Social media strategy example

Social media strategy example for an online cookware brand

An ecommerce social media strategy sets which platforms a store will use, what it will publish and promote on each, and how organic, creator and paid activity turn into profitable first orders and repeat purchases. It is owned by the social media manager and agreed with the heads of growth, retention and customer experience.

This is the Ecommerce version of the social media strategy template.

Horizon: 1 year4 priorities · 10 outcomes

Use this template

What this social media strategy template includes

ContextThe situation, the challenges to solve, and what is deliberately left out.
Platforms and rolesWhere the brand will be active and what each platform is for.
Content pillarsThe recurring themes and the share of posts each receives.
Voice and communityHow the brand sounds and how it responds.
Paid socialHow paid budget supports organic activity.
Priorities and measuresThree to five priorities, each with an owner, outcomes with a baseline and target, and the initiatives behind them.

Worked example

A complete social media strategy for a fictional organization: online brand selling its own carbon steel and stainless cookware and kitchen knives direct to consumers.

Worked exampleSocial media strategy

Organization	Online brand selling its own carbon steel and stainless cookware and kitchen knives direct to consumers (50 staff)
Ambition	Make social pay for itself on the first order, and make it the reason a first-time buyer comes back for a second piece.
Horizon	1 year

Context

Where we are and what we are choosing

Revenue is $14 million from about 9,900 orders a month at an average of $118. Ads on Facebook and Instagram cost $190,000 a month and bring 2,970 new customers at $64 each, while a first order from those ads contributes $41 after product, shipping and payment costs. Of those orders, 71% use a discount code. Customers who arrive through ads reorder within 12 months 17% of the time, against 24% across the business. Six ads carry 80% of spend. Organic posts and creator links bring $35,000 a month. Pan returns run at 11%, and 900 messages a month wait a median of 26 hours for a reply.

Challenges

Every new customer from paid social costs $23 more than the first order contributes, and those customers are the least likely to buy again.
Six discount-led ads carry 80% of spend. When one tires, acquisition cost jumps and there is nothing ready to replace it.
Four in ten pan returns cite food sticking or rust, problems that a two-minute video prevents, and questions about them sit unanswered for a day.

We will focus on

First-order contribution margin, measured against acquisition cost, as the test for every paid campaign.
A paid bench of creators and customers whose videos we have the right to run as ads.
Care and technique content that reduces returns and gives owners a reason to buy the next piece.

We will not

Discount codes in ads to people who have never bought. They lift conversion by about a third and bring customers who reorder half as often.
Selling through in-app shops on social platforms this year. Each order carries a commission and arrives without the customer's email address, which the repeat purchase plan depends on.
A celebrity chef partnership. The $280,000 quoted buys one face; a similar sum funds 35 working cooks and creators for the year.

Platforms and roles

Platform	Audience there	Role	Posting cadence
Instagram	Home cooks aged 28 to 50; 86,000 followers, about a third of them customers	Technique reels, customer kitchens, launches and a broadcast channel for owners	5 reels and 2 carousels a week, stories daily
TikTok	Cooks aged 20 to 35 who find products through creators; 12,000 followers	Creator-made cooking videos that are tested here before they run as ads	4 videos a week, mostly from creators
Pinterest	People planning kitchens, wedding registries and gifts	Recipe and care pins that link to product pages, strongest before the holidays	15 pins a week, scheduled monthly
YouTube	Buyers comparing pans and knives before spending $100 or more	Long care and comparison videos that answer pre-purchase questions	2 videos a month, 3 shorts a week
Facebook	Customers aged 45 and over; an owners' group of 6,400 members	Owners' group, customer service and ad placement	3 posts a week, group moderated daily

Content pillars

Pillar	Share of posts	Example post
Technique with our pans and knives	30%	Searing a steak in carbon steel without it sticking, in 40 seconds
Care and seasoning	20%	Bringing a rusted pan back to black, start to finish
Customer kitchens	20%	A customer's three-year-old skillet beside a new one, and what she cooks in it every week
How it is made	15%	Why the handle rivets sit where they do, filmed on the factory floor
Launches and bundles	15%	The starter set of skillet, chef's knife and care kit, with the saving against buying each singly

Voice and community

Tone of voice	We sound like a line cook explaining something to a friend: specific, unfussy and a little dry. We give temperatures and times instead of adjectives. We do not mock other brands or anyone who has ruined a pan.
Response time	Comments and messages get a reply within 3 hours between 8 am and 8 pm Eastern, every day. That includes comments on ads, where most pre-purchase questions are asked. Order questions get a tracking link in the first reply.
Escalation	Damaged or defective items go to the customer experience lead the same day with a photo, and replacements up to $150 are approved without a return. Anything involving injury or a product failure, such as a loose handle or chipped blade, goes to the operations director within one hour with the lot number. Creator disputes and press go to the head of brand.

