Far too often we simply fall into things, and if you work in the content marketing side, ad hoc is almost a way of life for you.

But somehow, we all try to bring in structure and system of sorts in as many things as possible while at work — whether it has to do with a weekly campaign meeting or a digital strategy discussion. After all, putting things down on a sheet of paper or an excel sheet is often just the thing you need when it comes to chasing goals. These little “notes” or plans of action are undoubtedly very helpful and handy when it comes to keeping track of the progress of a task. And squarely enough it makes sense to keep a template binder (of sorts) around that quickly offers handy strategy shots whenever a new task springs up on you, just so you do not have to rummage through files after files looking for what you did the last time around.

Clumsy as I am, paper does not quite agree with me anymore and I say that without shame. But I find solace in knowing that despite my complete aberration to the written word of late, technology keeps me organized just as well without any of the mess my work table would otherwise have to deal with.

Let me share with you a simple yet comprehensive template I have readied to help me with social media marketing efforts using Brightpod. With the Brightpod app you can create a template for any of your social marketing activation campaigns or some recurring campaigns, all stored away into one cozy cloud nook and accessible at the swish and click of a mouse button.

What you need to create a social media strategy template

Well, let’s get a few basic things in the picture and out of the way. Having worked the turf for some time, I realize there are three essentials to any social media strategy design:

Knowing which social networks to work with

It is worth knowing where your audiences exist. Does it make sense for your pro-design brand to be on Facebook or Instagram or both? Or should you invest more on Pinterest? If your brand has a lot to say, should the communication stem from Twitter or a blog post or Quora? What is the overall ROI of the desired network? Discovering where the biggest chunk of your active audience exists is the foremost step in figuring out how to tap engagement.

Identify your brand’s content strength

There are brands which are noticeably very design centric (such as fashion brands) while there are those that choose to be out there through thoughtful pieces of written content, say a brand about health and wellness. Knowing where your brand strength lies will help you identify the content strategy that you need to undertake. Start by asking questions like, should you be more pro-design or pro-words, how best can your brand strength be showcased on a social media, what platforms can help amplify you brand strength better and to how many places can a piece of content be distributed to — can it be used for PR or will it bode well to go for Feedly or StumbleUpon.

Plan your communication framework

The last important bit has a lot to do with what kind of messages you ultimately want to showcase to your audiences. Do you think you can spark interesting conversations or are you the kind of brand that can do impressive one-on-ones with its audience? Can you manage to get a follower out of tweet?

It helps to know how you would communicate through your brand — upfront are or laid back, one-on-one or as a community leader. This will help you identify the types of messages you can churn out realistically and on a regular basis.

A general rule of for messaging strategy holds that one must plan for images and videos, promotional campaigns and curated content.

How to create a fierce social media template with Brightpod

Brightpod is extremely pro digital marketers. For starters, the web service allows you access to one of the two options:

Use an existing social media marketing workflow which will make your professional life a whole lot breathable. A workflow consists of pre-built set of Milestones, Task Lists and Tasks that you can easily apply to a new project. A pre-built template is easily replicable, can be accessed anytime a new campaign needs to be worked on, and helps you work faster and smarter.

Create your own workflow wherein you can structure events in a way that best fits your organizational culture and brand personality. You start from scratch and map the entire flow of events from ideation to implementation, enlisting stakeholders and timelines at every level of output. Use this as your go-to template anytime you have a new social media campaign to run.

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If you are only just starting out, you can simply make use of the editorial calendarwhich is the most basic tool you need for content planning and scheduling activities. An editorial calendar is the most rudimentary requirement today for a social media strategy. And while a kanban scribbled across your white board can do the job, having in place a responsive system that makes collaboration and tracking progress easy is hands down the smarter way to function. Once you have a calendar in place, you can set up a social media publishing plan to meet the outcomes you seek.

Now some digital marketers will argue that social media marketing is a super dynamic process and requires that some loose ends remain in the process. Squarely enough, it’s not entirely wrong, but not everything about social media marketing can be left to pan out as a reaction. Plan ahead for the why, how, when and who and managing campaigns on social media will be a whole lot easier.

Meeta Sharma is an independent writing and editing professional from digital marketing domain. Loves marketing and everything about it.