Social Media Campaign for Rhode

Build a portfolio-ready social media campaign for skincare brand Rhode.

Introduction

30 Second Summary

Every brand you scroll past on Instagram has someone behind the scenes deciding what to post, when to post it, and why. That person is a social media coordinator.

In this project, you will step into that role for Rhode, Hailey Bieber's skincare brand, and build a complete back-to-school campaign. You'll research the brand, design posts, write captions, schedule content, and set up performance tracking.

What You'll Build

Imagine walking into an interview and pulling up a complete social media campaign you built for a real skincare brand, with the strategy doc, designed posts, live scheduling queue, and performance tracker to prove every decision was intentional.

By the end of this project, you'll have:

A documented brand voice guide with tone attributes, visual rules, and content pillars that you can walk an interviewer through to demonstrate your strategic thinking.
5 on-brand social media posts designed in Canva that match Rhode's minimalist, texture-driven visual style, with platform-tailored captions and hashtag strategies for Instagram and TikTok.
A live Buffer scheduling queue and a KPI tracking spreadsheet in Google Sheets that prove you can manage a publishing workflow and measure what is working.
Secret Mission: A campaign pitch deck for a Rhode product drop that you can present in a job interview.

Are there any prerequisites?

No prior marketing experience needed. This project uses free tools and walks you through any setup you need along the way.

Before We Start

Before we dive in, let's lock in what you're about to build and why it matters. Taking a moment to articulate your goal turns this from a tutorial you follow into a portfolio piece you own.

Set Up Your Social Media Workspace

Social media coordinators juggle scheduling platforms, analytics dashboards, and design tools every day. Employers expect you to know tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Buffer, and Later.

In this step, you'll set up three tools that mirror a professional social media workflow. You'll create a free Buffer account for scheduling, build a campaign hub in Google Sheets, and organize your Canva workspace.

In this step, get ready to:

Create a free Buffer account and connect a social channel.
Build a Google Sheets campaign hub with tabs for brand strategy, content planning, and performance tracking.
Set up a Canva folder to organize your post designs.

Create your free Buffer account

Buffer is a social media scheduling platform that lets you plan, queue, and publish posts across multiple channels from one dashboard. Setting it up now gives you hands-on experience with the same type of tool you'll use on the job.

Open your browser and go to buffer.com.
Click Get started for free on the homepage.
Create your account using your email address or Google account.
Select the free plan when prompted. No credit card is needed.

What does Buffer's free plan include?

The free plan gives you up to 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel, a visual content calendar, and 30 days of analytics. It also includes a built-in Canva integration, so you can pull designs directly into Buffer later.

After signing up, Buffer will walk you through a short onboarding. You'll see a Tell us about yourself widget followed by a First steps section. Your first task is to connect a social channel.

In a separate browser tab, log into the Instagram account you want to connect. This can be your personal account or a test account you create for this project.
Back in Buffer, click Connect a channel in the First steps section on Buffer Home.
Select Instagram from the list of social networks.
Follow the prompts to authorize Buffer. Approve all the permissions it requests.
Once connected, your Instagram account appears in your Buffer channel list.

Now confirm you can see the visual content calendar.

Click Publish in the left sidebar of your Buffer dashboard.
Click Calendar in the upper-right corner of the publishing dashboard.
You should see a calendar grid with your connected channel visible. You can toggle between Week and Month views.

Why Buffer over other scheduling tools?

Buffer's free plan is the most generous among scheduling tools for this project. Hootsuite and Sprout Social do not offer comparable free tiers.

Buffer is also commonly listed alongside Hootsuite and Sprout Social in social media coordinator job postings. Learning one makes it easier to pick up the others.

Can't connect your Instagram account?

Make sure you are logged into the correct Instagram account in a separate browser tab before clicking Connect a channel in Buffer. Buffer connects whichever account is currently signed in.

If you see an error, try using an incognito window, log into only the Instagram account you want to connect, and then retry the connection from Buffer.

help me connect my Instagram account to Buffer

Build your campaign hub in Google Sheets

Your Google Sheet will be the central hub for this entire campaign. Three separate tabs keep your brand strategy, content plan, and performance metrics organized in one place.

In your Google account, go to sheets.google.com and create a new blank spreadsheet.
Click the spreadsheet title in the top-left corner (it will say Untitled spreadsheet) and rename it to Rhode Back-to-School Campaign.
At the bottom of the screen, right-click the default Sheet1 tab and select Rename. Type Brand Voice Guide and press Enter.
Click the + icon next to the tab at the bottom to create a new sheet. Rename it to Content Calendar.
Click the + icon once more to create a third sheet. Rename it to KPI Tracker.

You should now see three tabs at the bottom of your spreadsheet: Brand Voice Guide, Content Calendar, and KPI Tracker.

What are these tabs for?

Brand Voice Guide will hold Rhode's tone, visual rules, and content pillars. Content Calendar will map out your posts with dates, captions, and hashtags. KPI Tracker will track engagement metrics and benchmark performance.

Don't see the tab bar at the bottom?

