Template 01 - Planning & Strategy
Free Social Media Strategy Template
RecurPost’s social media strategy template records nine decisions about one brand’s social media and the reasoning behind each one. It covers what social is being asked to do, where the accounts stand, who the posts are for, which channels are in and which are out, the pillars, the voice, the cadence, the measurement and the rules for reopening the document. This page shows every section, one filled strategy for a two-person team, and the month of scheduled posts the cadence produces.
1. THE ARTIFACT
What a Social Media Strategy Document Records
The template holds nine sections, and each one records a decision plus the reason behind it. A strategy is not a list of instructions. It is the document you reopen in month seven when a channel stops working and nobody can remember why it was chosen.
The rest of RecurPost’s social media templates cover the documents that sit either side of this one.
A NO NEEDS A REASON
Section 4 is the one people underwrite. A channel decision records the networks you turned down as well as the ones you kept, because a rejection with no reason attached comes back as an argument every quarter. Write the reason and the condition that would change it, and the argument ends.
BUILT FOR
A brand where nobody in the room can say why it is on the channels it is on.
SKIP IF
The strategy is already agreed and only needs turning into a quarter of operating rules, because the marketing plan template does that job.
SECTION
THE DECISION IT RECORDS
WHAT THE ANSWER LOOKS LIKE
01 Business context
What social is being asked to produce
One outcome the business already cares about, not a social metric
02 Current position
Where the accounts stand today
Follower counts, publishing history and the obvious gaps
03 Audience
Who the posts are written for
A described segment, with what they are trying to do
04 Channel decisions
Which networks are in, and which are out
One line per network, in or out, with the reason
05 Content pillars
The themes every post belongs to
Three to five themes that hold for the whole period
06 Voice and limits
How the brand sounds and what it will not post
Tone in a sentence, plus the explicit no-go list
07 Cadence and resourcing
How often each channel posts and who writes it
A number per channel per week, and a named owner
08 Measurement
What proves the strategy is working
Two to four metrics and a review frequency
09 Review rules
What triggers a rewrite
A condition, not a date
2. WORKED EXAMPLE
A Filled Strategy for One In-House Team
A two-person marketing team at a B2B accounting software company fills all nine sections for one year. The cadence in section 7 carries through the rest of this page.
THE INSTAGRAM LINE
The Instagram line is the most useful row in the document. Instagram is out because bookkeepers do not evaluate accounting software there, and the decision gets revisited only if the company ships a product for sole traders. That single sentence answers a question that would otherwise be asked in every quarterly review.
ONE BRAND, ONE STRATEGY
One brand gets one strategy. A separate strategy per channel splits the business context across documents that then disagree, and channel-level detail belongs in the quarterly plan rather than here.
SECTION
FILLED CONTENT · B2B ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE
Business context
The company sells to bookkeepers and small accounting practices. Social is asked for qualified demo requests, not reach.
Current position
6,800 LinkedIn followers, 340 YouTube subscribers, no posting rhythm on either.
Audience
Bookkeepers running practices of two to ten people.
Channel decisions
LinkedIn in as the primary channel. YouTube in for product walkthroughs. X in for release notes. Instagram out.
Content pillars
Workflow fixes, tax deadline preparation, customer stories, product releases.
Voice and limits
Plain language. No client names without written permission. No commentary on tax policy.
Cadence and resourcing
LinkedIn 5 a week, YouTube 1 a week, X 3 a week. One person writes, the other reviews.
Measurement
Demo requests attributed to social, LinkedIn follower growth, YouTube watch time. Reviewed quarterly.
Review rules
Reopen the strategy if any channel misses its cadence for four consecutive weeks.
3. THE ARITHMETIC
From a Written Strategy to a Scheduled Month
One section of the strategy produces work, and it is the cadence line. Five LinkedIn posts, one YouTube video and three X posts make nine posts a week. Four weeks of that cadence make a thirty-six post month across the team’s three accounts.
RecurPost’s social media calendar holds the dated instances the cadence produces. The calendar shows the month in Month, Week or List view, and a post moves to a new time by dragging it, which matters in a month with a filing deadline in it.
THE OTHER EIGHT
Only the cadence line produces work. The other eight sections shape those choices without producing a single dated item.
WRITE A NUMBER
The conversion works when section 7 is written as a number per channel per week. A cadence written as “stay consistent” produces no count, cannot be dated and cannot be scheduled, which is also why the review rule in section 9 counts missed weeks rather than measuring a mood.
CHANNEL
POSTS / WEEK
5
YouTube
1
X
3
Every week
9
× 4 WEEKS
→
ONE MONTH
36
posts across three accounts
Thirty-six is the number the team plans against. You assign each of the thirty-six a date and a content pillar, and the month is built.
