"What Should I Do Today?" Social Media Manager Checklist

“What should I do first today?”

If you’re a social media marketer or an entrepreneur running your own brand, you face this dilemma several times a day. Switching between Twitter (X), Instagram, LinkedIn, and Threads, you often wonder, “Am I really working on what matters?”

Of course, some days you find your rhythm, know exactly what to do next, and check off the most important tasks one by one.

The most reliable way to create this ‘rhythm’ is to build a ‘checklist’.

We’re sharing the actual workflow checklist used by the social media manager at Buffer, a social media tool used by over 180,000 creators and businesses worldwide. Feel free to adapt it to your situation.

🚀 Social Media Management Checklist at a Glance

The items introduced here may seem overwhelming. But this doesn’t mean you should do everything daily. We’ve divided them into daily, weekly, and monthly tasks based on frequency and necessity.

🌞 Daily

• Respond to notifications (comments, messages) on all platforms
• Check account mentions and DMs
• Monitor key keywords and industry trends
• Schedule next day’s posts
• Scroll platforms for inspiration
• Engage with posts highly relevant to your brand
• Brainstorm new ideas and work on content

📅 Weekly

• Plan and schedule next week’s content calendar
• Check weekly goal achievement rate
• Conduct strategy/brainstorming sessions
• Engage with community (fans, followers)
• Update and optimize ongoing social media ad performance

📊 Monthly

• Write last month’s performance analysis report
• Conduct social media channel audit
• Set next month’s goals
• Plan new content experiments
• Plan ahead for next month (or quarter)
• Revise and refine strategy based on last month’s data

🌞 Daily Tasks (Daily Checklist)

Daily habits accumulate to create great results. The daily checklist helps you build relationships with customers and potential customers while ensuring you don’t miss opportunities.

1. Respond to All Platform Notifications

This is the most basic yet most important. According to one report, over 75% of consumers expect a response within 24 hours. Ignoring customers on social media is like receiving a customer service call and not answering.

2. Check Mentions and DMs

Similar to notifications, but direct mentions (@mentions) or direct messages (DMs) require more immediate responses. They could be questions from potential customers or important partnership proposals.

3. Monitor Keywords and Trends

Set up and monitor in real-time your brand name, product name, competitor names, and core industry keywords. You can be the first to discover customer pain points or new opportunities.

4. Schedule Next Day’s Posts

This is the top tip for saving time in social media management. Instead of creating content every day, check that scheduling is working well and review the next day’s posts. This way, channel operations won’t stop even if sudden issues arise.

5. Scroll Platforms for Inspiration

This isn’t just mindless scrolling. It’s purposeful exploration to identify ‘trending memes’, ‘popular Reels/Shorts audio’, and ‘new content formats competitors are trying’.

6. Engage with Highly Relevant Posts

Comment on posts about topics your brand’s target audience would be interested in, or add your perspective with quote tweets. This is an opportunity to show your brand’s personality and create new connections.

7. Develop and Work on New Ideas

Add a few new ideas to your content calendar every day. Some days you might just sketch ideas, other days you might dive right into graphics or video work. Pro tip: Find last year’s best-performing posts and think about how to ‘repurpose’ them.

📅 Weekly Tasks (Weekly Checklist)

If daily tasks are about ‘responding’, weekly tasks are more about ‘planning’ and ‘reviewing’.

1. Plan and Schedule Next Week’s Content Calendar

Usually on Thursday or Friday, plan and schedule all of next week’s content. If you set up all the scheduling before the weekend, you can start Monday relaxed and focus on strategic work.

2. Weekly Goal Check-in

“How close did we get to this week’s goals (follower count, engagement rate, website traffic, etc.)?” Quickly review performance against goals using data. Look at individual post performance (e.g., achieved 4% Instagram engagement rate) or track progress toward bigger goals (e.g., gained XX new followers).

3. Conduct Strategy/Brainstorming Sessions

If you’re only immersed in daily tasks, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. Take a moment to review strategy with team members (or by yourself).

• What is our ultimate goal with social media?
• Are the channels we’re focusing on optimal for meeting our target audience?
• If some content isn’t performing, what should we try?

4. Engage with Community

If you have your own community like Discord, open chat rooms, or online forums, take time each week to engage directly. Ask questions or share industry news to build deeper relationships with fans.

5. Update Social Media Ads

If you’re running ads, you need to review performance weekly. Maintain/expand well-performing ads, and optimize or stop underperforming ads by changing creatives.

📊 Monthly Review and Planning (Monthly Checklist)

This is the most strategic stage, reviewing a month’s data and deciding next month’s direction.

1. Write Last Month’s Performance Analysis Report

While viewing daily/weekly data is good, collecting a month’s data reveals bigger trends. What posts had the highest reach and engagement? Which channel gained the most followers, and which drove the most website traffic?

2. Conduct Social Media Channel Audit

Once a month, review your channel’s ‘face’.

• Are profile pictures, cover images, and bios up to date?
• Was the posting frequency appropriate for each channel?
• How’s the follower growth trend?

3. Set Next Month’s Goals

Set next month’s goals based on last month’s data. ‘Production goals’ like “publish 4 blog posts per week” are good, as are ‘result goals’ like “reach 20,000 followers”. The key is that they must be measurable (S.M.A.R.T goals).

4. Plan New Experiments

If you’ve analyzed last month’s data, you’ll see ‘opportunities’. (e.g., “High traffic but low conversion?” -> Plan CTA copy A/B testing) (e.g., “Low traffic but high conversion?” -> Plan ad campaign with that content format) Try one or two new experiments each month.

5. Plan Ahead for Next Month (or Beyond)

Identify major events, promotions, and seasonal issues coming next month in advance, and plan the overall content calendar and campaigns.

6. Revise Strategy Based on Last Month’s Insights

After completing performance reports, channel audits, and goal setting, now revise/refine next month’s strategy based on all these ‘insights’. This is the stage where you conclude, “We tried A last month and it didn’t work. Let’s focus more on B instead.”

💬 What’s Your Workflow Like?

We hope this checklist brings ‘order’ to your social media operations.

Do you have any social media management tips or task lists only you know about? Please share in the comments!