How to create a sustainable social media marketing plan + free planning checklist

Unlock the secrets to a successful social media marketing plan with our free social media strategy checklist. Then fill it out using this step-by-step guide to elevate your brand, engage your audience, and drive results through social media.

When you’ve been testing the limits of social media marketing as much as we have at The Digital Navigator, you learn a thing or two about how to plan social media content that generates the leads you’re looking for…

…without spending a ton on paid, non-organic leads.

Now, we’re ready to share our proven, start-to-finish social media planning system with you so you can make sure your social media output is at the top of its game!

This is the system we use ourselves and with our trusted partners, so rest assured that it is reliable, and will get you the results you’re looking for.

I mean, these case studies are testament enough to how our process has helped some of our top clients hit the six-figure mark through smart social media planning!

Admittedly, implementing a good social media strategy does take a bit of work to start. But once you start to get the hang of it, you’ll speed through repeatable social media tasks with ease!

WAIT!

Social Media Marketing Strategy Guide + Free Post Planning Checklist

Got your free social media marketing planner at the ready?

Then without further ado: here is our step-by-step guide to creating a social media marketing strategy, ready to adapt to your course creation, coaching, membership, or spiritual teaching business:

1. Create a business and campaign overview

If you already have a business overview laying around somewhere, great! You can refer to that, or summarize it for yourself on a new sheet of paper.

But if not, now is a good time to write a quick elevator pitch about what your business is all about. Your business overview can be short, such as this one from a popular client on our roster…

Inshallah Oils produces essential oils using traditional Egyptian cold press techniques. Oils are made in Egypt with exclusive scents not found in the US in addition to scents that are more commercially available.

…or you might want to add a little bit more information, as one of our past clients did when they first onboarded our social media strategy. Here’s what their ‘elevator pitch’ looked like at the time:

Mijn Tempel offers the Inner Freedom Technique, a modality focused on relieving stress, trauma, and physical issues through breathwork and energy healing. The technique was developed by founders Thomas Boots and Joyce van Zijp based on their personal experiences using it to overcome PTSD. Mijn Tempel provides: Online course teaching the Inner Freedom Technique, in-person workshops and corporate training, private 1-on-1 sessions with practitioners, and services for both individuals seeking healing and companies/leaders looking to improve employee wellbeing. The technique is rooted in using focused breathing patterns to release trapped emotions, stress, and energetic blocks. Mijn Tempel aims to make Inner Freedom Technique accessible to more people suffering from conditions like anxiety, depression, PTSD, and physical pain.

Got it? Great!

Next, you’ll want to write a campaign overview, which is meant to highlight what you’ll be providing or promoting through your next social media marketing campaign.

You can begin by identifying key offerings or topics, such as new courses or features. For example, Inshallah Oils wrote this as a part of their campaign overview for a new product offering they wanted to promote:

ALIGN Diffusers feature gemstone-inspired interchangeable toppers and high quality rechargeable bases. Designed to look like art pieces.

Finally, we suggest you take a quick look at the digital assets you already have in your arsenal, and collect several popular items that are relevant to the topic, theme, or product that is going to be featured in your campaign.

Why?

So you have a great source of ready-made information that you can use to write your social media posts later!

Remember, you don’t always have to create new content or posts from scratch: chances are popular articles and assets will already have some postable ‘snippets’ you can cut and paste to your social media streams.

2. Develop a micro-content strategy for your social media channels

For this step, we recommend assessing the current user base (and engagement metrics) of the social media channels you use for your business. Which platforms are getting you the most leads? Which are struggling to gain traction with followers?

Knowing more about your current social media situation will ultimately help you make better decisions as you plan at least a three-month (or longer) strategy for your social media content. At the very least, you’ll know where you want to focus most of your efforts in order to get the best and biggest returns…and you’ll know a little bit more about what your audience likes already!

Aren’t sure how to write your own social media content strategy? Here are 14 questions that may help:

As you create notes about the content strategy you want to use, we also suggest exploring relevant content on YouTube in your niche for inspiration—not just for social posting but for workshop ideas and tutorial techniques you can potentially turn into free lead magnets on your website.

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3. Determine how often you will post on social platforms

Step three is simple: come up with a posting strategy for how often you will post! Consistency is key—and more often than not, prospects will learn to ‘expect’ your posts on specific days, priming them to pay more attention.

When you are making your posting schedule, make sure to aim for optimal engagement times—you can actually use tools like Meta Business Suite or Hootsuite to help you determine which are the best posting times and frequencies.

