Handing social media to someone new usually means a long chat, a shared password and a nervous first week. It does not have to. An hour, a little writing and the right kind of access are enough for a person to post well from day one.
The hour, in order
- 1Ten minutes: what the account is for and who it is for. Say it plainly, in two or three sentences.
- 2Ten minutes: the voice. Show five posts that sound right and two that do not. A page of examples teaches more than a list of adjectives.
- 3Fifteen minutes: the calendar. Where posts live, how one gets scheduled, which slots are the usual ones.
- 4Ten minutes: the rules. What needs approval, what does not, what is never posted, and whom to ask when unsure.
- 5Fifteen minutes: they do one real post, with you watching.
Access, without the password
Give people their own login to the tool, with a role that fits: someone who writes drafts, someone who approves, someone who only reads. They should never need the password to the network itself. When they leave, you remove one seat and nothing else changes.
The first week
- Drafts only for the first few days. Look at them together.
- One post a day to start, no more.
- A short list of questions to expect — opening hours, a refund, a complaint — with an answer written in advance for each.
- A check-in on Friday: what was easy, what was confusing.
What to write down once
The voice page, the rules, the list of accounts and who owns each one, and where files go. Written down once, it works for the third person too.
The goal of onboarding is not that they never need to ask. It is that they know what to ask, and whom.