Stop Random Posting: How to Create a Simple Marketing Plan that Works

Stop Random Posting: How to Create a Simple Marketing Plan that Works

Imagine this: you’re closing up shop after a long day, scrolling through your phone, when it hits you – “I haven’t posted on social media in over a week!” In a mad panic, you snap a quick photo of your storefront or share a random quote just to get something out there. We’ve all been there. Posting feels like ticking a box, and hey, at least you’re doing something, right? But here’s the hard truth: tossing out random posts and hoping for the best is a bit like throwing darts in the dark – you might hit the target once, but most of the time you’re just making holes in the wall. In other words, random posting is not a strategy. It often leads to wasted effort and little to no customer engagement. If fact, one marketing analysis found that 99% of small businesses see negligible results from their social media content – usually because those posts are serving the business’s own interest (“Please buy my stuff!”) rather than offering anything valuable to the audience. Ouch! The good news? You can turn things around with a simple marketing plan for your online content. An no, “marketing plan” doesn’t mean a 50-page corporate dossier gathering dust – we’re talking a straightforward, doable plan tailored for busy small business owners like you.

Let’s have a heart-to-heart about how you can stop the scattershot posts and start sharing content with purpose, all in a friendly, non-stuffy way.

Why Random Posting Isn’t Working (And You’re Not Alone)

First, let’s get one thing out of the way: if you’ve been posting on a whim without a plan, you are definitely not the only one. The vast majority of small businesses are on social media now – about 94% post at least once a month, and nearly 80% post weekly – so give yourself credit for showing up. The problem is that showing up randomly isn’t enough to move the needle. Think about it: your customers’ feeds are overflowing with photos, videos, ads, memes, cat pics, you name it. A random post here and there (especially if it’s mostly “Here’s my product, please buy!”) will slip through the cracks unnoticed. Social media platforms favour consistency and relevance. If your posting is erratic and unfocused, the algorithms have a hard time figuring out what you’re about, and your audience… well, they probably don’t know what to expect from you either.

It’s not just the algorithm’s feelings you’re hurting – human readers will scroll past content that doesn’t interest or benefit them Remember, people hop on social media to be entertained, educated or informed. If your posts aren’t hitting at least one of those marks, it’s likely crickets out there. Random posts tend to be more about what you, the business owner, feel like saying in the moment, rather than what your audience wants or needs to hear. That’s a key reason so many small biz social posts fall flat. As one Chamber of Commerce article noted, most business content fails online because it “serves only the interests of the company posting, not that of the audience”. In other words, posting anything just to stay visible can backfire if it’s not relevant to your followers.

The takeaway? Random posting = random results (at best). Or as some savvy marketer probably said somewhere: posting without a plan is like driving blindfolded hoping you’ll reach the right destination – technically you’re moving, but it’s mostly luck if you get anywhere meaningful. It might even do more harm than good if you’re posting so haphazardly that your brand message becomes confusing. But don’t worry, the fix is surprisingly simple.

Why a Simple Marketing Plan Changes the Game

If “random posting” is the villain of our story, a simple marketing plan is the hero coming to save the day. This isn’t about creating a massive, jargon-filled document. We’re keeping it lean and practical. A basic marketing plan for your social media and online content does a few magical things:

1. Gives You Direction and Purpose

Instead of asking yourself “What on earth should I post today?” you’ll have a clear idea of the kind of content you want to share and why you’re sharing it. Every post will have a purpose – whether it’s to make your audience laugh, teach them something useful, or let them know about a special offer – rather than just filling space on your feed.

2. Connects You with Your Audience

A good plan forces you to think about your audience first. Who are they? What do they care about? When you plan content with those questions in mind, you start creating posts for them, not just you. That’s huge. It’s the difference between shouting into the void and actually sparking conversations. (Because spoiler: if you make content people enjoy or value, they’re far more likely to engage with it and with your business.)

3. Saves You Time (and Stress)

Believe it or not, planning can actually reduce the time you spend on marketing. How? By preventing that last-minute scramble. No more flinging out a half-baked Facebook update at 11 PM out of sheer guilt. With a simple calendar or outline of upcoming posts, you’ll do the creative work in focused batches, freeing up your day-to-day schedule. Many entrepreneurs find that setting aside a little time to plan means they waste less time overall. For instance, batching your content creation (like writing a few posts or making a few videos in on sitting) can boost your consistency by over 80% according to one small business tool’s data. And we all know consistency is key in marketing.

