Social Strategy

Intent

use this skill to set a brand's top-level social media strategy: which channels to focus on (and which to deliberately drop), what the business needs to achieve, the differentiated angle to win with, and a sustainable operating cadence. this sits above content pillars and the content calendar. run it when starting or resetting a social presence, when deciding which platforms to commit to, or when the user says "social strategy," "which platforms should i be on," "what's my plan," or "should i be on TikTok/LinkedIn." the skill reads brand profile, audience research, and content pillars first (if they exist) to ground strategy in reality. it makes real choices and trade-offs, especially what NOT to do. it ties goals to the business (not vanity metrics) and is honest about measurement: WoopSocial has no analytics; use the platforms' native analytics instead.

Inputs

• brand-profile.md (required): who the brand is, positioning, tone, content strengths, and what it won't do.
• audience.md (required): where the target audience lives, which platforms, what formats they consume, pain points.
• content-pillars.md (optional but recommended): the themes/topics the brand talks about; shapes channel fit.
• existing social-strategy.md (if present): check if current strategy is sound before overwriting; only reset if user asks.
• external context: business stage (pre-launch, growth, established), revenue model, sales cycle (B2B vs B2C).
• references/channel-selection.md: framework for scoring platform fit across audience, format, goal, and capacity.
• references/goals-and-measurement.md: objective types (awareness, growth, community, authority, leads, sales) and meaningful vs vanity metrics.
• references/operating-model.md: cadence guidelines, content engine phases, capacity models.

Procedure

step 1: load and validate foundation

load brand-profile.md, audience.md, and content-pillars.md if they exist. if any are missing and material to the decision (audience.md is critical; content-pillars helps but isn't a blocker), flag the gap to the user and offer to run those skills first. if all three exist and are recent, proceed. if none exist, ask the user to run brand-profile and audience-research before this skill; strategy without a foundation is guesswork.

input: brand profile, audience data, content themes (if present). output: validated foundation; confirmation the user is ready to build strategy.

step 2: identify primary objective (business-driven, not vanity)

work with the user to pick one primary objective social must serve right now, chosen from the business's actual stage and need:

• awareness (unknown brand, pre-launch, or rebranding)
• audience growth (audience size is the bottleneck)
• community/engagement (existing audience, build loyalty and repeat)
• authority/positioning (establish expertise, thought leadership in a category)
• leads (sales funnel, B2B demand gen)
• sales (direct revenue, fast conversion)

ask: what does the business need most right now to move forward? (not "what sounds nice"). add at most one secondary objective; more spreads focus. define a meaningful metric: if the objective is leads, the metric is SQLs or demos booked, not follower count. if it's authority, the metric is speaking invitations or media mentions or inbound interest, not likes. be explicit that WoopSocial publishes no analytics; measurement happens in the platforms' native dashboards (Instagram Insights, LinkedIn Analytics, etc.) and in your CRM/sales tools.

input: user's business stage, revenue model, sales cycle, current bottleneck. output: one primary objective (+ optionally one secondary), a meaningful metric tied to the business, a statement of how measurement happens (native platform analytics + external tools).

step 3: score and select channels (1, 3 maximum; name the dropped ones)

score each candidate platform on four dimensions (from references/channel-selection.md):

1. audience presence: is the target audience actually there, in meaningful volume? (from audience.md; don't guess.)
2. format fit: does the brand's natural content strength suit the platform's native format? (video, long-form writing, ephemeral stories, short-form, images, etc.)
3. goal fit: does the platform's mechanics serve the objective? (e.g., TikTok and IG are awareness/growth machines; LinkedIn is authority/leads; Pinterest is awareness for certain niches.)
4. capacity fit: can the brand sustainably produce quality for this platform, given team size and skills?

pick the 1, 3 platforms that score well across all four. if only one scores well, start there. if two or three do, note it but commit to the primary one first (see step 5, phasing). explicitly name the platforms you're dropping (or running as repurpose-only, zero organic investment): "we're dropping TikTok because our audience isn't there and we can't sustain video production. we're running Instagram as repurpose-only from LinkedIn." this clarity is the heart of strategy.

