How to Plan Social Media Content

Why planning matters

Social media content planned in advance is almost always better than content created on the fly. Planning lets you make deliberate choices — about message, tone, format and timing — rather than reactive ones. It also makes the campaign easier to evaluate, because you can measure planned content against specific objectives rather than wondering why you posted what you did.

In a campaign context, your social content should be a direct expression of your creative concept. The copy you write, the visuals you choose, the hashtags you use and the CTAs you include should all feel like they belong to the same campaign. Consistency across posts is what creates recognition and builds momentum — and that consistency comes from planning before you create.

Platform differences — know before you write

The biggest mistake in social media content planning is writing the same copy for every platform. Each platform has a distinct audience, culture, format and character limit. Content written for LinkedIn should not be pasted into TikTok. Copy optimised for Instagram shouldn't land on X unchanged. Before you write a single word, know the platform.

Platform	Tone & culture	Best formats	Char limit
📸 Instagram	Aspirational, visual-first, community-driven. Captions support but don't lead.	Reels, Carousels, Stories, static image	2,200
🎵 TikTok	Authentic, trend-driven, lo-fi. Polished content can feel out of place. Sound-on by default.	Short video (15–60s), Duets, native challenges	2,200
👥 Facebook	Conversational, community-focused. Longer copy performs better here than elsewhere.	Video, link posts, events, static image	63,206
🐦 X / Twitter	Fast, witty, opinion-led. Brevity is the currency. Real-time conversation.	Short text, images, quote-tweets, threads	280
💼 LinkedIn	Professional, insight-led. Longer thoughtful posts perform well. B2B-heavy.	Articles, carousels, video, text posts	3,000

The Social Post Maker sets a live character counter for whichever platform you select, which helps keep copy within platform limits as you write.

Writing post copy that works

Post copy is the written text that accompanies a social media post — the caption, the message, the words on screen. Its job varies by platform, but in every case it should do one or more of the following: hook attention, deliver the message, reinforce the visual, and prompt action.

The anatomy of a social post

Principles for strong copy

Lead with what matters. Most platforms truncate captions after the first line or two. The hook must work on its own — if it doesn't earn the click to "more," the rest of the copy won't be read.

Match the platform's voice. Copy that sounds like a press release doesn't work on TikTok. Copy that sounds like a TikTok comment doesn't work on LinkedIn. Read the room — or rather, read the feed. Spend time on the platform before writing for it.

One post, one idea. The most effective social copy makes a single point clearly. Trying to communicate three things in one post usually results in communicating nothing clearly. If you have three things to say, write three posts.

Write short first, then edit longer if needed. Even on platforms with long character limits, shorter usually wins. Write the shortest version that still works. Only add length if it genuinely adds value.

Using hashtags effectively

Hashtags extend the reach of a post beyond your existing followers by connecting it to broader conversations on that topic. Used well, they're a discovery tool. Used badly, they look desperate and dilute the post.

Platform-specific guidance:

• Instagram: 3–10 hashtags is the current consensus for organic posts. Place them at the end of the caption or in the first comment. Use a mix of high-volume (broad reach), medium-volume (relevant community) and brand-specific tags.
• TikTok: 3–5 hashtags, including at least one trending or challenge tag if applicable. The algorithm is less dependent on hashtags than Instagram — the For You Page is interest-driven.
• X / Twitter: 1–2 hashtags maximum. More than that reads as spam. Only use hashtags that are genuinely part of a relevant conversation.
• LinkedIn: 3–5 hashtags, placed at the end of the post. Use professional, industry-relevant terms rather than generic ones.
• Facebook: Hashtags are largely ineffective on Facebook for most content types. Skip them or use 1–2 if genuinely relevant.

Always include any campaign-specific hashtag — if the campaign has a hashtag (e.g. #GetSomeIrn), it should appear in every post to build searchability and encourage UGC.

Calls to action

A call to action (CTA) tells the audience what to do next. Without one, even a well-written post often ends in passive consumption — the audience sees it, enjoys it, and scrolls on. The CTA is what converts attention into action.

The CTA should be:

• Specific: "Link in bio" is vague. "Link in bio to enter the competition" is specific.
• Matched to the objective: If the campaign objective is follower growth, the CTA should drive follows. If it's website traffic, it should drive link clicks. Don't mismatch the CTA with the objective.
• Single: One CTA per post. Asking the audience to "follow us, share this, and click the link" usually results in none of those things happening.

Visuals and format

Social media is a visual medium first. On most platforms, the visual stops the scroll — the copy then earns the engagement. The two must work together, but the visual usually does the initial heavy lifting.

Key format considerations per platform:

• Instagram: Square (1:1) for static feed posts, 4:5 portrait for maximum screen space, 9:16 vertical for Reels and Stories.
• TikTok: 9:16 vertical video is non-negotiable. Horizontal content performs poorly.
• Facebook: 16:9 for video, 1.91:1 for link post images, 1:1 for static image posts.
• X / Twitter: 16:9 for images and video. Keep images tight — overly busy visuals compress poorly in the feed.
• LinkedIn: 1.91:1 for images attached to articles/links, 1:1 for standalone image posts, 16:9 for video.

The Social Post Maker's live phone mockup automatically applies the correct aspect ratio for whichever platform you've selected, so you can visualise how the post will look before committing to the format.

Tool walkthrough: the Social Post Maker, field by field

The Social Post Maker lets you plan multiple posts for a campaign, with a live phone mockup preview that updates as you type. Here's what to write in each field.

Common mistakes to avoid

• No hook in the first line. Most platforms truncate after one or two lines. If the opening doesn't earn a click, the rest won't be read. Spend as much time on the first sentence as the whole caption.
• Too many hashtags. More hashtags doesn't mean more reach. Platform-specific guidance exists for a reason — 30 hashtags on a TikTok post signals spam, not strategy.
• A CTA that doesn't match the objective. If the SMART objective is to grow followers, the CTA should encourage follows — not drive link clicks. Always trace the CTA back to the objective.
• Copy disconnected from the creative concept. Each post should feel like it belongs to the same campaign. If a post could be from any brand, it's not specific enough to your creative concept.
• Posting without a purpose. Every post in a planned campaign should be there for a reason — introducing the campaign, sustaining interest, building towards a peak, driving conversion, or closing out. Random content is not a content plan.

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