiday hours ahead of time, with a nudge before each holiday. A notice such as "Closed Thursday for Thanksgiving" shows across the top of the site and comes down by itself after its end date.
How much does Brandyland cost?
Local is $99 per location per month and includes Google Business Profile sync and review requests. Insights is $199 and adds call tracking, attribution, benchmarking and layout tests. For franchise networks, the build and migration of existing sites are free, and after the first 12 months it is month to month.
See your own network on Brandyland before you decide.
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