A workshop can bring your whole team onto the same page, or it can be a day of slides nobody opens again. Here is how to plan one that keeps working in everyday life.
A good social media workshop starts with a concrete question, works with your real channels and ends with a plan for who does what. Agree the goal, participants and topic in advance, and write down what should actually happen afterwards.
In many teams, social media is a task that somehow runs on the side. Someone posts when there is time, the good ideas end up in a note, and nobody quite knows what works. A workshop can change a lot here, as long as it does not stop at theory. What matters is that everyone walks in with the same question and walks out with concrete next steps.
Workshop, course or coaching?
The terms are often used interchangeably. A course teaches the basics to people from different organisations, usually following a fixed programme. Coaching is personal and revolves around your own questions, presence or content. A workshop for a business sits in between: your team works together on your channels and your tasks. If you want to move forward as a team, a workshop is usually the best choice. If it is about your personal profile, for example on LinkedIn, coaching often fits better.
When a social media workshop makes sense
A workshop is especially worthwhile in these situations:
- Several people post, but nobody has the overview.
- You are launching a new channel or giving an existing one a new direction.
- Social media is moving from an agency into your team, or the other way round.
- New team members need to get up to speed quickly.
- You know what you want to post, but not how to keep it up.
Your workshop plan
Possible topics
A workshop should focus on a few topics. These work particularly well, because something concrete is on the table at the end:
- Content planning: topics, formats and a content calendar that fits your week.
- Choosing channels: which platform suits your audience, and where can you save time?
- Roles: who plans, who produces, who approves and who replies to comments?
- Visuals and copy: how your posts look and sound like your brand.
- Community management: how you handle questions, comments and criticism.
- Reporting: which numbers you look at and which decisions you take from them.
Our article Which social media platform suits your audience? covers choosing a platform in detail.
Preparing the workshop
Preparation decides whether a workshop has an effect. Agree on a concrete question beforehand, for example: ‘How do we manage two good posts a week without everything depending on one person?’ Decide who takes part, and include the people who approve or supply content. Collect examples: posts that did well, posts nobody saw and profiles you admire. And agree what should be on the table at the end, such as a content calendar for the next month or a clear division of roles.
How a good workshop runs
A workshop starts with a shared look at the current state: what works, what gets stuck, what is missing? After that, people work rather than just listen. You plan real posts, write copy for your channels, try out formats and make decisions. Short inputs help when they are applied straight away. At the end there is a plan: who does what by when, and when do you review it together? Whether you meet in person or online matters less than whether everyone can take an active part.
What should remain afterwards
The most important part happens after the workshop. So the energy does not fade, these things should be written down: a content calendar for the next few weeks, clear responsibilities, a few templates for recurring formats and a date to take stock. Our guide to social media marketing for businesses shows how the individual building blocks fit together.
Run it yourselves or bring someone in?
If someone in the team has experience and everyone speaks openly, you can facilitate a workshop yourselves. Outside support is worthwhile when you want a fresh perspective, when different expectations meet or when nobody has time to prepare the day. Use the plan above to note what it should be about. At wild & co. in Zurich we run social media workshops and coaching for teams across Switzerland, in our studio, at your premises or online.
