Instead of a "Friday meme": 5 steps to a content plan that pumps leads and money

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Imagine a classic content plan for social media: a Google Sheets spreadsheet with a “product post”, “useful tip”, or “Friday meme” for each day of the week. On paper, everything looks nice, but in practice, there are minimal likes, subscribers are silent, and requests are not growing.

Why is this? Because most content plans are made for show. They don’t take into account the pains of the audience, don’t adapt to business goals, and often copy other people’s templates. As a result, the company feels that “we are actively managing social media,” but in fact, it is simply wasting time and budget.

AI is changing this game. Now, instead of spending weeks coming up with topics and wondering what “might work,” you can put together a real content plan in an hour: with ideas based on trends, TOFU/MOFU/BOFU structure, and adaptation to different platforms. And most importantly, this is not a theoretical story, but a working tool that saves dozens of hours and allows you to focus on the result.

In this article, we will analyze a step-by-step framework on how to create a content plan for SMM with AI: from collecting input data to checking its adequacy and linking it to metrics.

Step 1. Gather input data

AI is not a magic “make me a plan” button. If you throw a short query “Write a content plan for Instagram” at ChatGPT, the result will be the same as the query: superficial, with template tips like “post about the team”, “motivational quote”, “useful advice”. Such ideas look nice, but they don’t work for business.

For AI to really help, it needs to be given a clear context. It’s like a brief for a copywriter or SMM specialist: without the initial data, it won’t produce anything valuable.

What should you define at the start?

Who is your target audience

Not all subscribers are the same. If you are working with beginning arbitrageurs, they are interested in simple guides on how to launch the first campaign, how the tracker works, and what offers to take.

If your target audience is C-level executives in digital companies, they need market analytics, case studies with figures, trends, and strategic materials.

E-commerce entrepreneurs have different requests: how to increase sales through Instagram, how to set up ads on TikTok, how to process orders faster.

For example, if AI sees that your target audience is a novice marketer, it will generate content in the style of “5 simple steps to launch Meta ads”. If the audience is business owners, the emphasis will shift to “How to break even with a $10,000 advertising budget.”

What are your goals?

Content can work for different tasks:

Leads – attracting applications through posts with CTAs.
Community – interactives, polls, UGC content.
Expert image – in-depth articles, author’s comments, analytics.

For example, if your goal is sales, AI should generate more content with a focus on BOFU (direct offers, special offers). If the main task is to build a brand, then the plan will be shifted towards educational and image posts.

What products do you promote?

This is the key information that AI should take into account. Do you promote SaaS solutions for analytics? Then the content should revolve around the pain of “data is lost”, “it’s hard to calculate ROI”, “you need to automate reports”.

If you sell educational courses, AI should offer formats such as checklists, mini-guides, and examples of successful students.

And for e-commerce, for example, in fashion, it can be style tips, seasonal trends, and integrations with influencers.

Example: for marketers → post “5 reasons why you lose clicks without a tracker”. SMMcourse → video “How to increase ER on Instagram in a week”.

Where do you manage social media?

The same message looks different in different social networks.

Instagram: visual carousels, Reels, interactive in stories.
TikTok: dynamic videos with trending sound.
LinkedIn: analytics, longreads, expert articles.
Telegram: short texts, news, exclusives.
Facebook: a combination of business and entertainment content.

If you don’t specify a platform, AI will give you an “average” plan that doesn’t work anywhere else.

Before you ask AI to create a content plan, specify these four parameters the same way you would describe a task for a live specialist. This is the basis, without which a content plan risks turning into a collection of random ideas.

Step 2. Use AI for research

Gathering insights and trends is something that SMMs and marketers usually spend hours or even days on: scrolling through Reddit, Telegram chats, LinkedIn discussions, searching for fresh pain points in comments. AI can do this work many times faster and collect a concentrate of key topics for you.

How to work at this stage?

Formulate specific queries

AI responds better to narrow questions than to general ones. For example:

  • Instead of “make Instagram themes” → “What are the top topics for the audience of affiliate marketers aged 18-30 in Eastern Europe?”
  • Instead of “give pain to business” → “What problems are currently most discussed by owners of small fashion stores that go online?”

Get a database of trends and pains

As a result, you can get, for example:

For the affiliate audience: distrust of CPA networks, delays in payments, search for stable offers.
For the crypto community: wallet security, regulation in different countries, new NFT models.
For fashion e-commerce: difficulty in promotion without large budgets, work with influencers, logistics problems.

Query formats, not just topics

AI can not only provide a list of topics, but also immediately suggest the best format to present them in:

  • “Make a table of audience pains and post formats that will best explain them.”
  • As a result, you will get, for example: Pain: “CPA network can drain traffic”. Format: meme + expert analysis. Pain: “Small budget for advertising”. Format: carousel “5 ways to start with $100.”

Check the relevance

AI can provide general or outdated ideas. Therefore, use the principle of “trust but verify”, check with real activity in communities, Telegram channels, and comments.

Important: An AI research is not the end result, but the foundation. It is a base that gives you an understanding of what the market is talking about and what your target audience is hurting. Next, this information should be transformed into a structure and content plan.

Step 3. Generate a draft of the content plan

When you have a list of audience trends and pains, you can move on to creating the first version of the content plan. This is where AI is a powerful tool that can turn scattered insights into a structured publication calendar.

What exactly should you ask AI to do?

“Create a content plan for 2 weeks for Instagram and Telegram, taking into account that my target audience is new affiliate marketers. Add a balance of educational, entertaining, sales, and community formats. Indicate which format is suitable for each post.”

