Planning Worksheet A 15-Point Checklist for Creating your Social Media plan

Save this checklist as a pdf version (or a printed version) and use it to ensure that you don’t
miss any important aspect of social media when you are planning for the coming new year.
You can include your team members or well-wishers/ mentors (if you are a solo-preneur).

 #1 Prepare your ‘Roadmap’ document

Work on a social media reference document that will serve as a blue print or map for the
entire year. I call this the ‘roadmap’.

It could be a simple spreadsheet or a word document that you can go back to at any time.
You could use Google Docs – it is free, cloud-based, mobile-enabled and collaborative. You
could also use a mind map if you are a visual person (like me).

This will be a work-in-progress, live document that you will keep going back to. So choose an
app/tool that you are comfortable working with on a regular basis.

Here is a list of items that could be part of your social media roadmap. Please feel free to add
more, depending on the industry or the business you are in.

 Overall organisational objective

 Marketing / promotional goals
 Target Audience / Personas
 Competition information
 Channels – Social media, advertising, email etc.
 Budgets
 Team details with responsibilities
 Partnership/collaboration plan
 Online assets details – website, mobile apps, etc.
 UTM parameters for campaigns
 Editorial and Social Media Calendar
 Content Marketing Plan
 Keywords
 Hashtags
 Research information

To read the detailed blog, visit: www.natchi.net/9

Planning Worksheet A 15-Point Checklist for Creating your Social Media plan

 #2. Define your audience

Use the box below to define your target market and online audience in detail. Knowing who
you ideal audience is will help you create content, campaigns and promotions that address
their needs, resonate with them and adds value to them.

Get to the details, like – what do they do, how do they behave/ react, what do they think,
how do they spend, demographics, psychographics etc.

To read the detailed blog, visit: www.natchi.net/9

Planning Worksheet A 15-Point Checklist for Creating your Social Media plan

 #3. Select your channels

There are 100s of social media channels today and there are multiple ways to optimise your
content for each of them.

If you are just starting your digital marketing and social media efforts, I highly recommend
that you do not try to focus on multiple channels.

Try focussing on one or two channels first and get some traction. You need not ignore the
others, just give them a lower priority for now and repost your existing content without
spending time customising or optimising your content for them.

As your influence grows you can consider creating expanding and optimising your content
and efforts for multiple channels.

Use the box below to list down your selected channels:

To read the detailed blog, visit: www.natchi.net/9

Planning Worksheet A 15-Point Checklist for Creating your Social Media plan

 #4. Audit your online presence

Conduct an audit and take stock of your existing online presence before you get into the new
year.

A few questions you could ask yourself:

How strong and optimised is your existing online presence – web, mobile and social?
Is it producing the results you are after?
Is your website optimised for search, usability & lead generation?
Do you have a CRM built into your website?
Do you have landing pages for all your marketing campaigns?
What about your mobile presence (mobile site, mobile experience of your website
users, mobile apps, etc.)?
How about your social media presence?
Are you visible and present in all the social media channels where your prospects are
spending time?
Discuss this with your team and use the box below to record additional thoughts or
comments or task lists related to the discussion.

To read the detailed blog, visit: www.natchi.net/9

Planning Worksheet A 15-Point Checklist for Creating your Social Media plan

 #5. Integrate your campaigns

Plan to integrate your online and offline marketing campaigns. Without integration, there is
a possibility of your marketing efforts/resources moving in various directions with
unconnected goals, reducing overall impact.

For example, it is not a good idea to have your public relations team working one online
campaign, while your social media team tries to focus on another.

Organise a meeting of your entire team (internal and external) and take stock of all the
planned marketing campaigns for the year. Track the alignment of your online & offline
campaign goals and make sure that they complement each other.

Use the box below to record additional thoughts or comments or task lists related to the
discussion.

To read the detailed blog, visit: www.natchi.net/9

Planning Worksheet A 15-Point Checklist for Creating your Social Media plan

 #6. Select the right tools

Using the right tools helps you save time and maximise your productivity.

There are tools for every social media need including software, devices and mobile apps. And
there are ebooks, online courses and podcasts that you can use to learn and equip yourself
to accomplish your marketing objectives.

It takes a bit of a learning curve and time as you select the right ones that suit you, but time
spent on this now, is time saved in future.

Discuss the set of tools you may need with your team and use the box below to record the
list, additional thoughts or comments or tasks related to the discussion.

To read the detailed blog, visit: www.natchi.net/9

Planning Worksheet A 15-Point Checklist for Creating your Social Media plan

 #7. Define your budgets

Allocating your marketing budget early gives you the ability to start planning your new year
ad-campaigns with various search engines and social media channels.

Discuss the budget allocation in detail you with your team and use the box below to capture
the rough budget, additional thoughts or comments or tasks related to the discussion. Later
you can move this information to your financial app or tool or forward it to your finance
department.

To read the detailed blog, visit: www.natchi.net/9

Planning Worksheet A 15-Point Checklist for Creating your Social Media plan

 #8. Create a content creation plan

What type of content are you planning to produce in the coming new year?

Are you comfortable with written content or are you more comfortable with videos?

Depending on the comfort level and capability of your team, you can choose the type of
content that you will use to market and amplify your message.

Usually a mix of various types of content works best with one or two formats dominating
your campaigns.

Discuss the content plan with your team and use the box below to record additional
thoughts or comments or tasks related to the discussion.

