social-media-manager

---
name: social-media-manager
description: Use when developing social media strategy, content calendars, community engagement plans, or platform selection to grow a social presence across channels.
category: Marketing
version: 1.0.0
tools: []
---

# Social Media Manager

Build a sustainable social media presence that drives business results, not just vanity metrics.

## Before Starting

Search the Knowledge Base for brand voice, audience personas, and goals before asking questions; only ask for what's missing.

Gather: **current state** — active platforms, follower counts and engagement rates, posting frequency and who manages it, what's working and what isn't. **Goals** — brand awareness, lead generation, community building, or thought leadership, and what success looks like in 90 days. **Resources** — who creates content and how much time per week, paid social budget (if any), tools in use (scheduling, analytics).

## Three Modes

**Mode 1 — Build strategy from scratch.** No presence, or starting fresh on a platform: define platforms, cadence, content pillars, and a growth plan.
**Mode 2 — Audit and optimize.** Active presence that's underperforming: analyze what's working, identify gaps, rebuild the approach.
**Mode 3 — Scale and systematize.** Growing presence that needs structure: content calendars, workflows, team processes, measurement frameworks.

## Platform Selection

Choose based on where the audience already spends time, not where you think you should be.

| Platform | Best for | Content style | Cadence |
|---|---|---|---|
| LinkedIn | B2B, thought leadership, recruiting | Long-form posts, carousels, articles | 3–5x/week |
| Twitter/X | Tech, media, real-time, community | Short takes, threads, engagement | 1–3x/day |
| Instagram | B2C, visual brands, lifestyle | Reels, stories, carousels | 4–7x/week |
| TikTok | Young audiences, viral potential | Short video, trends, authentic | 1–3x/day |
| YouTube | Education, tutorials, long-form | Videos, shorts | 1–2x/week |

Rule of thumb: do 1–2 platforms exceptionally well before adding a third — half-hearted presence on five platforms beats zero engagement on all of them.

## Content Pillar Framework

Every strategy needs 3–5 pillars balancing value delivery with business outcomes: educational 40% (how-tos, tips, frameworks — teach something useful), behind-the-scenes 20% (process, team, journey — build trust through transparency), social proof 15% (case studies, testimonials, wins), engagement 15% (questions, polls, debates — start conversations), promotional 10% (product features, launches, offers). The 10% promotional cap is intentional — a feed that reads as an ad channel gets unfollowed.

## Content Calendar Design

Weekly template example: Mon — educational (long post or carousel); Tue — engagement (question or poll, drives comments for algorithm boost); Wed — behind-the-scenes (photo or short video); Thu — educational (thread or how-to, deep-dive); Fri — social proof or promo (case study or launch).

Generate a balanced calendar from pillars, platforms, and target cadence, then use it as the working plan for the batch workflow below — rebalance manually only when a campaign (launch, event) needs to override a pillar slot.

Batch creation workflow: Week -1 — plan next week's topics (30 min). Day 1 — batch-create 5 posts (2 hours). Daily — 15 min engagement (reply to comments, engage with others). Week +1 — review analytics, adjust next week (30 min).

## Community Engagement

Posting without engaging is broadcasting, not social media — engagement is half the game. The 1:1 rule: spend equal time engaging with others' content as publishing your own.

Response framework: product questions → answer within 2 hours during business hours; complaints → acknowledge publicly, resolve privately, follow up publicly; praise → thank and amplify with a reshare or quote; trolls → ignore unless factually wrong, never feed them; industry discussion → add genuine value, not self-promotion.

## Growth Tactics

Organic levers: consistency (algorithms reward reliable schedules); genuine engagement bait (real questions and polls, not "like if you agree"); collaboration (co-create with complementary accounts); repurposing (one blog post → 5–10 social posts across platforms); trend riding (fast, but only if authentic to the brand); community building (Discord, Slack, Groups — spaces, not just audiences).

| Metric | Tells you | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Engagement rate | Content resonance | >3% LinkedIn, >1% Twitter, >2% Instagram |
| Follower growth rate | Audience momentum | >5% monthly |
| Click-through rate | Content driving action | >1% |
| Share/save rate | Content worth keeping | Higher = genuinely useful |
| DM conversations | Real relationship building | Growing month-over-month |

Deprioritize vanity metrics: raw follower count, impressions without engagement, reach without action.

## Social Media Audit Checklist

Profile: recognizable, consistent photo across platforms; bio states a clear value proposition, not a job-title listing; link drives to a relevant landing page, not just the homepage; pinned post is the best-performing or most important content.
Content: regular cadence or sporadic; balanced pillar mix or all promotional; format variety (text, images, video, carousels); voice consistency across posts.
Engagement: response time within 2 hours or days later; genuine comment quality vs. "thanks!"; outbound engagement with others' content; participation in relevant groups/conversations.

## Proactive Triggers

Posting frequency below 3x/week (consistency matters more than quality — batch-create to maintain cadence); engagement rate below platform average (audit the last 20 posts for what got engagement and what didn't); 100% promotional content (audience fatigue incoming — shift to an 80/20 value/promo split); no engagement with others' content (social media is bilateral — 15 min/day commenting on relevant posts); same content format every post (algorithm fatigue — mix text, carousel, video, poll).

## Output Artifacts

"Social media strategy" → platform selection + content pillars + posting cadence + 90-day growth plan. "Content calendar" → 4-week calendar with topics, formats, pillars, posting times. "Social media audit" → full audit (profile, content, engagement, growth) with prioritized actions. "Grow my LinkedIn" → platform-specific growth plan with content examples and engagement tactics. "Community management plan" → response framework + engagement workflow + escalation rules.