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Four questions a social media plan answers
A social media plan answers four questions, in this order: what should it deliver, for whom, with which kinds of posts, and how often. Whoever starts with the rhythm ('three posts a week') posts without knowing why. This social media plan template puts those four questions on one sheet.
You fill in a table for your pillars and one for your rhythm per channel, and three numbers to check every month. Two tabs show it filled in: a B2B company that wants to reach contractors and welders, and a bakery that wants its cakes sold out on Saturday. A third tab lists the 2026 formats per channel.
The four steps of your plan
- GoalA number and a date. 'More visibility' cannot be checked, 'eight enquiries a quarter through LinkedIn' can.
- AudienceWho do you want to reach, which channel are they really on, and what do they want to see? Skip a channel your customers do not use.
- PillarsThree or four fixed kinds of posts with their share of the whole, so you do not reinvent your posts every week.
- RhythmPer channel how often, which day and which format, and who makes and approves it. Twice a week every week beats every day for one month.
What goes into the social media plan template
A social media plan is not a calendar and not a strategy deck of forty slides. It is one sheet that the owner, the colleague who takes the photos and the agency all read the same way. It says why you are on social media, who you want to reach and which kinds of posts you make for them. When you post comes after, in the content calendar.
That sheet matters most when more than one party touches your social media: an in-house marketer and an agency, a head office and a country team, or a foreign company that hires a Belgian agency for the Benelux. Without it, everyone optimises for something different.
| Part | What you fill in | What it saves you |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | A number, a date, a channel | Arguing over likes that mean nothing |
| Audience | Who, where they are, what they want to see | Posts on a channel none of your buyers use |
| Pillars | Three or four kinds of posts with their share | Reinventing your posts every week |
| Rhythm | Per channel how often, which format, who | One busy month followed by silence |
| Measure | Three numbers a month | Time spent on a pillar that delivers nothing |
If social is one of several channels, start with the marketing plan template and come back here for the social part.
Formats and limits per channel in 2026
The rhythm decides what you make, the formats decide how. This is what the platforms ask for in their own documentation, checked today. The same table is the tab Formats 2026 in the download.
| Channel and format | Ratio | Length or pixels | Text |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instagram and Facebook, photo | 4:5 | 1440 x 1800 | Instagram: up to 2,200 characters |
| Instagram, carousel | 4:5 per slide | Up to 20 slides | One caption |
| Instagram, reel | 9:16 | 3 seconds to 15 minutes | 5 hashtags per post or reel |
| LinkedIn, post | Video 1:2.4 to 2.4:1 | Video up to 15 minutes, 5 GB | Up to 3,000 characters |
| YouTube Shorts | 9:16 or 1:1 | Up to 3 minutes | Wider becomes a regular video |
| TikTok | 9:16 | At least 540 x 960 | Ad video up to 10 minutes |
Instagram accepts photos between 4:5 and 1.91:1, but 4:5 takes the most screen. A 16:9 picture lifted from a brochure gets bars or a crop. And since Instagram announced at the end of 2025 that a post or reel holds five hashtags, pick the five your buyers follow, or none.
Two examples side by side
- Goal
- Steel fabricator, B2BEight enquiries a quarter through LinkedIn, four applications a year
- Bakery, localCakes sold out before 4 pm on Saturday, 60 year-end orders
- Where the audience is
- Steel fabricator, B2BLinkedIn for contractors and architects, Facebook and Instagram for welders
- Bakery, localInstagram, Facebook and Google, with the name of the neighbourhood
- Biggest pillar
- Steel fabricator, B2BProjects: a staircase from drawing to installation
- Bakery, localOn the counter today: a photo at 7 am
- Rhythm
- Steel fabricator, B2BTwo LinkedIn posts a week, a reel every two weeks
- Bakery, localA story every morning, three posts a week
- What they measure
- Steel fabricator, B2BEnquiries that mention LinkedIn, applications
- Bakery, localThe time the cakes sell out, orders through the form
The filled-in example: a steel fabricator selling to contractors
The tab Example B2B is a fictional steel fabrication company with 25 people. The goal: by the end of 2027, eight enquiries a quarter from contractors and architects who found the company on LinkedIn, and four applications a year from welders. Two audiences on two kinds of channel. Project managers and architects read LinkedIn and want proof that a project ends on time. Welders and fitters are on Facebook and Instagram and want to see who they would work with, and on what.