4. THE FILE
What You Get, and What Happens When You Submit the Form
RecurPost gives the social media strategy template away free. The file is a Google Doc, and you take your own copy of it and edit that copy, so nothing you type reaches anyone else.
The form below asks for six details and requires one. Business email address is the only required field, and full name, organization, employee count, country and company URL are optional.
RecurPost sends the document to the business email address you supply, and the confirmation on this page tells you it is on the way.
FORMAT
One Google Doc, nine sections, one filled strategy inside it.
ACCESS
You take your own copy, so nothing you type reaches anyone else.
PRICE
Free, one required field, no card.
DOWNLOAD FREE
Download Your Free Template
Business email address is the only required field.
5. THE HANDOFF
Moving the Written Month Into RecurPost
RecurPost then schedules the written month in one pass with bulk scheduling. You export the dated month as a CSV or Excel file, map each row to its account and set the batch live.
THREE DOCUMENTS
The strategy is not the upload file. The strategy holds the decisions, the calendar holds the dates, and the bulk file is what you build once the dates are set.
BATCH SIZE
~100
RecurPost sets no hard cap on how many posts one upload can carry and recommends keeping a batch to around 100 posts so it processes quickly.
ONE MONTH, ONE UPLOAD
36 / 100
A thirty-six post month is one upload, so the cadence set in section 7 reaches the accounts in a single pass.
Write the cadence as a number, date the month in the calendar, and set the batch live in one upload.
6. FIT
When to Write a Strategy, and Which Template to Use Instead
The strategy is the document you argue with. The plan is the one you work from, and the calendar is the one you publish from.
THE LIBRARY
All four sit in RecurPost’s social media templates library alongside the calendar, campaign and reporting documents.
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO
USE
WHY
Decide and record which channels the brand works in, and why
This social media strategy template
It stores the reasoning, including the channels you turn down
Get that decision approved by a client or a committee
The social media strategy presentation template
It is the version built to be presented
Turn the approved strategy into a quarter of channels, pillars, cadence, owners and KPIs
The social media marketing plan template
It holds operating rules for one quarter
Find out where the accounts actually stand before deciding anything
The social media audit template
The audit produces the evidence section 2 cites
TRY RECURPOST
RecurPost’s Agency plan covers 20 social accounts and includes 3 team members. RecurPost prices an extra teammate at a flat $20 per month on any plan instead of multiplying the plan price by every seat. A two-person team sits inside the included seats, so the cadence this strategy sets runs from one calendar without a pricing conversation.
RecurPost is the social media management software agencies and in-house teams run their publishing on.
No credit card required
Frequently Asked Questions
What the document records, how it reaches you, and how a strategy differs from a plan.
What goes in a social media strategy document?
A social media strategy document records nine things: business context, current position, audience, channel decisions, content pillars, voice and limits, cadence and resourcing, measurement and review rules. Each section stores a decision and the reason behind it. Only the cadence line produces work; the other eight explain it.
How do I get the template, and what do I receive?
RecurPost sends the social media strategy template to the business email address you supply on this page. The file is a Google Doc, it is free, and you take your own copy and edit that. Business email address is the only required field on the form.
What is the difference between a social media strategy and a social media plan?
A social media strategy records why a brand is on the channels it is on, and a social media plan records what will be posted to them this quarter. The strategy runs a year and stores reasoning. The plan runs a quarter and stores rules. When a channel underperforms you reopen the strategy, not the plan.
Should a strategy list the channels you decided against?
A social media strategy records rejected channels with the reason and the condition that would change the answer. Writing “Instagram out, the audience does not evaluate this product there, revisit if we ship for sole traders” takes one line and settles a question that would otherwise return every quarter. A strategy that lists only the chosen channels is a plan with a longer preamble.
Discover your must-have Social Media Templates
The strategy records the decisions. These are the documents that sit either side of it.
02
PLANNING
Strategy Presentation
Pitch the strategy to a client in slides.
03
PLANNING
Marketing Plan
Lay out channels, cadence, and owners for the quarter.
04
PLANNING
Social Media Audit
Assess a client’s current accounts before you start.
01
CALENDAR
Social Media Content Calendar
Plan a month of posts across networks.
02
CALENDAR
Instagram Content Calendar
Plan an Instagram grid and feed in advance.
03
CALENDAR
Google Posts Calendar
Plan Google Business Profile posts ahead.
01
CAMPAIGN
Social Media Campaign
Build out a time-boxed campaign’s posts.
02
CAMPAIGN
Campaign Proposal
Pitch a campaign to a client for sign-off.
03
CAMPAIGN
Paid Social Media Ads
Plan paid ad sets, audiences, and budgets.
01
REPORTING
Social Media Analytics
Track post and account metrics in one sheet.
02
REPORTING
Social Media Reporting
Package monthly results for a client.