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- Grow Your Socials Using This Plan!
Grow Your Socials Using This Plan!
Here's the blueprint to maximize your impact.
Joshua Parkinson
October 24, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 12 minutes
In partnership with
🚀 Your Social Media Content Plan Blueprint
Social media without a plan is like driving blindfolded. Most businesses fail because they skip the foundation.
A social media content plan maps out your entire strategy, from platforms and topics to tactics and your content calendar. Here's how to build one that brings more engagement, followers, and sales.
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1. Set measurable goals and determine your KPIs 🎯
Before changing anything about your online presence, decide exactly what you want from social media 6 months or a year from now.
Set specific, measurable goals. "I want more DMs" is measurable - if you get 50 instead of 30, you succeeded. "I want people to enjoy my page more" isn't.
Common goals and KPIs include:
More conversions from social traffic.
Building connections through engagement.
Increasing brand awareness via follower growth.
Keep a close eye on these 4 key metrics for a data-driven look at your progress:
Follower growth
Referral traffic
Conversions
Engagement
2. Define your ICP 👥
Understanding your Ideal Customer Profile lets you tailor content that resonates deeply with your target audience.
Define your ICP by:
Determining demographic details (age, gender, socioeconomic status)
Identifying pain points to address in your content
Understanding their preferences and what repulses them
Your ICP serves as your compass. Consider the customer journey your ICP takes before making a purchase.
3. Study your competition 🔍
Studying your competitors is one of the best ways to improve your social media content.
Figure out your weaknesses and identify your competitors' strengths.
Ask yourself these questions:
What kind of content do they post?
What topics do they cover?
When do they post?
How much engagement do they get?
Who is their primary audience?
Understanding your competition's strategy helps you differentiate yourself from them.
4. Audit your social media channels 📊
Time for a social media audit. Here's how to do it:
Assess your channels:
Is each channel accomplishing its purpose?
Does your content match your ICP?
Which content types produce returns vs. time sucks?
Ditch any channel or content style not returning on your investment
Ask these 3 questions to decide what to keep:
1. Is my audience on this channel? If your audience is 65-year-olds, don't focus on X (Twitter), older adults are one of the smallest demographics on X.
2. Do I have time to invest in this channel? If you're active on Instagram and YouTube, is Facebook worth it? Don't stretch yourself too thin.
3. Would success here help my business grow? You might crush on TikTok, but if your ROI there is 10% of Instagram's, consider refocusing.
5. Optimize your social channels ⚡
These steps are easily overlooked but crucial:
Fill out your bio sections completely
Include links back to your site
Add attractive cover photos and profile pictures
Many business owners lose potential traffic by failing to nail these basics.
6. Map topics to your customer journey 🗺️
You've defined your ICP and their journey. Now tailor content topics to address customer needs at each point.
Determine crucial points in your customer journey. Create content topics targeting each specific point to help move customers from one stage to the next.
Craft a call to action (CTA) for each topic, guiding users through the journey - subscribing, downloading, or purchasing.
7. Plan content creation strategies 🎨
What structures do you have to create these content types?
Video
Graphic content
Images
Text posts
Strategies to consider:
Make sure you have a video studio setup with lights and microphones for high-quality videos
Ensure access to high-quality photos or stock photo sources
Invest in a graphic design tool like Canva or Post Planner's Content Studio to create visual content for your strategy.
8. Establish a brand tone and voice 🎤
Social media should be a conversation between your business and followers - personal and intimate.
A distinct and consistent brand tone builds familiarity and trust, making your brand feel like an online friend instead of a money-hungry business.
Consider:
What are your core values?
What is your mission?
What character traits should your voice portray?
9. Create content for your audience, not yourself 🎁
Want to lose followers fast? Create content YOU want to see instead of what THEY want to see.
Avoid this trap:
Study the content your audience engages with online (check popular influencers in your space)
Research competition to see what resonates
Follow the 5:3:2 rule - out of 10 posts: 5 curated from other sources, 3 your own content, 2 fun messages
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10. Vary your content 🔄
Getting into a rut of posting the same types of content repeatedly doesn't yield results.
Vary your content in multiple ways:
Mix formats between videos, images, text, graphics, and memes.
Change messages between funny, serious, informative, motivational (while maintaining your voice).
Use platform-unique post types like carousels, stories, and Reels.
Varying your content keeps viewers engaged and gets more attention long-term.
11. Think about the video 🎥
All major platforms now allow video, and creators focusing on video see massive returns.
Ensure your videos:
Are high quality and visually pleasing (invest in good shooting and editing).
Are short and grab attention in the first couple of seconds.
Offer real value to viewers (don't post just to post).
12. Optimize your posting schedule ⏰
Everyone wants to know the best times to publish. The answer? It depends.
Use a 2-pronged approach:
Use data from industry studies as a starting point.
Use your account data to draw your own conclusions.
Look at your posting history and see what times correlate with higher engagement. Try those times, then slightly shift and compare results.
13. Post consistently 📅
Want to grow your followers? Be consistent in your posting schedules.
Once you determine what posting times work, consistently post at those times.
The more consistently followers see your content, the more likely they'll engage and see you as an authority in your industry.
14. Repurpose content ♻️
You'll inevitably have posts that perform much better than others. Don't let them go to waste!
Incorporate high-performers back into your plan to cash in a second time.
Repurposing content saves time and boosts engagement by using your best posts multiple times.
15. Build your social media calendar 📆
Now it's time to start filling up your calendar with content.
Start curating and crafting content to fit the plan you've created above.
DON'T wait until it's time to post to create your content. Have content ready weeks in advance to give yourself time for the highest-quality work and changes if necessary.
Before diving into the details, consider using social media automation tools to quickly create a robust content calendar.
Automate Your Plan with Post Planner 🤖
Post Planner is one of the most powerful tools for turning your content plan into an automated business-growing machine.
You get:
Content curation tools to find proven content.
Automation tools to create your entire posting plan in advance.
AI tools to write excellent posts and choose ideal hashtags.
Bulk posting tools to post to multiple channels simultaneously.
Sign up for a free Post Planner account to follow along with these steps.
Here's how to use it:
Step 1. Create a posting calendar
Select ideal posting times for each content type
Create posting slots with day, time, and content source
Your calendar auto-populates as you add content
Step 2. Find curated content: Content Streams can find thousands of content pieces across your chosen categories. Search for your topic, then see what Content Streams already exist about that niche.
Step 3. Schedule content: Click on content to add it to your Content Composer. Click on multiple posts to add them simultaneously, then edit and schedule for posting.
Step 4. Use AI tools: Input your prompt and tell Post Planner how many variations to generate. It'll output suggestions based on what performs well on social media.
Post Planner will auto-populate each post's text field with AI-generated content, and generate suggested hashtags based on your keywords.
Step 5. Recycle evergreen content: Go to the History tab and find your highest-performing content by looking at analytics. Click the 3 dots next to the post and click "Re-queue."
Post Planner ensures your post gets added to your schedule at the right spot according to your preferences.
Step 6. Evaluate your posts' success Use the History tab to see exactly how much engagement each post got. Compare engagement to posting times to improve your schedule.
Regularly evaluating content success helps you tailor content to your audience and reach your social media goals.
The Bottom Line ⚡
Social media success doesn't happen overnight. But the long-term benefits are worth the time spent.
These 15 tips will help you create a plan that actually works. Ready to rock on social media? Sign up for a Post Planner account today.
That’s all for today. Thanks for reading. Now…
Go BIG or go home!
~ Josh from “This Week in Social Media”
Disclaimer: Some links may be affiliate links that pay us commissions.
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