Paid social

Monthly budget	$165,000 a month, down from $190,000. The $25,000 difference pays creator fees and content production. Prospecting takes 75% of spend, creative testing 15% and retargeting no more than 10%.
Objective	New customers at $52 or less each, judged on first-order contribution margin from our own order data and not on the return on ad spend the platforms report. No campaigns are run for followers or engagement.
Targeting	Broad audiences in the United States, with the creative doing the selecting. Anyone who bought in the last 180 days is excluded from prospecting. Lookalike audiences are built from customers with two or more orders. First-time buyers see a second-piece ad from day 45, with no discount.

Priorities and measures

Priority 1Owner: Head of Growth

Stop buying first orders at a loss

A new customer from paid social costs $64 and the first order contributes $41. Closing that gap matters more than growing order volume, because every extra order at today's numbers loses money.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Acquisition cost per new customer from paid social	$64	$52	Q4 2027
First-order contribution before ad cost, paid social customers	$41	$50	Q4 2027
Paid social first orders that use a discount code	71%	30%	Q3 2027

Initiatives

Replace discount-led ads with starter set bundles priced to lift first-order value
Report paid social weekly on contribution margin from order data instead of platform-reported return
Cap retargeting at 10% of spend and exclude buyers from the last 180 days from prospecting

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 2Owner: Social and Creator Manager

Build a creator bench we hold the rights to

Six ads carry 80% of spend, and the 40 creators we send free product to each month owe us nothing we can run as an ad. A steady supply of rights-cleared video is the only protection against creative fatigue.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Paid social spend running on creator or customer-made ads	12%	60%	Q4 2027
New ads per month that pass $10,000 in spend at target acquisition cost	1 ads	5 ads	Q4 2027
Monthly revenue from organic posts and creator links	$35K	$90K	Q4 2027

Initiatives

Contract 35 cooks and creators on monthly retainers with full paid-usage rights
Post every creator video organically on TikTok first and promote only those that hold attention
End untracked product gifting and give each creator a link and a brief
Ask owners' group members for kitchen videos in exchange for store credit

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 3Owner: Retention Marketing Manager

Bring first-time buyers back for a second piece

Customers who arrive through ads reorder 17% of the time within a year, against 24% across the business. Most own one pan and have no reason to think about us again.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Paid social customers who place a second order within 90 days	7%	12%	Q4 2027
Revenue per paid social customer in the first 180 days	$111	$132	Q4 2027

Initiatives

Invite every new buyer to the owners' broadcast channel and group on the order confirmation page
Publish a four-week care and technique series timed to the delivery date
Show first-time buyers the piece most often bought second, from day 45

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 4Owner: Customer Experience Lead

Use care content to cut returns and answer faster

Sticking and rust account for four in ten pan returns, and both are solved by seasoning and heat control. A returned pan costs the margin on the order plus two-way shipping.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Return rate on pans	11%	8.5%	Q4 2027
Median reply time to comments and messages	26 hours	3 hours	Q2 2027

Initiatives

Film 12 care videos covering the questions behind most returns and link them from delivery emails and packaging
Move comments and messages from all five platforms into one shared inbox staffed 8 am to 8 pm
Write saved replies with a video link for the 20 most common questions
Offer a video call with a support cook before approving a return for sticking

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Blank social media strategy template

The same structure with a prompt in every field. Copy it, or download it as a Word or Excel file.

