Nobody plans a filing system for social media assets. It happens to you: a folder called Downloads, four versions of the same photo, and a weekly ritual of opening each one to see which is the good one.
The cost is not storage
It is the minutes before every post, and the mistake that eventually happens — the draft version going out, the unedited crop, the photo with the wrong person still in it. That mistake is not carelessness; it is a naming scheme that made two files indistinguishable.
A convention that survives contact with reality
The only ones that work are the ones you can follow while tired. Date first, then subject, then variant.
- 2026-08-14-studio-session-01.jpg
- 2026-08-14-studio-session-01-square.jpg
- 2026-08-21-tour-poster-vertical.png
Dates first because they sort themselves. Subject in words because you will search for “tour” in a year, not for “IMG_4821”. Variant last because it is the part you scan for once you have found the right day.
Two folders, not twelve
Something to post, and already posted. Elaborate hierarchies fail because filing something into the right one of nine folders is a decision, and decisions are what you were trying to avoid.
Export one size that survives everywhere — 1080×1350 for images, 1080×1920 for video — and keep the original. Every platform crops from that gracefully, which removes a whole class of “why is his head cut off” problems.
Where the scheduler helps
Anything you have already uploaded is in the tool, attached to the post it went out with, with a date on it. That is a filing system you got for free by using the thing — and a good reason to attach media when you schedule rather than at the last minute.