Social Media for Small Businesses: Plan, Post, and Grow

Before you plan anything new, it helps to know what you’ve already been doing. In this lesson, you’ll look back through six months of posts, sort them into categories, and run each category through six simple questions. You’ll quickly see which posts have a clear goal, a clear action, and a clear audience, and which ones are just habit.

You don’t need to be a numbers person for this one. You’ll learn where to find your Facebook and Instagram insights, the six questions to answer for each platform, and how to turn those answers into four practical conclusions: when to post, how hard your profile is working, what content is landing, and whether to focus on followers or new people.

A single setting can quietly keep people from seeing your posts. In this lesson, you’ll walk through your Facebook Page setup: the right account type, protecting your access with multiple admins and 2FA, helpful notifications, your Page info, and the visibility, sharing, and video settings that help you reach the most people. A full checklist is included in the workbook.

Your Instagram name, bio, and links are doing more work than almost anything else on your account. In this lesson, you’ll choose your account type, write a name that works for people and for search, write a bio with a strong first line, and set up your links so your main call-to-action comes first. You’ll also go through the settings that help you reach more people.

Your profile is evergreen content. It’s there all the time, no matter what you’re posting. In this lesson, you’ll clean up anything confusing, check that your profile photo works at thumbnail size, and plan Instagram story highlights that answer the questions new visitors have. Then you’ll test your profile with someone who’s never seen your business before.

Coming up with posts one at a time is exhausting. In this lesson, you’ll build post categories around your customers’ pain points and hesitations, so you always have a starting point. You’ll learn the “timely information, timeless presentation” mindset, six questions to run any post idea through, and a quick check before anything goes out.

Creating content gets easier when you stop fighting your own energy. In this lesson, you’ll figure out when you feel most creative, what helps, and what drains you. Then you’ll pick two or three go-to spots for photos and videos based on lighting, audio, comfort, and meaning. You’ll leave with a creative profile and your first creation session on the calendar.

This is where your social media starts to feel like a system. You’ll turn your categories into a weekly rhythm, choose a calendar or planning tool, and learn how to think about scheduling tools without overthinking them. You’ll also learn which posts are best done live, and a simple daily habit that keeps your account social, even when your posts are scheduled.

Every part of a post has a job, and the first line or two of your caption decides whether people keep reading. In this lesson, you’ll learn what makes a hook, how to edit a caption by reading it out loud, and six questions to take a caption to the next level. You’ll see a before-and-after example, then rewrite one of your own posts using five simple rules.

If you don’t tell people what to do next, most won’t figure it out. In this lesson, you’ll identify the top actions you want people to take, write calls-to-action with clear action words, add a benefit or urgency, and match your ask to the platform. You’ll also learn why one call-to-action per post works better than several.

Posts focus on information, and stories focus on connection. In this lesson, you’ll learn how stories differ from posts, what they’re for, what to share, and when. You’ll get story ideas, best practices for replies and announcements, and a brainstorm to fill your story ideas list.

In this short closing lesson, you’ll look back at everything you’ve put in place, from knowing your audience to optimizing your profiles and building a posting system. You’ll review your posting goals, answer three reflection questions, and choose one thing to do this week to keep your momentum going.