If the sheet tabs are hidden, click View in the top menu bar and make sure Show sheet tabs is checked.

help me find and rename tabs in Google Sheets

Create your Canva project folder

Keeping all your post designs in one folder makes it easy to find them when you upload to Buffer later.

In your Canva account, click Projects in the left sidebar.
Click the + New button (or the folder icon), then select Folder.
Name the folder Rhode Campaign and confirm.

You should see Rhode Campaign listed in your Projects page. The folder is empty for now. You'll fill it with post designs starting in the next step.

Can't find the folder option?

Make sure you are on the Projects page, not the Canva homepage. The folder creation option is only available from the Projects view.

help me create a folder in Canva

Before you move on, think about what your Buffer calendar should look like right now. Do you expect to see any posts on it?

Switch back to your Buffer dashboard and click Calendar in the upper-right corner. Your calendar is empty because you haven't scheduled anything yet. But you should see your connected Instagram channel visible and the week or month grid ready to go. That empty calendar is about to get a lot busier.

Your workspace is ready. Next up, you'll jump straight into Canva and design your first Rhode post before doing any strategy work.

Design Your First Rhode Post

Your social media workspace is ready to go. Now it's time for the fun part: designing your first piece of content for Rhode.

The fastest way to learn content creation is to start creating. You'll study Rhode's existing posts, then jump straight into Canva and design an Instagram post for their Peptide Lip Treatment.

In this step, get ready to:

Scroll Rhode's Instagram and TikTok feeds to study their visual style.
Design one Instagram post in Canva for Rhode's Peptide Lip Treatment.
Write a caption with hashtags and save everything to your Google Sheet.

Scroll Rhode's feeds and design your post

Before designing anything, you need to see what Rhode's content actually looks like. Their Instagram and TikTok accounts are your best visual research source.

Open Instagram in your browser or app and search for @rhode.
Spend about 5 minutes scrolling through their recent posts.
Open TikTok and search for @rhodeskin.
Spend a couple of minutes watching their recent videos.

What to notice while scrolling

Pay attention to the colors Rhode uses, how their photos are composed, and what kind of text appears on their posts. Notice the overall mood and energy. You'll use these impressions to guide your design in the next few minutes.

Now you have Rhode's visual style fresh in your mind. Time to design your first post.

Return to Canva.
Click Create a design in the top right area of the homepage.
Search for Instagram Post and select the Instagram Post (Square) template.
Design one post promoting Rhode's Peptide Lip Treatment for back-to-school season. Pick your own colors, fonts, and layout based on what you saw on their feeds.
Move your finished design into the Rhode Campaign folder you created earlier.

You should see your new post design saved inside the Rhode Campaign folder in Canva.

Go with your instincts

The goal right now is to create, not to create something perfect. Pick the colors and layout that feel right to you based on what you just saw on Rhode's feeds.

Write your caption and save your work

Every Instagram post needs a caption. This is the text that appears below your image when someone scrolls through their feed.

Return to your Google Sheets spreadsheet and click the Content Calendar tab at the bottom.
In the first row, type a draft caption for your Peptide Lip Treatment post. Write it the way you would naturally promote this product for back-to-school season.
Below your caption, add 5 to 10 hashtags that you think fit the post.
Take a screenshot of your Canva design, or download it from Canva by clicking Share, then Download.
Insert the screenshot into your Content Calendar tab by clicking Insert in the Google Sheets menu bar, then Image, then Image in cell.

Having trouble adding your screenshot to Google Sheets?

Make sure you have clicked inside the Content Calendar tab at the bottom of your spreadsheet before inserting.
If Image in cell makes the image too small to see, try Image over cells instead. This lets you resize the image freely.
Help me insert an image into Google Sheets.

Take a moment to think: what three things should be in your Content Calendar tab right now?

Check your Content Calendar tab in Google Sheets. You should see your design screenshot, your draft caption, and your hashtags all saved together.
Switch back to Canva and confirm your Peptide Lip Treatment post is visible inside the Rhode Campaign folder.

You have your first Rhode post designed and saved. Next, you'll build a brand strategy that gives every future design decision a clear purpose.

Build Rhode's Brand Strategy

You have a finished post and a caption saved in your spreadsheet. But imagine an interviewer asking: "Why did you choose that color palette? Who is this post targeting? How does it fit into a larger content plan?" If you can't answer those questions confidently, the post is just pretty, not strategic.

That gap between posting and strategy is exactly what separates someone who can use Canva from someone employers actually hire. In this step, you'll research Rhode's real brand identity and build a brand voice guide that makes every future design decision intentional.

In this step, get ready to:

Research Rhode's brand identity and document their tone, visual rules, and positioning.
Define 3 content pillars for the back-to-school campaign.
Create a target audience persona tailored to college students.

Research Rhode's brand identity

A brand voice guide is a reference document that captures how a brand looks, sounds, and feels. Coordinators use it to make sure every post stays consistent, even when different people create content.

You'll fill in the Brand Voice Guide tab of your Google Sheets spreadsheet with four sections. Start by doing some quick research on the brand itself.

