• Intro & Leadership Perspective: We begin with a brief on why social media matters in 2025 and beyond for small businesses, including current trends and challenges. We discuss how consumer behavior has changed – people trust authentic, human content and are increasingly “ad-blind” to traditional marketing. This segment makes the business case for a new approach (employee-led social media) and underscores that implementing this is a mark of smart, strategic leadership in the digital age.
  

Current State Review: We’ll review your existing social media channels (no matter which platforms you use) and identify what’s working or not. This includes looking at any analytics or anecdotal feedback, and pinpointing the pain points (e.g. low followers, sparse content, little engagement). Often, small businesses realize here that their sporadic posting isn’t reaching new customers, which sets the stage for strategy development.

Strategy Planning Session: A collaborative exercise to define your social media strategy aligned with business goals. We identify your target audience (local community, specific customer segments) and clarify your brand voice. Then, we outline key content themes that highlight your services, values, and team. For example, a home repair company might focus on “quick tip” videos by technicians, or a bank might showcase community events and employee expertise. We ensure the strategy is customized to your business and industry, so it’s practical and relevant.

Employee Advocacy Training: We introduce the concept of employee advocacy – how your team can act as ambassadors on social media – and why it’s powerful. (People trust content from individuals 76% more than content from companies, so your employees can help humanize your brand.) In this interactive segment, we address employee questions or concerns about sharing. We cover “Advocacy 101” tips: how to share a post properly, how to add a personal message to a company update, and even simple storytelling (e.g., an employee sharing a proud customer success story). We might role-play a few scenarios or draft example posts. The goal is to make employees comfortable and excited about participating.

Content Calendar Creation: We’ll work together to map out a 90-day content calendar for your social channels. This includes selecting which days to post, what type of content (text, photos, short videos) goes out, and who might be the content owner. For instance, you might plan that every Monday you share a “Meet the Team” spotlight (with an employee’s story or tip), mid-week you share a client testimonial or project before-and-after, and Fridays you post a community shout-out or a behind-the-scenes look at the office. By the end of this activity, you’ll have a calendar filled with content ideas tailored to your business – removing the stress of “what do we post tomorrow?”. We also identify opportunities for employees to contribute or share each piece.

Policy & Guidelines Development: We help draft a simple social media policy for your company (if you don’t have one). This covers guidelines like confidentiality, tone of voice, responding to comments, etc., and specifically lays out how employees can safely advocate (for example, “Do share your day-to-day wins at work or positive customer stories; Don’t disclose private client data or make claims on behalf of the company without approval,” etc.). Having this in writing is important – it protects the business and gives employees confidence that they know the boundaries. This part of the workshop is crucial for leadership as it creates a system you can enforce and lead moving forward.

Tools & Best Practices: We briefly introduce any useful tools or techniques suited to your needs (for example, if scheduling posts would help, we mention social media schedulers; if tracking mentions is important, we suggest simple ways to do that). We also talk about AI and best practices for using AI tools to simplify and streamline workflows. We'll then share best practices like optimal post times for your local audience, using location tags or local hashtags, and how to encourage customers to engage (such as asking questions in posts or running a small social media contest). The focus is on practical tips that save time and maximize impact.

Q&A and Action Plan: We conclude with an open Q&A (often participants have specific questions like “How do I get more Google reviews via social?” or “What if an employee posts something off-brand?” – we address these). Finally, we solidify an action plan: each attendee (owner or team member) commits to specific next steps. For example, the owner might commit to posting a LinkedIn update weekly, two named employees might commit to sharing one company post per week on their personal Facebook, etc. We ensure everyone leaves with clear next actions and feeling accountable to kickstart the strategy.