Retail Social Media Campaign Checklist
Monthly campaign cycle a small-chain or boutique retailer runs to plan, produce, publish, and measure social content tied to in-store promotions, BOPIS, and featured SKUs. Owned by the marketing lead with handoffs to store managers, the visual merchandiser, and paid-media buyer.
Campaign Strategy and Planning
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Set the month's promo theme and goals
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Confirm featured SKUs and inventory depth
Pull on-hand and on-PO from the inventory system (Lightspeed, Shopify, NetSuite) for every SKU you plan to feature. Killing a campaign mid-flight because the hero SKU sold through in week one is the most common avoidable mistake here — set a minimum weeks-of-supply floor before committing.
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Pick the channel mix for this campaign
Match channels to the audience: Reels and TikTok for sub-30 apparel and beauty, Pinterest for home and gift, Facebook for 45+ regional store traffic, Google Business Profile for BOPIS-driving local search. Don't default to "all of them" — pick what the audience actually uses.
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Build the content calendar in Later or Hootsuite
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Set KPIs for reach, conversion, and store traffic
Tie at least one KPI to a register-side metric — BOPIS orders attributed to the campaign, in-store redemptions of the campaign promo code, comp-sales lift in the featured department. Reach and engagement alone don't tell the operator whether the campaign moved the P&L.
Content Production
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Shoot product photography on brand backdrop
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Cut Reels and TikTok videos for hero SKUs
Aim for 9:16 vertical, 15–30 seconds, native captions burned in. Reuse the same source footage across IG Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts — but trim platform-specific cuts; cross-posting a watermarked TikTok to Reels is throttled by the algorithm.
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Write platform-specific captions and hashtags
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Source UGC and secure repost rights
Pull tagged posts and branded-hashtag content from the last 30 days. DM each creator for explicit written permission before reposting — "tagged us so it's fair use" is not a defense. Save the permission thread to the asset folder.
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Route assets through brand-voice review
Marketing lead reviews against the brand voice and visual guide. Common rejects: off-palette product shots, copy that contradicts current pricing, model imagery that doesn't reflect the store's customer base. Mark "Revisions needed" if anything fails — the next step branches on it.
Collects list -
Apply revisions and re-route for approval
Address each flagged item, then route back to the marketing lead. Don't skip the second pass — most brand-voice failures are downstream of a half-fix on the first round.
Publishing and Scheduling
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Schedule posts in Meta Business Suite
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Tag products in the Shopify catalog
Confirm each featured product is approved in Meta Commerce Manager and TikTok Shop, with current price and inventory pulled from Shopify. A pending or rejected catalog item won't render the product tag — the post publishes without the shoppable link and you lose attribution.
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Update link-in-bio with campaign landing pages
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Refresh BOPIS and curbside pickup copy
Verify pickup hours, store-locator link, and order-ready SLA across Instagram bio, Facebook About, and Google Business Profile. Stale curbside hours are a top driver of negative reviews when customers show up outside the window.
Community Management
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Monitor mentions, DMs, and comments daily
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Respond to customer inquiries within four hours
Standard SLA during business hours. Triage by intent: sizing and stock questions go to the store associate on shift, BOPIS order issues go to the fulfillment lead, complaints go to the store manager. Don't let a sizing question sit overnight — that customer is buying from a competitor by morning.
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Flag complaints for store-manager escalation
Move shipping damage, sizing failures, in-store service complaints, and any safety mention to the store manager same-day. Public reply with an apology and a DM offer to make it right; never delete a negative comment unless it violates platform policy.
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Curate UGC for the repost queue
Paid Promotion
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Set Meta Ads Manager budget and bid strategyCollects number
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Build retargeting audiences from Klaviyo
Sync the segment of customers who browsed featured SKUs in the last 30 days, plus loyalty members who haven't purchased in 60. Exclude anyone who already bought the hero SKU — paying to retarget a converted customer is the most common waste of paid budget on this kind of campaign.
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Boost top-performing organic posts
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Run A/B test on ad creative and CTAs
Two creative variants, one CTA variant, identical audience and budget. Let each cell run at least 72 hours before declaring a winner — Meta's algorithm needs the learning phase to stabilize. Document the winning variant in the campaign log so future campaigns inherit the lesson.
Performance Review and Wrap-Up
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Pull engagement and conversion metrics
Export from Meta Ads Manager, TikTok Ads, Google Business Profile insights, and Shopify Analytics. Attach the consolidated report to this step so the next campaign starts with last cycle's baseline.
Collects file -
Reconcile attributed sales in Shopify
Match Meta-reported conversions against Shopify orders using the campaign UTM and promo code. Meta's last-click attribution typically overstates by 15–30% versus Shopify's first-party view; reconcile both numbers before reporting ROAS to leadership.
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Decide to extend, pivot, or kill the campaignCollects list
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Brief the team on the campaign pivot
Walk store managers, the visual merchandiser, and the paid-media buyer through what's changing — new hero SKU, revised promo, updated creative direction. Capture the decision rationale so the playbook reflects why the original cut didn't work.
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Document learnings in the brand playbook
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