| Channel | How often | Format | Who |
|---|---|---|---|
| LinkedIn company page | 2 a week, Tue and Thu | Photo or carousel | Project manager shoots, agency writes |
| LinkedIn, the owner | 1 a week | Text with a photo | Owner |
| 1 reel every 2 weeks | Site visit in 20 seconds | Agency | |
| 2 a month | Vacancies, EUR 150 promotion | Agency, owner approves |
The bakery in the second tab works the other way round. Its biggest pillar is a story at 7 am of what just came out of the oven, every morning, plus three posts a week and a weekly update on its Google Business Profile, because neighbours search 'bakery' with the name of the area. For the holidays it announces the order period four weeks ahead. Reviews on that profile count as much as the posts: get more Google reviews covers when and how to ask, and the Google review link generator makes the link to ask for them.
One plan per market
Selling in more than one country? Copy the plan tab per market and language. The goal may be the same; the channels, the holidays and the tone are not. LinkedIn carries B2B in Belgium and the Netherlands as it does in the UK, but a Belgian audience reads Dutch or French, and a post in English reaches only part of it. The content calendar template has the public holidays of four countries side by side, so the plans and their calendars stay in step.
Which template when
- Choose the social media plan ifyou want to fix what social media delivers, for whom, with which posts and how often.
- Choose the content calendar ifthe plan exists and you need to see per week who makes what. The content calendar template takes your pillars as themes.
- Choose the marketing plan ifyou also plan site, ads and email and need to split a budget. Start with the marketing plan template and size it with the marketing budget calculator.
- Choose the SEO checklist ifyour buyers find you through Google rather than social. Then your site earns more than another post; the SEO checklist says where to start.
- Choose ads next to the plan ifyour goal is a number organic reach will not hit. Read how much Facebook ads cost in Europe to see what a test month takes.
Where a social media plan stalls
- Followers as the goalTotal followers do not tell you whether the steel fabricator gets enquiries. Measure what brings the goal closer: enquiries, orders, applications.
- Every channel at onceA channel your buyers do not use costs time and returns nothing. A new one such as TikTok Shop in Belgium goes in the plan only when someone carries it every week.
- Comparing the wrong clicksMeta now reports only link clicks as clicks; read the Meta click attribution change before you compare this year with last.
- Stock footageA stock photo of a welder makes your company interchangeable. One shoot day on site gives footage for months; see what corporate video costs.
- AI content without a labelIf you make images or text with AI, check the AI-generated content labelling rules from December 2026.
Your plan in four decisions
- Write your goal as a number with a date.
- Strike every channel your buyers do not use.
- Pick three or four pillars and give each a share.
- Count how many pieces a month the rhythm asks, and who makes them.
To see what it costs when someone else carries out the plan, read social media management pricing. For Les Terrasses de Durbuy we made the launch reel, the golf reel and the winter carousels; see the case. Or tell us what social should deliver through contact.
Questions about the social media plan
How many posts a week do I need?
As many as you keep up every week. Twice a week all year does more than every day for a month. Count how many pieces a month your rhythm asks and whether you have the footage.
Which channel for a B2B company?
Usually LinkedIn, on the company page and through the owner. Instagram and Facebook join when you also hire: that is often where the people you want to recruit are.
One plan for all countries, or one per country?
One per market and language. The goal can be shared, but the channels, the holidays and the words differ.
Excel or Word?
Excel to plan and track, Word to share or print the plan. Both hold the two examples and the formats.