An HVAC company's social media year should be planned around two things: the weather your customers are living through, and the work your crews can actually take on. Marketing holidays and national awareness days barely matter. This guide lays out a full Canadian year, month by month, with what to post, when to advertise, and how to adjust for your region.
The four phases of an HVAC year
Every HVAC year in Canada has four phases. Their start and end dates move by region, but their order does not.
- Pre-heating. Late summer into early autumn. Homeowners start to wonder whether the furnace or heat pump will be ready. This is the prime window for tune-up and maintenance-plan promotion.
- Peak heating. From the first hard cold through late winter. Emergencies rise, schedules fill and offers become less useful than reassurance.
- Shoulder. Spring. People who limped through winter on old equipment start planning replacements. Rebate and financing questions peak.
- Cooling. Summer. Heat waves, humidity and, in many regions, wildfire smoke. AC and heat pump cooling content, filter reminders and indoor air topics.
Our areas hub explains how these phases shift across Canada. As a rough guide:
| Region | Pre-heating starts | Peak heating | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| BC coast | September | December to February | Mild winters; long heat pump and cooling seasons |
| BC Interior, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba | Mid-August | November to March | Long, cold winters; front-load tune-ups |
| Southern Ontario and southern Quebec | Late August | December to February | Hot, humid summers give cooling a full season |
| Atlantic Canada | September | December to March | Changeable weather; storm content matters |
| The territories | August | October to April | Very long winters; short maintenance window |
The content mix
A healthy HVAC feed is mostly useful, a little promotional, and always real. A practical mix for most weeks:
- Two useful posts. Explainers, how-to clips, "is this normal?" answers.
- One crew or company post. A tech on a job, a new van, an apprentice's first month.
- One proof post. A review reply, a before-and-after (with permission), a completed project.
- One offer, at most. And only when you have the capacity to deliver it.
That ratio shifts in peak heating, when offers drop almost to zero and reassurance takes over.
Month by month
The calendar below is written for a company in a cold-winter region such as the Prairies, Ontario or Quebec. Shift it a few weeks for the coast or Atlantic Canada.
January
Peak heating. Post readiness and reassurance: what to check before calling for no heat, how to clear snow from vents and outdoor units, and honest response-time updates. Run no discount ads; your phones are already busy. Reply to every comment the same day.
February
Still peak heating, with dry-air and humidifier questions rising. Film short clips of real winter calls. Start soft replacement content aimed at people whose old furnace barely made it through January.
March
Late heating into early shoulder. Replacement planning, financing explainers and heat pump education. In regions with active rebates, publish a dated, linked explainer.
April
Shoulder. AC pre-season checks, replacement campaigns and maintenance-plan renewals. A good month for a modest Meta ads test, because schedules usually have room.
May
Shoulder into early cooling. Cooling readiness, heat pump cooling explainers, and recruiting clips for summer hires.
June
Early cooling. First-heat-wave content, filter reminders and indoor air quality posts. Keep a smoke-season bank ready in regions affected by wildfire smoke.
July
Peak cooling in much of the south. AC emergencies, honest capacity notices and fewer offers. Video of crews working in the heat builds the same trust winter clips do.
August
The most important month of the year for many HVAC feeds. Launch tune-up and maintenance-plan campaigns before the first cold mornings. In the Prairies and the North, this is the start of pre-heating.
September
Pre-heating everywhere. Tune-up campaigns at full strength, "what we check" videos, and heat pump content aimed at homeowners still deciding before winter.
October
Late pre-heating. Final tune-up push, furnace and heat pump readiness, and the last chance for replacement installs before peak season. Watch capacity closely and pause installs promotion as the schedule fills.
November
Early heating. Shift from promotion to readiness. Publish your emergency line clearly, and swap in cold-snap content the moment temperatures drop.
December
Peak heating begins. Reassurance, readiness and quick replies. Holiday posts only if they carry useful information, such as emergency hours over the holidays.
Handling rebate news without misleading anyone
Rebate posts get more engagement than almost anything else an HVAC company publishes, and they cause more complaints when they are wrong. Four rules keep them safe:
- Link the official source in every post.
- Date the post and say "as of" the month you checked.
- Use "up to" for maximum amounts, and never imply every household qualifies.
- Describe announced programs as upcoming. As of October 2026, the federal National Heat Pump Rebate Program had been announced, but federal pages said it would launch in 2027, with no administrator or launch date published. A post saying "apply now" would mislead.
Environmental claims also need care. The Competition Bureau's guidance on environmental claims and greenwashing applies to statements such as "zero emissions" or "eco-friendly". Keep claims specific and supportable.
Finally, schedule a quarterly clean-up. Programs close, and old posts promoting them keep circulating.
Capacity rules: when to pull back
The calendar should change when your schedule does. Agree simple triggers with your office:
- Booked more than two weeks out on installs: pause install promotion; push maintenance plans.
- Emergency backlog building: stop all offers; post honest response times.
- Schedule opening up: release the next planned promotion early, or run a short Meta campaign.
This is the single most useful habit in HVAC social media. Advertising work you cannot deliver costs you twice: once in ad spend, and again in angry reviews.
Regional fuel mix matters
The fuel your customers heat with should shape the topics you choose. Statistics Canada data for 2023 shows how different provinces are: natural gas heated 76% of Alberta households, electricity 70% of Quebec households, and heat pumps were the primary system for 36% of PEI households.
A Calgary feed that leads with heat pumps, or a Charlottetown feed that leads with gas furnaces, is talking to the wrong audience. Check your own region's page and adjust.
Putting it into practice
Start small. Map the four phases for your region, decide on your weekly mix, and write the next four weeks in detail. Review the plan monthly and keep a swap bank of cold-snap, heat-wave and storm posts ready.
If you would rather have it built and run for you, see our seasonal content calendar service, or contact us. For the filming side, read the job-site video playbook.
Frequently asked questions
How many posts a week should an HVAC company publish?
Three to five on the main platforms is a sensible target for most companies, plus Stories when something is happening live. Consistency matters far more than volume.
Should we post on statutory holidays?
Only if you are open or have something useful to say, such as emergency hours over a long weekend. Generic holiday greetings rarely earn attention for an HVAC company.
What percentage of posts should be offers?
Roughly one in five. The rest should be useful, local and real: explainers, crew clips, answers to common questions and honest updates.