What Your Social Media Workflow Can Look like as a Growing CPG Brand

Part of what I do as a social media strategist is help my clients implement a social media workflow.

Whether that’s through an audit or doing it for them, I’ve found that a lot of CPG founders have great content instincts, they understand their customers, and they love creating content: they just need a workflow that makes it easy for them. 

In fact, this describes one of my clients, who, in the first six months of working with me, generated an insane 171% increase in Instagram website taps. All because we implemented a strategy and a social media workflow. 

Your Social Media Workflow When You First Start Your CPG Business

Whether you’re pre-launch, just-launched, or in the first year, this is for you. At this stage, you’re doing everything yourself: branding, packaging, figuring out production, and oh yeah, marketing! 

Organic social media probably makes up most of that marketing. 

At this stage, your social media workflow likely looks like:

• Come up with ideas on the fly
• Film, edit, and post
• Content is largely based on what’s happening in the business (more brand than product) 
• You’re directing traffic to a website, even if it’s only to join a waitlist
• Looking at what others are doing to improve
• Following social media strategists to learn
• Using social to network with consumers, retailers, maybe even investors

If you are investing dollars into your workflow, it’s to buy content calendar templates or systems that’ll help you post more, and better, content. 

You might even consider a 1:1 clarity call with a social media strategist who understands your industry.

I truly believe that managing your own socials is invaluable in the beginning. You’ll learn so much about your customers, how to understand them, and what they care about. Which means you’ll make more informed decisions in your business: products to launch, retailers to be in, marketing that works. 

Think of it like the barista who worked their way up to manage the coffee shop. They know everything about the customers, product, and business because they were once eyeballs-deep in it themselves. 

I will add a caveat that I’d love to support these founders more. I’m not sure if it’s being able to Slack me questions as you create, reviewing your content before it’s published so you can expert eyes on, or something totally different. If this is you, and there’s some kind of support you’ve been dreaming of, I’d love to hear from you. 

When Your CPG Business is 1-3 Years Old

You’ve launched! You’re gaining momentum! You’re doing the thing! 

At this stage, you’ve gotten the hang of your social media. It might not be your favorite thing, but you’ve got a basic system, you’re seeing patterns in what works, and you’ve started building a community who’s excited for your next post. 

At this stage, your social media workflow likely looks like:

• Plan content a couple days or weeks ahead of time
• Film, edit, and post
• Spending more time in Canva 
• Content has generally shifted from high-level brand awareness to content about the product. Think lifestyle integration and social proof. 
• You’re directing traffic to retail
• Found the social media strategists who’s thought process resonates with yours to learn
• Continue using social to network with consumers, retailers, maybe even investors

If you’re not ready to completely outsource it, your social media workflow will benefit from an Instagram Account Audit. An audit works best when you’ve been posting for at least 3-6 months, have a proven product, and are actively looking to improve your profile, content, and systems. Because we’ll do all three! 

When Your CPG Business is 3-4+ Years Old

This is when almost all of my social media marketing clients come to me. They’ve been managing their own socials for a few years and are ready to hand it off to a strategist. 

Once we start working together, your social media workflow will look like:

• I’ll plan 1 month of content, based on your business goals
• We’ll have one monthly meeting if you choose the Visibility or Scale programs
• I’ll create all of your content
• You’ll review & provide feedback
• I’ll complete one round of edits
• Content is based on three social media objectives that ladder up to your business goals
• We’re directing traffic to retail and DTC
• I’ll continue using social to network with your consumers, retailers, investors, and influencers or brand ambassadors 

Your contribution is minimal, but my impact isn’t. 

---

Wait, Who Am I?

Hiiii! 👋🏻 I’m Sarah, a CPG social media strategist with over 10 years of experience. I went from starting a clean beauty blog right out of high school to managing social media for Canada’s largest wellness retailer. Now I live in the middle of nowhere in North Carolina, helping high-growth entrepreneurs get SEEN so they can build a crazy fun life their business supports, and not the other way around.

If you liked this blog post and want more of the latest & greatest marketing advice (and a couple bev recs), here are a few ways to do just that:

Subscribe to Shelf Life. Be one of the hundreds of CPG food & bev founders to start your week with marketing lessons that actually last. Each week you’ll get one lesson about user behavior, launch marketing, founder-led storytelling, working with the algorithms, and building a crazy fun life your business supports, not the other way around. Click here to subscribe.

Scroll through the blog. If you liked this blog post, you’ll probably like the rest. Scroll through to snag my tried & true social media marketing advice. No gatekeeping here!

Get the marketing support your business deserves. I’ll manage your Instagram and TikTok accounts, audit your Instagram marketing, hop on a 1:1 Clarity Call, and more.

Explore the Shop. Each digital product is designed for CPG founders who want marketing to feel easy(er).

To get in touch with me personally, slide into my DMs or send an email to hi@seenandsharedmarketing.com.