4. Improves Your Results (Consistently)

When you post with purpose and consistency, good things happen. Instead of the occasional lucky hit, you’ll start to see a steady build in engagement – more comments, more shares, maybe even more customers walking in saying, “I saw your post about X.” There’s evidence to back this up: planned, strategic content simply outperforms scattershot posts. One platform that helps small businesses with social media put it plainly – “planned content beats random posting every single time“. It’s like the difference between eating a balanced meal versus grabbing random snacks from the fridge; one nourishes your better (and keeps you satisfied longer).

5. Builds Your Brand

Over time, having a simple plan helps establish a coherent voice and image for your business. People start to recognize your style, your tone, and your values through your content. Instead of being “that account that posts random things sometimes,” you’ll be seen as reliable and worth following. Trust me, that’s the kind of thing that turns casual followers into loyal fans (and customers).

In short, a little planning goes a long way. It’s not about being rigid or sucking the spontaneity out of social media – it’s about setting yourself up for success so that even when you do sprinkle in spontaneous posts, they actually resonate. So, how do you create this mythical “simple marketing plan” without getting overwhelmed? Let’s break it down!

Building Your Simple Marketing Plan (No MBA Required)

Alright, so what does a simple marketing plan for your online content actually look like? Think of it as a roadmap for your posts. If it helps, picture you’re content like planning a road trip across our vast country: you could just hop in the car and rive (that’s random posting), or you could chart a course to make sure you hit all the best stops and don’t run out of gas in the middle of nowhere. Let’s aim for the latter! Here are some key elements of a basic plan, explained in plain English:

1. Know Your Audience (and Talk to Them

Start by jotting down who you’re trying to reach. Are they local parents? College students? Fellow business owners? Think about what those people might want to see from you. For example, if you run a home bakery and your audience is sweet-toothed folks in your city, they probably love to see behind-the-scenes baking videos, tips on storing treats, or announcements of seasonal flavours.

The idea is to make your content about your customers’ interests or problems, not just about your need to promote stuff. When you put yourself in your audience’s shoes – “What would entertain, educate, or inform my followers today?” – you’ll automatically post more engaging content. A simple way to sanity-check a a post idea is to ask: “If I saw this in my feed, would I care of benefit from it?” Be honest! If the answer is no, tweak the idea so it’s more relevant or skip it. Remember, marketing is ultimately about serving your audience, not tricking them into giving you money. Ironically, the more you focus on delivering value or joy to people, the more likely they eventually become customers.

2. Pick Your Platforms (Where Are Your People Hanging Out?)

Part of your plan is deciding where to post. As a small business owner, you don’t have unlimited time (or maybe staff) to be active on every single social media platform – and that’s okay! In fact, it’s better to consistently show up on one or two platforms that your target audience uses, than to sporadically post everywhere. So, figure out where your customers spend their time online. If you’re targeting millennials or Gen Z, maybe Instagram or TikTok is the spot. If you serve professionals or other businesses, LinkedIn might be more effective. Love writing and educating? Perhaps a blog or Facebook suits you. You get the idea. Choose the channels that make sense and give yourself permission to ignore the rest (at least for now). This focus is going to make your life saner and your marketing stronger. After all, why shout into the Twitter void if your ideal customers are all chatting on Facebook? As one marketing expert put it, posting tons of content where your audience isn’t present is basically wasted effort. So save your energy for where it counts.

3. Set a Consistent Schedule (Consistency > Frequency)

Here’s a secret: when it comes to content, consistency beats frequency. It’s not about posting everyday, it’s about establishing a reliable rhythm that your followers (and the algorithms) can count on. If you can manage one post a week per platform that’s fine – just try to post on the same day each week. Maybe every Tuesday at 10am you share a new tip or every Friday afternoon you post a fun behind-the-scenes snipped. Consistency builds trust; people start looking forward to your regular posts like a TV show that airs every week. On the flip side, if you dump 5 posts in one day and then go dark for a month, it’s confusing and easy to forget you. So, decide on a realistic posting frequency for each platform you’re focusing on. Make a simple calendar (even a handwritten or a Google Calendar reminder) to map out those posting days. Protect those times like a meeting with your best client. It might feel odd a first (“Seriously, I’m scheduling an appointment to post on Instagram?”) but it works. Plus, once you get in the groove, you’ll find planning ahead actually reduces stress. You won’t be lying in bed thinking “Ah, I should post something tomorrow…” because you already know what’s coming. And if you need extra motivation: marketing gurus have observed that showing up on a consistent schedule – whether that’s twice a week or twice a month – trains your audience to expect you, which keeps them engaged, and it even builds familiarity and trust over time. In short, be reliably present. It matters more than doing a marathon of posts and disappearing.