Again, here are some questions which will help you come up with a posting schedule and strategy for the next couple of months:

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4. Highlight suggested brand voice and brand messaging in a few bullets

Like any good content plan, you want to highlight phrasing, messaging, and text that you want to use for your social posts. This can be helpful when you go to write your posts later, and can be a real leg up if you have copywriters creating posts on your behalf.

To highlight the suggested brand voice, we therefore recommend you list special quotes, aspects of your promotion (deadlines, etc.), or other relevant text in one place, and refer to it before you write your first few batches of posts.

Be sure to define a voice or style that will resonate with your target audience as well, for example, a voice that is informative yet inviting and empathetic will touch on a different audience than a witty, humorous one. This is going to ensure that each post you create isn’t just helping promote your service or product, but also helps build your brand’s unique narrative.

5. Write preliminary copy examples for your social posts

Now, the fun part! It’s time to start writing your next batch of social media posts.

Here we recommend starting small. Choose four types of post types (ex. promotional posts, inspirational posts, self-care posts, value/engagement posts, or educational posts), and then write five practice posts each based on the tone, voice, and messaging you already outlined.

Again, you can click through the social media pages of your competition to see which post types are getting the most engagement, and build your posts using those metrics as inspiration.

Just make sure to keep in mind the other media assets such as videos or articles you want to include in your posts or share with your community–that way you’ll have great captions to go along with them when you finally hit ‘share’!

6. Plan growth strategies in advance (and as you go!)

Have you thought about how often you’ll check for new comments or interactions? These and other questions are going to really help you as you extend your social media planning strategy beyond the first three or so months. Here’s a few more you should ask as you plan to upscale social media engagement as you go:

Basically, you’re looking to maintain a responsive business page, community, or posting schedule that builds on follower interactions and fosters connections between users, as well. To help you build your own, here is a growth strategy that targets long term social media engagement written by Inshallah Oils:

Optional: Create a Facebook group to ramp up audience engagement

Facebook Groups are an excellent way to make sure you continue to ramp up audience engagement for your business, and to gain those sought-after leads you want from social media.

The best part is, creating a Facebook group is actually quite simple, and follows a similar strategy to the planning guide we explored in the previous six steps. Referring to the descriptions above then, you can quickly use the following eight steps to launch your Facebook group online…

…just don’t forget to welcome new members with a mix of engaging content formats, and to schedule welcome messages, educational content, and interactive discussions to maintain high engagement.

You’ll also want to think about moderation, for example, who will moderate, and how often they’ll log on to interact with your audience. Be sure to remove negative, inflammatory, or inappropriate posts quickly as well, to maintain a focus on healthy functional and interactive posts and comments.

8 Simple Steps to Create a Facebook Group for Your Business

1. Determine the target audience for your Facebook group.

2. Create an FB group posting strategy, determining what you will post, when, and how often.

3. Outline the goals you want to achieve through this group.

4. Create the group on Facebook, and set up automated greetings, rules, cover images, and banners. Make sure everything is consistent with your existing branding to improve authority!

5. Optimize group user settings as much as possible, with the aim of creating a welcoming space for new and existing prospects.

6. Write 5 posts and post (or pin) these to your Facebook group page BEFORE you begin adding members to your list.

7. Invite a few close friends or connections (or even some of their more engaged contacts) to get the ball rolling on your community.

8. Keep adding members (including past customers where possible) to your group, and establish the posting schedule you set out before.

Launch the next phase of your social media content strategy

As you’ve journeyed through our comprehensive guide, hopefully checking off the tasks in our free downloadable social media planner as you go, how has your picture of social media content planning changed?

Do you feel more confident planning the rest of your content moving forward?

Great! We’re so excited for you to keep making an awesome impact in the world of course creation and coaching.

Just don’t forget: each post you craft and every strategy you implement is an opportunity to deepen connections, inspire action, and drive meaningful engagement.

You’re not only posting on social media; you’re cultivating a vibrant community eager to follow your lead and grow alongside your brand (whether you choose to make a Facebook group or not). So, take these tools, embrace the insights, and transform your social media from a routine task into a dynamic asset.

Plus, with our social media checklist just a click away and this guide in your arsenal, you’ll be more than ready to elevate your online presence, captivate your audience, and achieve the results you’ve been dreaming of.

Download the checklist, step into the social media limelight, and watch as your business flourishes under the spotlight of success. Here’s to your next big social media triumph—may it be as vibrant and resonant as the communities you aim to build!

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