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Busy Writer? Here’s How To Create A Simple Social Media
Marketing Plan
Award-winning writer Kathy Widenhouse has helped hundreds of nonprofits and writers produce successful content , with 750K+ views for her writing tutorials. She is the author of 9 books. See more of Kathy’s content here.
Posted 8.7.25
I’m not a marketer. But I know the value of having a marketing plan for social media. Social media is free and it’s accessible to everyone. That means I can reach plenty of people in my niche with just a little bit of intentionality.
But social media marketing has fast become a specialty. Mari Smith has earned the moniker of “Queen of Facebook,” given her expertise with Facebook ads. Viveka von Rosen is a LinkedIn authority. And what about Michael Stelzner? He created Social Media Examiner, the “world’s largest social media marketing resource.”
I can’t compete with those folks. I don’t have that kind of time. And as a solopreneur, I don’t have gobs of resources to invest in hiring a guru to create a social media marketing plan for my biz.
If you feel the same way, I’ve got good news for you. You don’t need a Forbes 100 social media strategy to compete in your niche. You just need a simple plan. And you can create that plan by asking yourself just 3 questions.
Need a social media marketing plan? Ask 3 questions
“A social media strategy is a document outlining your social media goals,” say the wise folks at Hootsuite. “Outline the tactics you will use to achieve them and the metrics you will track to measure your progress.” (Italics mine.)
I like how the Hootsuite social media sages break it down. You need just three things for your social media marketing plan: goals, actions, and measurement. And you record those pieces of information in a document — not as an idea floating around in your head.
Figure out what to put on that document by asking yourself just 3 questions — and you’ll be on your way to creating a personalized social media marketing plan that works.
Question #1: What’s your goal?
The first thing on that document? Your goal. Decide what you want to achieve by investing your time in a social media marketing plan. Choose just one objective. Maybe you want to …
- Acquire more subscribers
- Engage with more readers
- Create a community of like-minded people
- Interact more meaningfully with people in your niche
- Sell your products
- Sell your writing services
- Build a larger following
Your goal will change over time. But get started by asking just one question: “What single step do I want to accomplish by posting on social media?” (And the answer cannot be, “Everyone’s doing it, so I should too.”)
I’ve found it helpful to use SMART goal guidelines (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-Bound) to quantify what I’d like to achieve — for instance, “Engage with 20% more followers this month.”
What’s your most immediate social media goal? Answer that question and then you’ll be ready to ask …
Question #2: What content should you post on social media?
Once you know your most urgent goal, choose actions (tactics) to take to reach it.
In other words, plan the kind of content you need to post. And to do that, ask …
- Who are your readers?
- What kinds of problems do they have? How can you help them solve those problems with your content?
- Where do you readers or prospects hang out most — Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram?
- What kinds of content do your competitors post on those channels — and how can you provide what’s missing or supplement what’s already there?
Once you decide who your readers are, what platform they prefer, and what problems they need solved, then you can create and schedule a week’s worth (or a month’s worth) of posts. And then it’s time to find out …
Find your target audience with this fillable worksheet.
Question #3: How well is your social media marketing plan working?
Get started measuring your progress by using concrete metrics that begin with Day 1 of your plan. You can measure things like …
- Number of likes, comments, shares
- Number of followers
- Number of unique users who see your posts (reach) and how they are displayed (impressions)
- Number of click-throughs to your web or blog content (CTR)
- Number of users who complete an action, like sign-ups or purchases (conversions)
Check your stats at intervals — say, weekly or bi-weekly or monthly. Do your numbers demonstrate progress that fits with your goal? If yes, break out the confetti and continue with your plan. If not, then go back to Questions 1 and 2 and reconfigure.
Your social media marketing strategy can be both simple and successful
80 percent of your results come from 20 percent of your efforts — an adage that applies across disciplines. So says The Pareto Principle, named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. And the 80/20 Rule applies to creating your social media marketing strategy, too.
It’s true for me. About a quarter of my website traffic comes from social media alone … and I use the simple tools I’ve offered here.
Asking and answering these 3 little questions may not take much effort — the 20%. But use them to create and work your plan, and they’ll produce a nice hunk of social media results.
For example, a food blogger may create this simple social media marketing plan.
- Goal: “Increase number of followers by 10% on Pinterest within 6 months.”
- Actions: “Create 10 new pins and engage with 5 new pinners each week.”
- Measurement: “After one month, monitor progress to ensure I’ve increased the number of followers by at least 1.5–2% per week — and if necessary, adjust my tactics accordingly.”
“Your social media strategy is your master plan for how you create, post, and engage with your social media content,” says content marketer Allie Decker.
But no one said that your master plan needs to be complicated or expensive. It just needs to work.
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