sales-social-media-management

What this skill does

# Social Media Management Strategy

Helps the user plan and execute social media management — from choosing the right tool and setting up publishing workflows through engagement management, analytics, and team collaboration.

## Step 1 — Gather context


If `references/learnings.md` exists, read it first for accumulated knowledge.

Ask the user:

1. **What do you need help with?**
   - A) Choosing a social media management tool
   - B) Setting up a publishing workflow and content calendar
   - C) Optimizing post timing and frequency
   - D) Managing engagement (inbox, comments, DMs)
   - E) Team collaboration and approval workflows
   - F) Analytics and reporting
   - G) Something else — describe it

2. **Team size and structure?**
   - A) Solo creator / founder
   - B) Small team (2-5 people)
   - C) Mid-size team (5-20 people)
   - D) Agency managing multiple clients
   - E) Enterprise with multiple brands/regions

3. **Which social networks?**
   - A) Instagram + Facebook (Meta-focused)
   - B) LinkedIn + X/Twitter (B2B-focused)
   - C) TikTok + YouTube (video-focused)
   - D) All major networks
   - E) Niche — Reddit, Pinterest, Threads, Bluesky

4. **Budget range?**
   - A) Free / under $30/mo
   - B) Mid-range ($30-200/mo)
   - C) Professional ($200-500/mo)
   - D) Enterprise ($500+/mo)
   - E) Not sure yet

**If the user's request already provides most of this context, skip directly to the relevant step.** Lead with your best-effort answer using reasonable assumptions (stated explicitly), then ask only the most critical 1-2 clarifying questions at the end.

## Step 2 — Route or answer directly

If the request maps to a platform-specific skill, route:
- Later setup, config, or features → `/sales-later`
- Sprout Social setup, config, or features → `/sales-sproutsocial`
- Meltwater Engage or social publishing in Meltwater → `/sales-meltwater`
- Brandwatch social media management → `/sales-brandwatch`
- Vista Social setup, config, scheduling, or integrations → `/sales-vistasocial [question]`
- Influencity Social Hub or influencer marketing → `/sales-influencity`
- Social listening (monitoring, sentiment, crisis) → `/sales-social-listening`
- Influencer marketing → `/sales-influencer-marketing`
- Employee advocacy → `/sales-employee-advocacy`
- Paid social advertising → `/sales-retargeting` or `/sales-b2b-advertising`

Otherwise, answer directly from the strategy knowledge below.

## Step 3 — Social media management strategy reference

**Read `references/platform-guide.md`** for detailed module documentation, pricing, integrations, and data model.

*You no longer need the platform guide details — focus on the user's specific situation.*

## Step 4 — Actionable guidance

Based on the user's specific question:

1. **Tool selection** — recommend the best platform for their team, budget, and needs
2. **Publishing setup** — content calendar, posting cadence, batch workflow, optimal timing
3. **Engagement workflow** — inbox management, triage, response time targets, saved replies
4. **Team setup** — roles, permissions, approval workflows, collaboration best practices
5. **Analytics** — key metrics, reporting cadence, proving ROI to stakeholders

## Gotchas

*Best-effort from research — review these, especially items about pricing and features that may change.*

- **Per-seat pricing can explode.** Sprout Social ($199-399/seat), Hootsuite ($99/mo base), and enterprise tools charge per user. A 5-person team on Sprout Professional = $1,500/month. Budget for team size, not just features.
- **"Social listening" means different things.** Sprout and Hootsuite call it social listening. But their listening is social-focused — it doesn't cover news, broadcast, or print. For full media monitoring, you need Meltwater or Brandwatch.
- **Free tiers are very limited.** Buffer's free plan covers 3 channels with basic scheduling. Most other tools' free tiers are trials, not permanent. Don't choose a tool based on free tier capabilities.
- **Network API changes break features.** Instagram, X, and TikTok regularly change their APIs. Features that work today (scheduling Reels, auto-publishing Stories) may break tomorrow. Choose tools with a track record of fast API adaptation.
- **Analytics don't aggregate perfectly.** Each network defines "engagement" and "impressions" differently. Cross-network comparison charts in any tool are approximations, not exact comparisons. Focus on trends within networks, not absolute cross-network numbers.
- **Approval workflows slow publishing.** They're essential for brand safety but can kill timeliness. Set up fast-track paths for time-sensitive content (trending topics, breaking news) alongside standard approval flows.

- **Self-improving**: If you discover something not covered here, append it to `references/learnings.md` with today's date.

## Before recommending a specific platform skill

This skill covers a strategy domain across many platforms. **Before pointing the user to any specific platform skill** (any `/sales-{platform}` listed in `## Related skills`, e.g., `/sales-mailshake`, `/sales-klaviyo`, `/sales-apollo`), read that platform skill's actual `SKILL.md` first. The 1-line description in `## Related skills` is enough to *identify* a candidate — it's not enough to *commit* to it or to write a prompt that invokes it well.

**How to read it:**
- If `~/.claude/skills/{skill-name}/SKILL.md` exists locally, `Read` it.
- For `sales-*` skills, `WebFetch` directly from this repo: `https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sales-skills/sales/main/skills/{skill-name}/SKILL.md` — e.g., for `sales-mailshake`: `https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sales-skills/sales/main/skills/sales-mailshake/SKILL.md`.
- For non-`sales-*` skills (third-party), look up `{org}/{repo}` in `~/.claude/skills/sales-do/references/skill-sources.md` if installed and fetch the same `skills/{skill-name}/SKILL.md` path under that repo.

**After reading,** ground your recommendation in something concrete from the SKILL.md (its scope, a sub-flow, its `argument-hint` shape, or a "Do NOT use for..." negative trigger). Align any generated invocation with the platform skill's `argument-hint`. If the platform skill turns out not to fit the user's situation, swap to another or handle the question here directly rather than recommending a poor fit.

## Related skills

- `/sales-later` — Later platform help — scheduling, visual planner, Linkin.bio, analytics, Later Influence
- `/sales-sproutsocial` — Sprout Social platform help — Publishing, Smart Inbox, Analytics, Listening, API
- `/sales-meltwater` — Meltwater platform help — media intelligence, social publishing (Engage), influencer marketing
- `/sales-brandwatch` — Brandwatch platform help — Social Media Management module, Consumer Intelligence
- `/sales-influencity` — Influencity platform help — influencer marketing + Social Hub (content calendar, inbox, approval workflows)
- `/sales-social-listening` — Social listening strategy — monitoring, sentiment, crisis detection, tool comparison
- `/sales-employee-advocacy` — Employee advocacy programs — content curation, gamification, compliance
- `/sales-vistasocial` — Vista Social platform help — all-in-one social media management with publishing (15+ networks), unified inbox, analytics, social listening add-on, review management, Zapier/Make
- `/sales-influencer-marketing` — Influencer marketing strategy — discovery, vetting, campaigns, ROI
- `/sales-do` — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install: `npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do`

## Examples

### Example 1: Choose a social media management tool
**User says**: "I run marketing for a DTC brand with a 3-person team. We mostly post on Instagram and TikTok. Budget is around $100/month."
**Skill does**:
1. Evaluates budget constraint — eliminates Sprout ($597/mo for 3 seats)
2. Compares Agorapulse ($49/mo), Buffer (~$30/mo for 6 channels), and Later ($25/mo)
3. Recommen