FREE Social Media Plan Template
Master social media plan timelines with our intuitive social media plan Gantt chart template.
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Why use our Social Media Plan Template instead of Excel or Google Sheets?
Get started with our Social Media Plan Template in seconds while skipping the hassle involved with Excel or Google Sheets.
Build Gantt charts in minutes, not hours.
No project management experience? No problem. Tom's Planner offers a user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface that's intuitive and easy to learn. Creating Gantt charts is a breeze, saving you time and effort. Compare that to the time-consuming, frustrating, manual formatting-intensive process of building a Gantt chart in Excel or Google Sheets.
Move at the pace of modern business with no learning curve or Googling formulas.
Good luck figuring out how to make a Gantt chart work in Excel or Google Sheets. Excel’s user manual weighs in at a hefty 500+ pages. It takes just five minutes with Tom’s Planner to start planning your first real project plan.
Headache-free collaboration and sharing.
Tom's Planner offers powerful options for sharing and collaborating on Gantt charts, including public links, PDF exports, and team access with customizable permission levels. It’s never been easier to communicate or ensure everyone’s on the same page. Compare that to Excel, where sharing and collaboration mean jumping through hoop after hoop and dealing with confusion and chaos.
How to use Tom’s Planner’s social media plan template to build and share your social media plan.
Getting your project off the ground is as easy as 1-2-3.
Step #1
Click the 'start with template’ button to open the Social Media Plan Template.
Step #2
Register for a free account and watch a short video on using Tom’s Planner. The account is free forever, with no strings attached.
Step #3
You’re all set to use the Gantt chart template. Need additional help? Our AI assistant can create a custom Gantt chart Social Media Plan Template based on your project description.
What Is a Social Media Plan Template?
Looking to build relationships with your audience? Whether you’re marketing a new product, announcing a new
business, or just interested in establishing an online presence, you’ll need to harness the power of social media.
Platforms like Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Instagram, and newcomers like Bluesky, help you find your audience
and then connect with them in meaningful ways. Of course, you’ll face challenges here. One of the most common is not
being able to accurately manage your social media marketing efforts. A social media plan template can help.
Not sure what a social media plan should encompass? Unclear on how a social media marketing plan example can
help? In this guide, we’ll demystify the concept to show you exactly why you need one (and how it can be used).
A social media planner is the framework you need for navigating the chaotic world of online content. It’s where
your ideas, goals, and strategies come together in a neat, actionable plan. Think of it as a recipe for engaging your
audience: you lay out the ingredients (content types, platforms, timing) and the method (posting schedules, campaigns,
tracking).
Whether you’re managing a small business or a multinational brand, having a social media plan
is how you stay consistent, relevant, and impactful.
Why You Need to Use a Gantt Chart
You can use multiple document types to develop your social media plan. In fact, you should change things up so
you’re using the right document in each setting (hardcopy notes during meetings, collaborative sharing docs in other
situations, etc.). However, there’s a pretty strong argument to be made that a Gantt chart should be one of
the
central planning documents you use.
Why use a Gantt chart like Tom’s Planner’s offering? It makes it
easy to:
- Create visual timelines
- Assign specific tasks to team members
- Track task progress
- Ensure accountability across the entire team
- Set, allocate, and track resources
- Keep team members, stakeholders, and others on the same page
When to Use a Social Media Plan Template?
Not sure if you need a marketing plan for social media template? Think that your current social media management efforts are enough and that a basic social media post plan is all that’s required? Here are a few examples of when you need to expand your social media plan for business success.
Establishing a New Brand or Business
Starting a new business? Debuting a new brand? A solid social media launch plan template will help you dial in things like posting frequency, content types, voice and tone, and even which platforms you’re going to use.
Launching a New Marketing Campaign
New marketing campaigns can’t run on the same framework that powered previous ones. You’ll need to create a new social media engagement plan for each marketing campaign and then connect those to specific landing pages so you can measure success.
Repositioning Your Brand
Changing your brand’s approach to things? That will definitely require a new social media action plan template, one that helps you change public perception of your brand. You can also use social media marketing plan templates to slowly roll out changes to your brand’s identity and personality to customers, clients, or followers.
Social media plan templates can be useful in many other situations, too. However, it’s equally important to know who should use a social media action plan template as it is to know when they should be used.
Who Should Use a Social Media Campaign Plan Template?
From business owners to marketing professionals, a social media plan template can help almost anyone reach their audience.