input: candidate platforms, audience data, brand content strengths, team capacity, objective. output: 1, 3 primary channels with reasons; list of dropped channels with reasons; decision to phase or launch in parallel.

step 4: define the strategic wedge (differentiation, not table stakes)

answer: how does this brand win on its chosen channels, given the competition? the wedge comes from the brand's POV, positioning, or distinctive format, not "post good content" (that's table stakes). examples:

• POV wedge: "we're the only firm talking about why VC-backed startups fail, not just how to succeed" (authority, contrarian take).
• format wedge: "we ship 2, 3 minute explainer videos every week, not long-form blogs" (format differentiation).
• consistency wedge: "we answer every comment within 2 hours, no templated responses" (operational commitment).
• audience wedge: "we talk directly to founders, not to investors" (audience specificity).

ask the user: what's your unfair advantage here? what would it sound weird for a competitor to copy? write it in one sentence. if the user can't articulate a wedge, that's a sign the strategy isn't clear; loop back to brand profile or objective.

input: brand positioning, competitive landscape, team strengths, audience segment. output: one clear wedge statement; a note on why it matters (e.g., "this makes us memorable and defensible on LinkedIn").

step 5: set the operating model (cadence, phasing, roles)

spell out how strategy actually ships:

• cadence per channel: realistic posting frequency, matched to capacity (e.g., "3 LinkedIn posts per week, Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday at 9am; 1 IG Reel per week, Friday"). consistency beats volume; unsustainable cadence dies.
• content engine flow: how brand profile → content pillars → batch content plan → production → repurposing → scheduling fit together. (e.g., "1 long-form LinkedIn post per week becomes 2 IG Carousels and 4 tweet threads via cross-platform-repurposing.")
• phasing: Phase 1, nail one channel (e.g., LinkedIn); only expand to a second (e.g., Twitter) once the first is generating meaningful traction. don't launch everywhere at once.
• capacity/roles: who produces (1 writer? 1 designer? outsourced?), who engages (responds to comments, DMs), how much weekly time budget.

be honest: if the team has 4 hours per week, they can't sustain posting 10 times daily across 4 platforms. pick the model that doesn't break.

input: team size, time budget, content production pipeline, brand's past performance on platforms (if any). output: realistic cadence per channel, phasing plan (Phase 1 = X channel, Phase 2 = add Y; gates to expand), roles/time allocation, content engine flow diagram or description.

step 6: write and validate social-strategy.md artifact

produce a social-strategy.md file with these sections:

• objective and metric: one sentence on what social must achieve and how you measure it.
• chosen channels: for each (1, 3), one paragraph: why this channel, what cadence, what you're optimizing for.
• dropped/maintenance channels: if the brand was on others, name them and explain why they're dropped or repurposed-only.
• strategic wedge: one sentence; why this brand wins.
• operating model: cadence table, phasing timeline, roles, time budget, content engine flow.
• success criteria: what does done look like in 3 months? (e.g., "LinkedIn: 500+ engaged followers, 2+ leads/month from social.")

summarize back to the user: "your strategy is [objective]. you're going all-in on [channel 1] and [channel 2], deliberately dropping [channel 3]. your wedge is [wedge]. phase 1 is [timeline] on [channel 1]; we expand to [channel 2] once you hit [gate]." invite edits.

input: all outputs from steps 1, 5. output: social-strategy.md file, saved and shareable; summary presented to user.