EDITORIAL CALENDAR: Once you choose the type of content, based on your campaigns,
prepare an editorial calendar. This will help you firm up your content marketing plan.

You could start with laying out broad goals and objectives for each month. Then, come up
with a more detailed plan for the first quarter (Jan, Feb and March). As you go along,
depending on the progress and data from your analytical tools, you can make changes to the
plans.

To read the detailed blog, visit: www.natchi.net/9

Planning Worksheet A 15-Point Checklist for Creating your Social Media plan

 #9. Create a mobile marketing plan

Trends and studies show that consumers will use mobile and voice driven search on their
mobile as the primary means of consuming content in the coming new year.

It is not just about creating mobile-responsive webpages any more, focus on creating a
mobile-optimised experience in every part of your online business – online assets, content
and campaigns.

Discuss the impact of the new smartphone and mobile economy on what you do, with your
team and use the box below to record the additional thoughts or comments or tasks related
to the discussion.

Every time you create content consider whether it is optimised for the ever-growing smart
phone and smart speaker audience who wants to experience such immersive, intelligent
technologies.

To read the detailed blog, visit: www.natchi.net/9

Planning Worksheet A 15-Point Checklist for Creating your Social Media plan

 #10. Create a video marketing plan

Research shows that video converts better than any other medium, video makes people stay
longer on your website and video will continue to dominate as the preferred form of content
in the coming new year.

So plan to include video (live and recorded) in your the coming new year marketing
campaigns.

Discuss the impact of video with your team, the practical ways in which you can produce and
use video. You can use the box below to record the additional thoughts or comments or
tasks related to the discussion

To read the detailed blog, visit: www.natchi.net/9

Planning Worksheet A 15-Point Checklist for Creating your Social Media plan

 #11. Create a messenger marketing plan

Messenger marketing is using the private messaging feature on social media (like WhatsApp,
Facebook Messenger, etc) or a chat software on a website or a mobile app, to reach out to
your audience with a message and serve them.

This can be done in real-time (which has been around for a while) or by using automated
tools called chatbots (which is the more recent and exciting new way of communication).

Chatbot-driven messenger marketing is fast evolving as an efficient, effective and a powerful

strategy for communication.

Discuss with your team the relevance of this new communication trend and how it impacts
the way you serve your audience. Use the box above to record the additional thoughts or
comments or tasks related to the discussion.

To read the detailed blog, visit: www.natchi.net/9

Planning Worksheet A 15-Point Checklist for Creating your Social Media plan

 #12. Create a measurement plan

Create a measurement plan based on the channels you have selected in point 3.

Almost all social media channels have their own dedicated analytics software and they give
an in-depth analysis of what works and what does not.

But I recommend that you have a aggregation tool like Google Analytics, which can collect all
required information in one place if configured properly.

This not only saves time when you are trying to analyse the impact of your campaigns, but
also helps you compare channels and have a integrated overview.

For example, Facebook might give you details of how each post performed on their channel,
but in Google analytics you can see how these posts impacted your call-to-action initiatives,
lead magnets and landing pages.

Discuss measurement strategy, metrics and review schedules with your team and use the
box above to record the additional thoughts or comments or tasks related to the discussion.

To read the detailed blog, visit: www.natchi.net/9

Planning Worksheet A 15-Point Checklist for Creating your Social Media plan

 #13. Audit your search rankings & create a SEO plan

Optimising your online presence for search engines makes you visible to your customers
when they look for your products or services online.

SEO has evolved.

Going into the new year, content-driven SEO is what any business should be focussing on.

Discuss the impact of SEO with your team and use the box above to record the additional
thoughts or comments or tasks related to the discussion.

To read the detailed blog, visit: www.natchi.net/9

Planning Worksheet A 15-Point Checklist for Creating your Social Media plan

 #14. Establish your partnerships

What is your plan for collaboration and partnership in the new year?

You can partner with influencers in your industry, thought leaders, companies offering
complimentary services to your audience, vendors and even clients.

Some of the collaborative activities that you could plan for the new year are:

Webinars
FB LIVE Programs
Podcast interviews
Co-branded shared advertising campaigns
Cross promotions in social media channels
Guest posts in blogs
Offline events

If you do not have a partnership plan in place, you could start by creating a list of possible
partners and send them an email asking them if they are open for collaborations in the new
year. Based on their response, you could schedule the above mentioned activities in your
calendar.

Use the box above to record the list of partners, additional thoughts or comments or tasks
related to this.

To read the detailed blog, visit: www.natchi.net/9

Planning Worksheet A 15-Point Checklist for Creating your Social Media plan

 #15. Have the right team in place

To accomplish great things, you need the right team. Your new year Social Media Marketing
plan or strategy’s impact will depend on how strong your team is. Social Media Marketing is
a function that warrants a coordinated work between multiple teams with various skills. For
example, a social media campaign for a product launch might require the following teams to
work together:

The business team (for strategy)

Advertising team
Content creation team
Content editing team
Media management team
Research team
Design team
Video team
IT programming team
SEO team

There are couple of ways in which you can get access to a team with varied skill sets.

1. Recruit and create your own in-house social media team with expertise in each of the
above functions.

2. Hire a consultant and a social media agency with a proven track record of working on
marketing campaigns. This option will give you access to all the skills.

To read the detailed blog, visit: www.natchi.net/9

Planning Worksheet A 15-Point Checklist for Creating your Social Media plan

To read the detailed blog, visit: www.natchi.net/9