Everybody wants to improve their social media marketing. We all want better results, and there are thousands of articles online that give tips and strategies for getting the best results. Unfortunately, there are very few free resources that actually provide a tangible step-by-step social marketing checklist that’s still relevant to make your social media marketing strategy stand out.

We hope to solve this lacuna of information by providing you with this detailed planning checklist. Once you tick all the boxes in this checklist, you can rest assured that you have a winning social media marketing plan.

So, let’s get started…

Step 1 – Prepare a planning spreadsheet

This is the document that you will continuously refer back to during the actual campaign. The spreadsheet should have four worksheets. The number of columns in each worksheet is specified below. Treat it as a social media marketing checklist and use it as a reference.

1. Overview worksheet – create five columns in this worksheet and name them Pillar Promotion, Dates, Publishing, Influencers, and Partners.

2. Calendar worksheet – this worksheet is essentially a social content calendar. This will help ensure your content marketing strategy is carried out in a structured manner. Create five columns in this worksheet and name them Week, Task, Owner, Due Date, and Notes.

3. Budget Requests worksheet – this worksheet will track resource allocation as well as track goals against tactics and metrics. Create the following seven columns: Channel, Cost, Goal, Tactics, Metrics/KPIs, Notes, and Link To Media Kit/Resources.

4. Goal Tracking worksheet – As the name suggests, this worksheet will track your goals on a weekly basis. In this worksheet, there are no rules on how you want to arrange data. The idea is to maintain a weekly record of your KPIs per social media channel. The KPIs you choose may vary from other people, but generally, we recommend that you track engagement, unique engaged users, visits, and conversions as a bare minimum. Find the best practice that works for you and keep it consistent throughout different social channels.

The purpose of each of the columns in the various worksheets is explained in the steps that follow.

Step 2 – Set up key promotions and campaigns

In the first column of the Overview spreadsheet, come up with pillar campaigns to which all activities refer. For example, you may want to create a content strategy campaign for the Easter season. So, as an example, the pillar campaign would be the “Easter Sale.” These pillars should be either aligned with or, better yet, set up together with the broader online marketing team.

Insert the dates of the campaign in the second column, and in the Publishing column, proceed and insert the type of content you intend to publish. For example, 2 Promoted Facebook Posts, 1 Twitter post every 2 hours for the first 2 days, then 3x per day for the following week, etc.

In the next two columns, take note of who the main influencers are and whether any partners are involved, respectively.

Step 3 – Establish goals for every promotion and campaign

Consider real-life examples of successful campaigns, analyze the past performance of your campaigns, and then set goals for future campaigns. It’s easier to find motivation to work on social media efforts when you have specific things to chase. Note these goals in the third column of the Budget Requests worksheet. These goals should be realistic and set up using the SMART methodology and be different depending on what social platform you are using. Pro tip—make sure your brand voice is consistent across various social media platforms.

Step 4 – Come up with a creative brief

Your social campaigns require focus, creative assets, and proper direction. Come with a theme, targeting, and timeline. Everything you do should map to your creative brief.

Step 5 – Develop tactics, a calendar, and creative resource requests

Once you have your creative brief, come up with a social calendar and allocate the tasks to different members of your team. This is where the second worksheet, the Calendar, comes into play.

Step 6 – Prepare a budget

Every marketing plan needs financial resources, so why would social media be any different? Specify how much the campaign will cost in the Cost column of the Budget Resources worksheet. Figure out if you plan to use Facebook ads or Instagram ads. Consider a social media management tool to automate the processes. Invest some resources to streamline the process so long as the funds allow for it. Key stakeholders should sign off on the requests.

Step 7 – Benchmark and track progress

The final worksheet of your planning spreadsheet is just for this purpose. Track the progress of all the social networks that matter to you and decide on the metrics you want to see in your social media campaign. Compare your results with those of your competitors to find out how you are fairing. If you don’t like the results, go back to the earlier steps and make changes where you think the problem is, then rinse and repeat.

Conclusion

This checklist is not set in stone. It should serve as a basic guide to show you how a social marketing plan should be professionally prepared. If you are new to social media marketing, start off with this checklist and then tweak it as you move along to suit your needs.