What Should We Even Post on Social Media?
No creative spark on your team? A simple content manual can turn anyone into a consistent social media manager.
Hey marketer! 👋🏻
Today’s topic was inspired by a consultation with a client of mine. She’s a manager who recently joined a company and is still getting the lay of the land. Part of her new role includes overseeing online marketing, which means reviewing everything they’re doing and assessing what shape it’s in. We discovered some access management chaos, but also a bigger problem with Facebook.
Somehow, they had lost access to their original company Facebook Page. And because no one really understood how it all worked, they created a new profile and kept posting from there. The thing is, customers don’t want to send friend requests to a business just to see updates. (Though surprisingly, hundreds of people actually did.) So we needed to create a proper Page and migrate followers there. One of the main reasons? You can’t run paid ads from a profile. That means no way to reach a wider audience beyond organic sharing.
💡 A Facebook profile is for personal use — you can have friends (up to 5,000) and share personal updates. A business Page is a tool for business — unlimited followers, ad management, analytics, and a more professional appearance. While a profile requires a friend request, a Page just needs a follow. For most people, that’s a much more comfortable way to stay connected with a business.
I proposed a plan to sort everything out properly. And then came the revelation: “Facebook doesn’t really work for us anyway!”
🙆🏻 Only “Young People” Understand Facebook?
A younger colleague had been given responsibility for their Facebook. On top of her regular job, she was expected to publish posts regularly. From the manager’s perspective, it made sense — young people are closer to social media than older folks. The manager herself didn’t use social networks at all, didn’t know their potential, and frankly, wasn’t interested. So they ended up in a situation where someone was posting content just because of their age, with no guidance on what to post, no real interest in doing it — and surprise, surprise, it wasn’t working. What now?
As the manager correctly pointed out, in their industry you can’t outsource social media management to an external agency. Without direct involvement in daily operations, it’s impossible. Passing information back and forth would slow everything down, and photos of what’s happening would either need to be taken internally anyway, or the agency would have to visit constantly — which would get expensive fast. Hiring someone else isn’t the solution here. They have to do it themselves. At least mostly. But how, when no one on the team has the talent or interest for it?
If there were someone with creative drive who naturally came up with ideas and took ownership, you’d just need to guide them a bit to make sure it aligns with business goals. And support them.
📝 Content by Manual? Absolutely!
When that person doesn’t exist, you need to rely on processes and systems. Create a manual that the person responsible for content must follow. Sounds terrible, right? Creativity by instruction. But you’ll see in a moment that it works. Here’s how I solved this situation:
To prevent random or repetitive content, I defined the main content types they’d work with.
Regular weekly updates — information customers need to see. This was actually the only thing they’d been posting, and it’s meant to support sales.
Behind-the-scenes content — photos, videos, or short text posts when something interesting happens or there’s something worth capturing. This shows the human side of the business and gives people a peek inside.
Event announcements — they have recurring events throughout the year. We want to invite customers and inform them about these. And afterwards, share how it went — maybe with a photo recap.
Seasonal and reactive posts — given their industry, we can highlight significant dates and holidays, paired with photos of current happenings. This includes reactive posts about first snow, heat waves, sports championships, and so on.
Local pride — since the business is strongly regional, it makes sense to occasionally celebrate beautiful spots in the area.
HR content — they periodically look for new colleagues or part-timers, so recruitment posts have their place on Facebook too.
Sales content — promotions, discounts, offers, and new products absolutely belong here.
Announcements — information about extraordinary events also has its place on the timeline.
For each of these formats, I prepared templates showing what they should look like. Sample text, emoji usage, formatting. Where graphic design is required (like for events), I created visual templates. We also defined the tone and style for Facebook communication. Every content type has an example in a shared document.
To prevent sporadic posting (or forgetting altogether), we set a frequency for each content type and mapped them into a calendar.
They won’t post every day, but it will be consistent. And there’s always room for an extra post when needed.
See? It didn’t take much brainstorming, and I’ve prepared 8 content types they can work with on Facebook. Each one has a purpose, a reason. Nothing is random. I figured out what each should look like and when to publish it.
I also defined rules for engaging with people on social media. How to respond to comments and questions. This ensures consistent communication, no matter who’s responding on behalf of the company.
💡 It Has to Make Sense
The manager now understands how Facebook will be used. She no longer sees it as “something for young people” that she doesn’t get. It’s a communication channel with customers. She understands what we’ll say there and why. Thanks to the manual, she can also review the content her younger colleague creates. And she can involve more people from the company in publishing, because there are clear rules for how to create content. She understands that selected, important content can be amplified through paid advertising to reach many people in the region. And that through consistently high-quality content over time, she can shape the company’s reputation and the impression it makes on customers.
I’ve met many people who say, “We don’t know what we’d keep posting on social media.” If it’s an important communication and marketing channel for them, there’s always a way to figure it out. And with a little effort, followers won’t even notice that your content is divided into formats, or that you publish in a certain rhythm. They’ll simply know what’s happening at your business. And that something is happening.
🤗 Key Takeaways
Age isn’t a qualification — assigning social media management to someone just because they’re young isn’t a solution. A systematic approach and understanding the purpose matter more.
A manual isn’t a necessary evil — even creative work can have clear rules. It helps maintain consistency and makes the job easier.
Planning is fundamental — schedule your content types and their frequency in advance. Sporadic posting doesn’t work.
Diverse content engages — combine different types of posts, from sales to behind-the-scenes. It helps keep your followers’ attention.
Enable oversight — set up rules so that even someone without social media experience can monitor whether they’re being followed.
See you in the next article 🫡
Jan Barborik
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