Decision Points

if a current social-strategy.md exists: load it and ask the user, "is this still accurate?" if yes, stop here unless the user explicitly wants to reset. if no or they say "reset," proceed with step 1. don't overwrite without permission.

if the user says "we should be on every platform": push back directly. focus beats spread. ask which 1, 2 the audience is actually on and the brand can sustain. force a choice. if they insist, document it as a risk: "attempting to sustain 6 platforms will lead to inconsistency and burnout; we recommend picking 2."

if the user wants to lead with a format they can't sustain (e.g., "TikTok is where the audience is, but we can't make videos"): offer two paths: (a) commit to building the capability (timeline, resources, training), or (b) pick a different channel where the audience is and the format fits the team's current skills. don't force-fit.

if there's no clear business objective: help define one by asking: what's the business's biggest bottleneck right now? are you unknown (awareness)? do you have an audience but no sales (leads/conversion)? do you have customers but they churn (community)? map the bottleneck to an objective. if the user still can't articulate one, pause; a strategy without an objective optimizes nothing.

if the brand is already spread thin (6+ platforms, inconsistent posting): recommend a consolidation/subtraction strategy. analyze which 1, 2 channels are driving the most engagement or business value. consolidate there. run the rest as automated repurpose-only (zero organic effort) or drop them. it's often a reset, not an expansion.

if the team has limited time (<5 hours/week): cap to one platform, phase strictly, or bring in freelance support. unsustainable strategies die; don't commit to cadence the team can't keep.

if measurement expectations are unrealistic (user asks "what will our new followers be?"): be clear: WoopSocial publishes no analytics. measurement is read from the platform's native dashboard (Instagram Insights, LinkedIn Analytics, etc.) and tied to business metrics (leads, demos, signups). no custom dashboards; no WoopSocial-provided analytics. offer to route them to goals-and-kpis to set SMART targets tied to the platform data they'll track manually.

if B2B vs B2C: channel selection and objective differ sharply. B2B (esp. longer sales cycles) leans LinkedIn for authority/leads; B2C leans IG/TikTok for awareness/growth. use the audience profile to decide; don't assume.

Output Contract

artifact: social-strategy.md file, saved in the user's workspace, with these sections:

1. objective and metric (1, 2 sentences): the business need, the objective, the meaningful metric.
2. chosen channels (1, 3 bullet points, each with sub-bullets or 2, 3 sentences): platform name, why it fits (audience/format/goal/capacity), cadence, key success metric.
3. dropped/maintenance channels (optional bullet list): platforms not pursued, with one-line reason (e.g., "TikTok: audience not present; video production bottleneck").
4. strategic wedge (1 sentence).
5. operating model:
   • cadence table (channel, posts/week or per day, best posting times if known)
   • phasing timeline (phase 1 = [channel] for [weeks/months]; gate to phase 2 = [metric threshold])
   • roles and time allocation (who produces, who engages, hours per week)
   • content engine flow (how brand → pillars → plan → produce → repurpose → schedule link)
6. success criteria (3, 6 month horizon): what does winning look like? (e.g., "200 engaged followers, 1, 2 qualified leads/month from LinkedIn; weekly post driving 50+ views and 5+ DMs").
7. measurement cadence: how often the user will review analytics, which metrics they'll track, where (native platform dashboards), and how it feeds back into content decisions.

file format: markdown. tone: clear, actionable, no buzzwords. length: 1500, 2500 words.

Outcome Signal

the user knows the skill worked when:

• they can state their objective and primary channels in one sentence without hesitation. ("we're going all-in on LinkedIn because our B2B audience is there and our wedge is contrarian takes on AI in finance.")
• they know exactly what platforms they're NOT on and why, and they feel good about that choice.
• they have a realistic cadence they believe they can sustain. (not "5 posts per day" if they have one person part-time.)
• they can articulate their strategic wedge in one sentence and explain why it matters.
• they have a phasing plan: "we do X for Y weeks, then measure Z before moving to the next channel."
• they are measuring meaningful metrics (leads, engagement, authority signals), not vanity metrics (raw follower count).
• they have a written artifact (social-strategy.md) that content-pillars and batch-content-plan can read and inherit.
• they feel permission to say no: "we're not doing TikTok. our audience isn't there and we can't produce video at scale." (not "maybe someday.")