Social Media Strategy Template: Free 90 Day Plan

What is in the strategy template

Ten sections that build on each other. The first page is the strategy; the last two sections turn it into 90 days of work and a review. It doubles as a social media marketing plan template.

• 1. THE STRATEGY ON ONE PAGE

  Six questions: the business need, the social goal, the audience, what they get, which networks and the hours available.

• 2. GOALS

  One to three goals, each with a metric, where it is read from, a baseline, a target and a deadline.

  Columns: Goal, Metric, Network and screen it is read from, Where we are now, Target, Deadline, Owner, Review date

• 3. AUDIENCE

  Who you are talking to, framed as what they are trying to get done and where they already spend time.

  Columns: Group, What they are trying to get done, What gets in their way, Where they already spend time, What they would save or share, What we want them to do, Notes

• 4. NETWORK CHOICE

  Each network judged on audience, format and rhythm, with a start, keep, later or skip decision.

  Columns: Network, Audience is here? (Y/N), Format we can make well, Rhythm we can hold, Goal it serves, Decision (start, keep, later, skip), Why, Review date

• 5. CONTENT PILLARS

  Three or four themes with the share of posts each gets and the material you already have.

  Columns: Pillar, What it is for, Goal it serves, Formats, Share of posts (%), Example topics, Proof or material we already have, Call to action

• 6. HOW THE WORK GETS DONE

  The weekly rhythm: planning, creating, replying, reading the numbers and reviewing, each with an owner and a time.

  Columns: Task, How often, Owner, Day and time, Time needed, Tool, Done when

• 7. MEASUREMENT PLAN

  The numbers you will read, from which screen, how often, and the decision each informs.

  Columns: Metric (the network's own name), Network, Where to read it, How often, Owner, Decision it informs

• 8. RISKS AND WHAT WE DO ABOUT THEM

  What could stop the plan, from one person holding every login to a network changing its rules.

  Columns: Risk, How likely (low, medium, high), What it would cost us, What we do about it, Owner

• 9. THE 90 DAY PLAN

  Three months, one focus each, with main actions, a metric to watch and a target.

  Columns: Month, Focus, Main actions, Metric to watch, Target, Owner, Status

• 10. REVIEW

  Five questions for day 90, before writing the next plan.

How to fill in the strategy, step by step

1. 1

   Start from the business, not the network

   Answer “what does the business need in the next 90 days” before anything about platforms. The social goal is what social media does toward that need, with a number and a date.

2. 2

   Write one to three goals with a metric each

   Use the goal and metric table below to choose the number, and write the network’s own name for it. A goal like “grow” is not a goal; “25 pre-orders a month by December 31” is.

3. 3

   Describe the audience by what they are trying to get done

   One row per group. Describe the task they are trying to complete and what stands in their way, not their age. That is what content can help with.

4. 4

   Choose two networks, and say why not the rest

   Use the network choice rule: audience is there, you can make the format well and you can hold the rhythm on a bad week. All three, start. Otherwise later or skip. The calendar template has a cadence you can hold for each network.

5. 5

   Set three or four pillars and their share

   Pillars keep the plan from drifting into whatever is easy to post. Give each a share of posts, a goal it serves and the material you already have, such as customer questions or phone video.

6. 6

   Plan the work, the measures and the first 90 days

   Name an owner and a time for each weekly task, list the numbers you will read and the decision each informs, then fill the 90 day plan. Put the result on a content calendar.

Sample Street Bakery has a spare Saturday baking slot to fill and about four hours a week for social media. Its strategy fits on one page.

Sample Street Bakery is an invented business. Every number in this example is made up to show the arithmetic, and none of them is a benchmark for your business or for any network.

The goal metric is pre-orders, which no network reports, so the bakery counts them by hand from messages and its order form. That is allowed and often right: the best measure of a goal is sometimes not on a dashboard. Instagram Viewers is the leading signal it watches along the way.

Pick the goal, then the number that measures it

A goal is only useful if you can read its number. For each of five common goals, this table gives the metric each network names on its own help page (read October 15, 2026) and says plainly where a network names nothing. Write the network’s name for the metric in section 2 of the template, and the screen it comes from in section 7.

Five mistakes that make a social media strategy fail

• Starting with the platforms

  A list of networks is not a strategy. The goal and the audience come first and choose the networks.

• Being on every network

  Each extra network multiplies the work per idea. Two done well beat five done thinly.

• A goal with no number or date

  “Raise awareness” cannot be reviewed. A figure and a deadline can.

• No owner for the weekly work

  A task with no owner and no day will not happen. Section 6 exists for this.

• Never reviewing

  Put the review date in the diary when you finish. A strategy nobody checks is a wish.