Your planSocial media strategy

Organization	[Describe your organization in a few words, with its size]
Ambition	[One sentence on where you want to be at the end of the plan]
Horizon	[How long the plan runs, for example 12 months]

Context

Where we are and what we are choosing

[Where things stand today: the facts that make this strategy necessary]

Challenges

[A problem the strategy has to solve]
[A problem the strategy has to solve]

We will focus on

[Something you are choosing to concentrate on]
[Something you are choosing to concentrate on]

We will not

[Something you are deliberately leaving out]
[Something you are deliberately leaving out]

Platforms and roles

Platform	Audience there	Role	Posting cadence
[Platform]	[Audience there]	[Role]	[Posting cadence]
[Platform]	[Audience there]	[Role]	[Posting cadence]
[Platform]	[Audience there]	[Role]	[Posting cadence]

Content pillars

Pillar	Share of posts	Example post
[Pillar]	[Share of posts]	[Example post]
[Pillar]	[Share of posts]	[Example post]
[Pillar]	[Share of posts]	[Example post]

Voice and community

Tone of voice	[Your tone of voice]
Response time	[Your response time]
Escalation	[Your escalation]

Paid social

Monthly budget	[Your monthly budget]
Objective	[Your objective]
Targeting	[Your targeting]

Priorities and measures

Priority 1Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

Priority 2Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

Priority 3Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

Priority 4Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

How to adapt it

01
Work out first-order contribution margin for customers who arrive through social: order value minus product, shipping, payment fees and discounts. Set the acquisition cost target against that number, not against platform-reported return.
02
Compare repeat purchase rate for customers acquired through social with the rest of the business. If it is lower, look at discounting and at what happens between delivery and day 90.
03
Count how many ads carry most of your spend. If it is fewer than ten, plan where next quarter's creative will come from and who holds the rights to it.
04
Read a month of returns and support messages before choosing content pillars. The questions that cost money are usually the best briefs.
05
Decide whether to sell inside social platforms by weighing the commission and the loss of customer data against the extra orders.
06
Give each platform one job. A platform that neither sells, serves customers nor supplies ad creative can be dropped.

How to run it

A plan only works if it is reviewed on a rhythm. This is the cadence the example assumes.

Check-in	Outcome owners update progress and confidence weekly.
Review	Priority owners review outcomes and unblock initiatives monthly.
Reset	Leadership revisits priorities and targets quarterly.

Tability keeps this cadence for you. Each priority becomes an objective, each outcome a key result with its baseline and target, and each initiative a tracked task. Owners get a check-in reminder and the plan shows what is on track.

Track this plan in Tability

Still comparing tools? See the 10 best strategy software tools.

Common mistakes

Judging paid social by the return on ad spend the platform reports, which counts customers who would have bought anyway and ignores margin.
Acquiring with discounts, then wondering why social customers do not come back at full price.
Sending free product to creators with no brief, no tracking link and no right to reuse the video.
Leaving comments on ads unanswered. For a considered purchase, that is where the buying questions are asked.

Questions, answered.

What should an ecommerce social media strategy include?

It should name the platforms and the job of each, the content pillars, how creators are sourced and paid, the rules for community replies and the paid social budget with its targeting. Tie the outcomes to store economics: acquisition cost against first-order margin, repeat purchase rate and return rate.

How do you measure social media return for an online store?

Measure it on contribution margin, not on platform-reported return on ad spend. Take the first-order value of customers acquired through social, subtract product, shipping, payment and discount costs, and compare the result with acquisition cost. Then track how many of those customers order again within 90 and 365 days.

How much should an ecommerce brand spend on paid social?

Spend up to the point where acquisition cost equals what a new customer is worth, and no further. The brand in this example cut its budget from $190,000 to $165,000 a month because each new customer cost $64 and the first order contributed $41. The saving funds creator content.

Should an online store sell directly through social media shops?

It depends on margin and on how much the business relies on repeat purchase. In-app shops can add orders, but each carries a commission and the store may not receive the customer's email. This example declines them for a year because its plan depends on bringing buyers back.

How many creators does a small ecommerce brand need?

Enough to supply several new ad concepts every month, so the number follows from how fast ads tire, not from follower counts. This example contracts 35 on modest monthly retainers with full usage rights. What matters is the right to run the videos as ads, not the size of each creator's following.

Social media strategy example for an online cookware brand

Get the Word file

What this social media strategy template includes

Worked example

Context

Platforms and roles

Content pillars

Voice and community

Paid social

Stop buying first orders at a loss

Build a creator bench we hold the rights to

Bring first-time buyers back for a second piece

Use care content to cut returns and answer faster

Blank social media strategy template

Context

Platforms and roles

Content pillars

Voice and community

Paid social

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

Get the Word file

How to adapt it

How to run it

Common mistakes

Questions, answered.

What this social media strategy template includes

Worked example

Stop buying first orders at a loss

Build a creator bench we hold the rights to

Bring first-time buyers back for a second piece

Use care content to cut returns and answer faster

Blank social media strategy template

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

How to adapt it

How to run it

Common mistakes

Questions, answered.

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