4. Choose Your Content Themes (“Pillars” of Content)

One big reason small businesses fall into random posting is not knowing what to post about. Staring at a blank “Create Post” box with a cursor blinking can strike fear into the heart of the bravest entrepreneur. To avoid that paralysis (or the temptation to post the first thing that comes to mind about your cat or what you had for lunch), it helps to decide on a few content themes in advance. Think of these like categories or buckets that all your posts will fall into. Many marketers call them content pillars. Essentially you pick 3 to 5 broad topics that are relevant to your business and interesting to your audience.

For example, let’s say you own a fitness studio. Your content pillars could be: Workout Tips & Tutorials, Nutrition & Recipes, Member Success Stories, Behind-The-Scenes/Studio Life, and Motivational Quotes. Now instead of pulling ideas out of thin air each day, you know you’ve got these buckets to fill. It narrows down your brainstorming: “Hmm, I haven’t posted a member story in a while, let’s do that,” or “It’s Monday, a motivational quote would fit nicely today.”

Content themes keep you focused and consistent in your messaging. They also ensure a nice mix of content types so your feed doesn’t become one-note. Importantly, these themes all provide value or interest to your followers (notice none of those pillars were “Blatant Sales Pitch” – though an occasional promo will fit under one of these themes like studio life updates or success stories). By organizing around a few key topics, you turn scattershot posting into a more strategic rotation. This approach transformed one entrepreneur’s content from “scrambling for ideas” to a structured system that fueled business growth. Give it a try – brainstorm a handful of themes that make sense for your business and audience, and let those guide your posts. You’ll never wonder “what should I post?” again.

5. Mix Up Your Content (The 80/20 Rule)

Even with themes in place, you want to ensure you’re not only posting one type of content. A common guideline is the 80/20 rule for social content: roughly 80% of your posts should be delivering value – think tips, how-tos, inspirational stories, entertaining behind-the-scenes moments – and about 20% of your posts can be more directly promotional, like talking about your products, sales, or asking people to take an action (visit, call, buy etc.).

Why not 50/50? Well, social media is like a casual networking event – if you spend the whole time talking about your business (“sales pitch, blah blah”), people will tune out. But if you spend most of the time engaging, educating, or entertaining others, they’ll actually listen when you occasionally do mention, “By the way, we have a new product you might love.” In practice, this might mean if you post 10 times in a month, 8 of those posts are fun, useful, or story-driven, and 2 are explicitly selling something or urging a sign-up. Keep in mind, “promotional” posts can still be creative – a sale announcement can be a quirky graphic, or a product feature can be told through a customer’s happy experience. The point is, don’t overdo the ask. By following the 80/20 mix, you’ll build an audience that isn’t weary of your content. They’ll know you’re there to serve, not just to take. And that, my friend, actually makes them more likely to support your business when you do put out an offer.

6. Batch and Schedule (Work Smarter, Not Harder)

Let’s get practical about execution. We all know that intending to post regularly is one thing; actually doing it when you’re knee-deep in running a business is another. This is where a bit of batch work and scheduling saves the day. Rather than creating content on the fly every single time (which often leads to skipping it when you’re busy), set aside a small block of time once or twice a week to create multiple posts at once.

For example, take Monday morning with a big cup of coffee (maybe a double-double for that Canadian vibe) and draft all your posts for the week in one go. You can write captions, take or gather photos, even make a short video or two, all in that focused session. Then use scheduling tools to queue them up for the right days and times. Facebook and Instagram have built-in schedulers (through Meta Business Suite), and there are many free or affordable third-party tools that can schedule posts across platforms. This way, your plan runs on autopilot for the week, and you’re free to engage with comments or get back to running your business without the “OMG I need to post today” pressure. Batching content doesn’t just save time – it usually leads to higher quality posts, because you’re in a creative flow when making several at once, rather than trying to spark brilliance in the middle of other tasks. As mentioned, users of one planning tool reported that batching boosted their consistency by 80%. That’s huge – and it makes sense, because when you prep ahead, you will show up consistently. Try it out: even if you batch just two posts at a time, you’ll feel more relaxed. It’s like cooking a big pot of chili and having leftovers for the week instead of having to cook dinner every night from scratch. Future you will thank present you.

