Planning and Writing a Post
What it does: takes a post from "what should we post" to something publishable, in the order that actually works.
Run it when: content day, or any time someone says "we should post about that".
Time: 45 minutes for one post, less once the pillars exist.
Depends on: SOP 02, Defining the ICP and the Offer, because the pillars come from the same place the ICP does.
Before you start
Three to five content pillars agreed and written down
One real proof point available: a number, a screenshot, a named result
An hour free after publishing to answer comments
The steps
1. Fix the pillars once, then stop deciding.
Three to five themes where what you know, what the buyer cares about, and what you sell overlap. Eighty percent of posts live inside them. Random posting is the failure mode: the feed rewards holding two or three consistent topics over months, and scattering across ten topics teaches it nothing about you.
2. Tag the idea before you write it.
Top of funnel is for reach and needs a genuinely timely peg, measured in impressions and comments. Middle is for trust: teardowns, how-tos, frameworks, benchmarks, measured in saves and profile visits. Bottom is for conversion: proof, case studies, offers, measured in calls booked. An untagged idea cannot be judged, because each level has a different bar. A rough weekly mix is half reach, a third trust, the rest conversion.
3. If it is a reach post, find the hot thing first.
Timeliness, not cleverness, is what makes top-of-funnel work. Check what broke in the last 72 hours in your niche. Four gates: fresh, relevant to the buyer, you have a real angle, and a resource could ride on it. Four out of four means write it today, because trend posts age in days.
4. Pick one structure and stay in it.
Hook, story, lesson, close for founder stories. Pain, agitate, solve for problem posts. Before, after, bridge for process posts. Situation, task, action, result for case studies. Listicle for parallel items. One structure per post, never two stacked visibly.
5. Write the body before the hook.
This is the step everyone gets backwards. The hook is the advertisement for the post, and you cannot advertise something that does not exist yet.
6. Write for one reader, at a fifth to seventh grade level.
One idea per paragraph, one to three sentences each, blank lines between, point front-loaded in the first few words of every line. Then cut half of what you wrote. Posts pitched above a tenth-grade reading level lose reach.
7. Now write the hook, and write ten of them.
About 140 characters survive the fold on mobile. Short first lines win, and a specific number in the first line measurably outperforms a round one. Statements beat questions. Draft ten across at least three different patterns, then pick the one that survives being the only line anyone sees.
8. Add the re-hook.
The line right after the fold has to escalate, not clear its throat. A strong hook followed by background context loses the reader it just won.
9. One CTA, and never bait.
A real question you actually want answered on an engagement post, a soft close or nothing on an authority post, the comment keyword and nothing else on a lead-magnet post. "Like if you agree", "comment below", "tag someone" are pattern-matched as bait and suppressed.
10. Strip the AI tells before publishing.
"Here's what", "It's not X, it's Y", "The result?", "Stop doing X", "Moreover", "delve", "in today's world". Every one carries a measured reach penalty. No em dashes, no hashtags, no emoji stacks. Keep the post inside the house band of roughly 800 to 1,500 characters and never crowd the cap.
11. Be there for the first hour.
Author replies inside an hour add meaningful visibility, and replying to replies compounds. Publishing and walking away wastes the post.
Do this / Not this
Do this | Not this |
|---|---|
Two or three pillars held for months | Ten topics and no pattern |
Body first, hook second | Hook first, then hunt for a post |
Ten hook drafts | The first line you thought of |
A specific non-round number | "over 10k" |
One CTA | A question, a link and a follow request |
No links in the body | A link that costs most of the reach |
Online for the first hour | Schedule and leave |
Done when
The idea sits in a pillar and carries a funnel tag
One structure, one idea, one CTA
A specific proof element is in the post: number, screenshot, name or date
Hook fits the fold, leads with a statement, and the body delivers what it promises
Zero banned phrases, zero em dashes, zero hashtags
The author is free for the hour after it goes live