AI can produce a table or list: date, topic, format, goal (leads/reach/image). This already saves dozens of hours of brainstorming.

Formats that can be included in the plan:

Posts – classic content in text and images.
Videos / Reels / TikTok – for dynamic explanations and attracting a new audience.
Stories – polls, interactives, reactions “here and now”.
Polls – collecting insights from the audience, increasing engagement.
Guides and checklists are simple tools with real benefits.
Case studies are examples with numbers that build trust.

Types of content that should be in balance:

  1. Educational
    • Guide “How to calculate ROI in TikTok Ads.”
    • Checklists “10 tools for arbitrageurs in 2025.”
    • How-to video “Launching Facebook ads with a $100 budget.”
  2. Entertainment
    • The meme “when a CPA network promises to pay you tomorrow.”
    • Reactions to newsworthy events (“new ban in Meta”).
    • Trending Reels with a customized message for a niche.
  3. Sale
    • Post “-20% for access to the course only until the end of the week.”
    • Video with CTA “Register now and get a bonus.”
    • Offer in carousel format: “3 reasons to test our SaaS today.”
  4. Community
    • Q&A in the story: “Ask us anything about launching campaigns.”
    • Poll: “What is the biggest problem in traffic now?”
    • User stories: publishing the experience of customers or followers.

Why is it important?

This is where most businesses fail: they focus on only one type of content (for example, memes or sales offers). As a result, the audience either laughs but doesn’t buy or sees solid CTAs and unsubscribes. AI helps to balance the mix and avoid distortions.

An important nuance:

The draft from AI is still “raw” and will contain many common themes and template ideas. But it is a base from which to start. The team’s task is to weed out weak points, add insights from their own experience, and adjust the tone of voice to the brand.

Step 4. Checking the adequacy

AI is able to generate a lot of ideas, but there will always be “plastic” among them: topics that look like they are right, but don’t catch your audience at all. These are the same “5 tips for a successful business” or “why it is important to be productive” that everyone has seen a million times in their feeds. No one reads such posts, and you waste resources on producing content that doesn’t work.

What should you do at this stage?

1. Weed out topics that don’t fit your niche

For example, if you work in arbitration, AI can suggest an idea like “10 ways to keep work/life balance”. It is a good topic, but it is more for a lifestyle blogger than for the CPA community. Instead, “How not to get burned out on the gulf: an anti-burnout checklist for an arbitrator” will work better in your niche.

2. Rewrite texts in your tone of voice

AI often writes too “smoothly”: academically, in a general way, without character. The team’s task is to make the text sound in the brand’s style. If you work in a light ironic tone, add jokes and metaphors. If your audience is more serious, make the texts more rigid, with numbers and analytics.

Example: AI writes: “Regular analysis will help you achieve results.” You rewrite it to suit your style: “Without analytics, you just waste your budget and don’t even know where.”

3. Add examples and insights from your own experience

This is the main thing that AI will never give you. Only you know how your team solved a particular problem, which cases were successful, what really hurts your customers. If you add your experience to the plan, the content immediately becomes lively and unique.

Example: instead of the template “Optimize your ads for better results” you write: “We tested 5 different creatives in TikTok Ads, and the cheapest lead cost us $1.8. Here’s why this approach worked.”

Conclusion: AI helps to save time, but “adequacy check” is a must. Without your manual editing, the content will remain “plastic”. With the experience of the team, it turns into something that really catches the audience, collects reactions, and moves the business forward.

Step 5. Binding to metrics

A content plan is not a table of “what ifs”. Its task is to bring results, and this result can always be measured by numbers. If the plan does not have metrics, you are basically shooting in the dark: posting content and hoping that it will “somehow get there.”

How to link metrics?

1. Add UTM tags

Any post that leads a user to a website or landing page should have a UTM tag. This will allow you to clearly understand from which post clicks, leads, or purchases came.

Example: you make two carousels on Instagram with different offers. Without UTM tags, you only see the general conversions from Instagram. With UTM tags, you know for sure that 80% of applications came from the first carousel.

2. Define KPIs

Without clear KPIs, you won’t know if the content is working for the business. The main indicators are as follows

  • ER (Engagement Rate) – the percentage of interaction with content (likes, comments, shares). It shows whether the content resonates with the audience. For example, a post with a meme may have a high ER, but it won’t necessarily generate leads.
  • CTR (Click-Through Rate) – how many people click on the link in the post. This is critical for posts with CTAs: “Sign up”, “Download the checklist.”
  • CPA (Cost per Action) – how much an application or sale actually costs. This makes it clear whether the content pays for itself or just collects likes.

3. Analyze and optimize

Collection of metrics is not for the sake of reports. It should show you what works. If memes increase ER but don’t generate sales, then they need to be balanced with BOFU content. If checklists have a low ER but generate applications, they should be scaled up, even if they don’t “collect likes.”

Conclusion: A properly metrics-driven content plan is not just a post calendar, but a working business system. It allows you to test hypotheses, see the result in numbers, and scale exactly those formats that actually make money, not just “beautiful coverage.”

The classic content plan in the form of a “tablet for a month” no longer works. It creates the illusion of activity, but does not give results: the audience is silent, there are no leads, and the budget is drained.

AI opens up a new logic of working with content. It helps to quickly collect data about the target audience, find pains, give ideas, arrange them in the TOFU/MOFU/BOFU funnel, and even adapt them to different social networks. But most importantly, it saves dozens of hours on routine, leaving you space for the main thing: strategy, creativity, and unique insights.

AI is not a replacement for an SMM specialist, but its engine. If you learn how to set the right goals and check the result, you will not get “plastic” content, but a plan that really pumps up your business.

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