Small Business Owners
Running a small business is demanding, and social media might not always be your priority. This template helps you create a focused small business social media plan, making sure your online presence drives growth without overwhelming you.
Marketing Teams
For teams juggling multiple clients or campaigns, the social media plan template simplifies complex strategies. Whether it’s a social media marketing plan for small business clients or a full-scale corporate campaign, it keeps everything streamlined.
Social Media Managers
Managing multiple platforms? A social media management plan lets you stay on top of scheduling, engagement, and metrics. Use it to craft tailored plans for each client or project and then keep track of all the moving parts.
Many different people can use a Facebook marketing plan template. But being able to use a template social media marketing plan effectively is equally important to knowing who should be involved in the process.
Start with templateTop Three Pitfalls to Avoid When Creating a Social Media Plan
Creating a social media launch plan template that helps you achieve important goals is easier said than done. By avoiding the three major challenges discussed below and studying successful social media marketing plan examples, you can maximize the value of your social media marketing plan template free download.
- Failure to Set an Appropriate Strategy
Perhaps the single most common pitfall when it comes to social media marketing is failing to set the right strategy. That means you might not know who your audience is, how you’ll target them, or even how you’ll track your success.
Solution:Make strategy development a key part of your planning efforts and use an example social media marketing plan and a Gantt chart to help connect the dots.
- Failing to Track Analytics
Don’t assume that your social media strategy will stay the same. It needs to be dynamic, and you need to track analytics to inform is evolution. Failure to do so could mean a failure across your entire social marketing strategy.
Solution:Track analytics and use that data to make real-time adjustments to your social media business plan template.
- Producing Low-Quality Content
There’s an idea with some business owners and decision makers that because social doesn’t deliver an immediate ROI, it’s less important than other channels and low-quality content is fine. It’s not. You’ll lose your audience that way.
Solution:Put as much time, energy, and money into your social media plan sample as any other marketing channel.
Now that you know more about the major pitfalls to avoid, let’s talk about what a small business social media plan outline should include.
What Does a Social Media Plan Outline Include?
If you look at an example of a social media marketing plan, you’ll realize that a successful social media plan has multiple components. While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, some of the most important elements to include in your social media plan template include the following:
- Gantt Chart
Visualize your entire social media timeline with a Gantt chart. It’s the core of your planning process, showing when campaigns launch, posts go live, and tasks overlap.
- Cost Estimation
Budgeting for social media can be tricky. Use the cost estimation feature to allocate funds for ads, content creation, or influencer partnerships.
- Portfolio
Keep track of your best-performing posts and campaigns. This section helps you refine your strategy based on what’s worked before.
- Example Projects
Need inspiration? The template includes sample social media content calendars and campaigns to help spark your creativity.
- Reference
Use this section to link key resources, like your brand guidelines or competitor research. That way your team has everything in one place.
Four tips on how to make sure you reach your deadlines
Using social media effectively isn’t always easy. The right plan will help you set goals, define your audience, and then deliver valuable content to your followers. Use the following tips to create a strong social media plan.
Set Clear Goals in Initial Planning
Define what success looks like for your campaigns. Are you after brand awareness, engagement, or conversions? Setting clear goals during your early planning helps you craft focused content and measure results.
Know Your Audience
Tailor your posts to resonate with your followers. Dive into analytics to understand who they are, what they like, and when they’re most active. Then create content that answers their questions and helps them solve their problems.
Stay Consistent
A consistent posting schedule builds trust and keeps you top of mind. Use the social media posting calendar template to organize your content weeks—or months—in advance.
Experiment and Adapt
Social media trends evolve fast. Don’t be afraid to test new formats like reels, polls, or carousels, but understand that not all features are suited to all businesses. Track your results and tweak your plan based on what works and what doesn’t.
Gantt charts in Tom's Planner vs in Excel
| Excel | Tom's Planner | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | License required | Free version available |
| Learning curve | Hours | Minutes |
| Create your first Gantt chart | Hours | Minutes |
| Making an update in your chart | Several minutes | Seconds (drag & drop) |
| Sharing charts with others | At some point you will save and email a file titled: version_4_def_usethisversion_reallyfinal.xlsx | Online, one source of truth, always up to date, with no confusion |
| Look & Feel | Messy | Clean, polished and professional |
| Dependencies | 
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| Filtering | 
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| Zoom in/out |
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| Automatic Legend |
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| AI-assist |
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Let our AI assist do the work for you |
| Export to image or pdf | Requires workarounds to export | One mouse click |
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