If It Does Not Rule Anything Out, It Is a Wish List
Most social strategies are documents of intentions: be more consistent, engage the community, tell the brand story, grow the audience. Nobody disagrees with any of it, which is the problem — a plan nobody can disagree with is a plan nobody has to follow. The parts that survive a busy month are the refusals: the platform you agreed not to be on, the audience you agreed you are not for, the format you agreed not to make.
No credit card required · 30-minute call · No obligation to sign up
Six decisions that each rule something out
Every one of these is a subtraction. If a strategy document does not contain answers to these, it has not decided anything and it will not survive January.
- Which platforms you are not onNamed · and why
- Who you are not forThe uncomfortable half of an audience
- Which formats you will not makeBecause capacity is finite
- What you will not talk aboutIncluding the things you find interesting
- What you will not measureNumbers that go up and mean nothing
- When you would stopAgreed while nobody is defensive
The fourth row is the hardest one in the room. Businesses want to talk about the things they are proud of — the anniversary, the new office, the award, the team day out — and almost none of it is what a customer is scrolling for. Agreeing in advance that those get one post rather than a category is worth more than any amount of pillar planning, and it is the decision most likely to be quietly reversed.
Short enough to remember, specific enough to break
A strategy you cannot recall without opening a file is not doing any work. The version we produce is a couple of pages: what you are for, who it is aimed at, the two platforms you are on and why, the things you have agreed not to do, and what would count as it working. If somebody in your team cannot summarise it from memory a month later, it was too long and we wrote it badly.
It also has to be specific enough that you could notice it being broken. “Be authentic” cannot be violated; “we do not post company news except once a quarter” can. That is the actual test of whether a line belongs in the document, and applying it removes about two-thirds of what usually goes into one.
The measurement half follows the same logic. Deciding what you will not count matters as much as deciding what you will, because there is always a number available that is going up. Impressions almost always rise; follower counts drift upwards on their own; reach can be bought. Naming those as things that will not be reported is what stops a quiet quarter being dressed up, and it is the sentence clients most often ask us to remove.
And a strategy should have an expiry. Platforms change, capacity changes, and a document written eighteen months ago is being followed out of habit rather than agreement. We put a date on it and revisit at that date — which is also the honest way to find out whether the refusals held or whether everything drifted back to doing a bit of everything.
- ✓Two pages, held in memory — If nobody can summarise it a month later, it was written badly.
- ✓Specific enough to break — "Be authentic" cannot be violated. A real rule can.
- ✓Name what you will not count — There is always a number going up. Impressions, mostly.
- ✓One post, not a category — The anniversary and the award. This is the decision most often reversed.
- ✓Put an expiry date on it — Otherwise it is followed out of habit rather than agreement.
A plan nobody can disagree with is a plan nobody has to follow.
How the strategy work actually runs
Six steps, and four of them end in something being ruled out.
What This Is Actually For
Enquiries, recruitment, credibility before a sale, retention — named as one thing rather than four. A channel serving four purposes is serving none of them well.
Who You Are Not For
The uncomfortable half of the audience question, and the one that makes the content specific. An audience defined as everybody produces posts aimed at nobody.
Capacity, Honestly Counted
What can be produced by the people who exist, in the hours they actually have. Every unrealistic plan was agreed in a room where everybody knew it was unrealistic.
The Refusals, Written Down
Platforms, formats, topics and metrics you are not doing. This is the part of the document that does the work, and the part most often quietly reversed.
What Would Count as Working
A number and a date, agreed before anything is posted, so a quiet quarter cannot be re-dressed using whichever metric happened to rise.
An Expiry Date
A date to revisit, because a plan followed out of habit is not a plan. It is also when we find out honestly whether the refusals held.
What clients say
Real clients, quoted in their own words — published with their permission.
“We’re very thankful to Ghalib and his team for building a fully-functioning website for our business.”
“Ghalib’s clear guidance has helped improve our website’s SEO performance.”
“It was a pleasure working with Ghalib and his team.”
More of them, in full, on our reviews page.
— Our Proprietary Methodology —
The Visibility Framework™, applied in Social Media Strategy
The method doesn’t change by market. What it’s pointed at does.
Audit & Listen
Existing accounts, competitor feeds, audience demographics and every comment and review already written about you. Ends with a recommendation on which platforms to keep.
Position & Plan
Content pillars, brand voice, visual direction and a first calendar — agreed with you before a single post is produced.
Produce & Publish
Shooting, editing, writing, scheduling and replying. The part that has to happen every week without fail, which is where most in-house efforts quietly stop.
Amplify & Refine
Budget behind proven pieces, formats that underperform dropped, and the calendar rewritten monthly around what the data actually said.
Honest, No-Nonsense Commitment
Nobody controls a platform’s algorithm, so we will never promise you a viral post or a follower number. What we do commit to: the agreed content volume ships every month, every comment and DM is answered inside the agreed window, and if we miss either, that month is on us.
Social Media Management pricing for Social Media Strategy, in USD
A fixed fee, deducted from the first month if you go on to a retainer. Strategy sold as an open-ended engagement tends to produce length rather than decisions, and length is the thing this page exists to argue against.
Session
One workshop and the write-up.
- Half a day with whoever decides
- The refusals, written down and agreed
- Two pages, with an expiry date
Strategy & Plan
The usual one. Plus a twelve-week shape.
- Everything in Session
- A twelve-week plan matched to real capacity
- What counts as working, and when we check
Multi-Brand
Several brands, markets or locations.
- Per-brand positions with shared refusals
- Where local teams may decide, and where not
- Review cadence across the group
Every plan is scoped around your market — get a free audit and we’ll recommend what fits, priced in USD.
What you’re actually committing to
Most agencies keep this in a contract you only see after the sales call. We would rather you knew now, because it is the question everyone asks second — right after the price.
- A 3-month initial term, then month to monthThree months is the shortest period in which a content approach can be judged honestly — month one is mostly setup and production. The wider industry standard is 6 to 12 months.
- 30 days’ notice to stopNo exit fee and no buy-out of the months you haven’t used. You leave when you decide to, not when the contract lets you.
- No setup or onboarding feeThe audit is free, and month one costs exactly what month two costs. Nothing is front-loaded.
- You own everythingAccounts, page roles, ad accounts, raw footage and every finished asset — in your name from day one, and still yours if we part ways.
- Ad spend never touches our invoiceYou pay the platform directly and keep the billing under your own control. Our fee is our fee.
- An agreed response windowThe time we commit to replying to comments and DMs is written into your agreement, not left to goodwill.
These are the terms as they appear in the agreement itself — nothing here is softened for the website. The full wording lives in our terms and conditions, and you get the agreement to read before anything is signed or invoiced.
Social Media Strategy Social Media Management questions, answered
Related Social Media Management pages
Same service, different angle — by market, by discipline and by platform.
Ready to decide what you are not doing?
Free 30-minute audit · No obligation · Response within 24 hours
Get in touch with Ghalib Ashrafi HQ
Ghalib Ashrafi takes on work for brands in six markets — the UK, USA, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Pakistan. Every enquiry gets a reply within 24 hours.