7. Stay Flexible and Authentic

Now, with all this talk of planning, let’s be clear – you should absolutely still seize the moment when needed. If something timely and relevant comes up, you can deviate from the plan (or adapt it). The beauty of a simple plan is that it’s your guide, not a rigid law. Think of it as 70% planned, 30% open for spontaneity. Did a big trend pop up that everyone’s talking about? Jump in with your take if it makes sense for your brand. Did you snap an amazing photo of a double rainbow over your store? Sure, share that joy even if it wasn’t on the schedule. Leave some wiggle room in your calendar for these things – maybe you plan 2 posts a week and have an “optional” slot for a third if something cool happens.

Also, be yourself in your content. Conversational, human posts go a long way. Planning doesn’t mean turning into a boring corporate robot. In fact, when you’re not scrambling last-minute you can put more of your personality into posts – crack that joke, use the goofy hashtag, tell a personal anecdote. Those genuine touches are what make small businesses so loveable on social media. So stick to your strategy most of the time, but trust your gut if you feel inspired to try something different on occasion. Your marketing plan should support you, not stifle you.

From Random to Rocking: You’ve Got This

Switching from random acts of posting to a simple, consistent plan is a game-changer. It might feel a bit “bureaucratic” at first to plan content (“I just want to do it when I feel like it!”), but once you see the difference it makes, you’ll wonder how you survived the chaos before. Remember, stop posting for the sake of posting. Instead, take a little time to clarify your audience, pick your platforms, outline a few content themes, and map out a doable schedule. Focus on serving up posts that matter to your customers more often than you promote yourself. Use tools and planning sessions to make the process easier on your busy schedule. The result? A marketing approach that actually works, because it has intention behind it.

No more waking up in a cold sweat at 2 AM realizing you haven’t posted all month. No more tossing social media content into the void and hearing nothing back. With a simple plan in place, you’ll start to see real engagement – folk liking, commenting, and even telling you in person, “Hey, I love your posts about [insert your content theme here]!” Those are the little wins that lead to bigger wins, like new customers and increased loyalty from existing ones. Remember that earlier stat – 99% of small businesses weren’t getting results on social because of lack of strategy? Well, you’re now on track to join the 1% that do get results. How cool is that?

Before we sign off, let me say this: building and running a small business is hard work. Marketing, especially in the ever-changing online world, can feel like a chore or something outside your comfort zone. But you care about your business, and that means you care about the people you serve. Think of your marketing plan as simply communicating that care and passion to your audience in a consistent way. It’s not about slick tricks or being someone you’re not. It’s about showing up for the people who matter to your business, with content that reflects the best of what you offer. A little planning just helps you do that more effectively and with less stress.

So next time you catch yourself about to do a “random posts” just to fill the silence, pause and smile – because you’ve got a better approach now. Take a peek at your simple plan (maybe it’s a one page outline pinned above our desk, or a calendar on your phone) and know exactly what to do. Soon, this will become second nature. Your marketing will feel more intentional, more you, and actually fun when the pressure of randomness is off.

Now grab that coffee, jot down a few ideas for next week, and go share your wonderful self with your audience! You’ve got this marketing thing – with a plan in hand, it’s going to work like a charm. Here’ s to moving from random posting to strategic success, one simple step at a time. And hey, when you see those likes, comments, and customer inquiries picking up, don’t forget to do a little celebratory dance (or treat yourself to a donut – you deserve it). Happy planning and happy posting!

Reference

Charlotte Area Chamber of Commerce (2024). “The Real Reason Your Small Business Struggles on Social Media.”

Markage (2025). “How Digital Marketing Drives Canadian Small Business Growth.”

Enji (2025). “How to Create a Social Media Content Calendar That Actually Works.”

Green lights Studio (2025). “Why Random Posts Don’t Bring Customers (And What Actually Works).

Kat Artizo (2025). “Content Pillars: Stop Random Posting, Start Strategic Growth.”