Open Rhode's website at rhodeskin.com and browse their homepage and product pages for 2-3 minutes.
Notice the color palette, the photography style, and how product descriptions are written.

Now switch to your Rhode Back-to-School Campaign spreadsheet and click the Brand Voice Guide tab. You'll fill in four sections here.

In cell A1, type Brand Overview as your first section header.
In the rows below it, write what Rhode is: a skincare and makeup brand founded by Hailey Bieber in June 2022, focused on peptide-led barrier-repair skincare with a minimalist aesthetic.
Include that Rhode was acquired by e.l.f. Beauty for $1 billion, has approximately 10 hero SKUs priced $16-$34, and is sold DTC via rhodeskin.com and through Sephora.

Why include business context in a brand voice guide?

Knowing that Rhode is priced $16-$34 tells you the brand is premium but accessible. That positioning shapes everything from caption tone ("aspirational" not "discount") to which hashtags you'd choose.

Interviewers love when candidates can connect brand facts to content decisions.

Below your Brand Overview, add a new section header: Tone Attributes.
List Rhode's tone as: calm, understated, aspirational yet accessible, never salesy.
Add a note that Rhode's content tells a story that supports the product rather than overtly selling it.

You should now see two completed sections in your tab. The next two capture Rhode's visual identity and define what the brand avoids.

Add a Visual Rules section header.
Document Rhode's visual identity: minimalist palette of cream, beige, and greige tones.
Add soft lighting, texture close-ups, lowercase typography, and macro skin shots as their signature visual elements.
Add one final section header: What Rhode Is NOT.
List: loud, over-feminine, discount-driven, cluttered.

Why document what a brand is NOT?

"What Rhode Is NOT" is a guardrail. When you're designing at speed, it's easy to accidentally drift toward flashy colors or pushy captions because that's what performs well for other brands.

This section gives you a fast gut-check before you hit publish. If your post feels loud, cluttered, or salesy, it's off-brand for Rhode.

Your Brand Voice Guide tab should now have four completed sections: Brand Overview, Tone Attributes, Visual Rules, and What Rhode Is NOT.

Define your content pillars

Content pillars are the thematic buckets that every post should fit into. They keep a campaign focused instead of random. When an interviewer asks "How did you decide what to post?", your pillars are the answer.

Based on Rhode's actual content strategy, three strong pillars fit the back-to-school campaign. Add these below your "What Rhode Is NOT" section.

Add a new section header: Content Pillars.
Type Pillar 1: Routine Education and describe it: showing how Rhode fits into a simple, real skincare routine.
Type Pillar 2: Texture and Aesthetic and describe it: close-up, ASMR-style product visuals that sell the feeling of Rhode.
Type Pillar 3: Campus Life Integration and describe it: showing Rhode products in relatable student moments like dorm routines or morning classes.

Why these three pillars?

Rhode's real content strategy revolves around routine and education, sensory visuals, and lifestyle integration. These aren't invented categories. They come from analyzing what Rhode actually posts on Instagram and TikTok.

Pillar 3 narrows the lifestyle angle specifically to campus life, which is what makes your campaign targeted rather than generic.

Your guide now has five sections. The three pillars give you a filter for every post you'll create in Step 4.

Create a target audience persona

A target audience persona is a fictional profile of the person you're designing every post for. It shapes your language, your visuals, and even what time you schedule posts.

Add a new section header in your guide: Target Audience Persona.
Document Rhode's core customer profile: aged 18-34, Gen Z and young Millennials, social-media-native, wellness-oriented.
Note that this audience values clean ingredients, a minimalist aesthetic, and is comfortable spending $20-$34 per product.
Add a "Back-to-School Narrowing" note: for this campaign, your persona is a college student who wants an effortless skincare routine that looks and feels premium.

Make the persona feel real

Give your persona a name and a mini-story. Something like: "Maya, 20, second-year student. Gets ready in 10 minutes. Wants skincare that's quick, aesthetic enough for a GRWM TikTok, and under $30." A specific person is easier to design for than a demographic range.

Your Brand Voice Guide tab is now complete with six sections: Brand Overview, Tone Attributes, Visual Rules, What Rhode Is NOT, Content Pillars, and Target Audience Persona.

Compare your Step 2 post to the strategy

Now for the moment of truth. Before you open your Step 2 post, ask yourself: does it follow Rhode's visual rules? Does the caption match their calm, never-salesy tone? Which of the three content pillars does it fit?

Switch to Canva and open your Peptide Lip Treatment post from the Rhode Campaign folder.
Hold your Brand Voice Guide open side by side with the design and compare them.
Check the color palette against the Visual Rules section. Are you using cream, beige, and greige tones, or something brighter?
Read your caption from the Content Calendar tab. Does it sound calm and understated, or does it push too hard?
Try to assign your post to one of the three content pillars. If it doesn't clearly fit any of them, that tells you something.

Most people find gaps here. Maybe the colors are too saturated, the caption is too salesy, or the post doesn't obviously map to a pillar. That's exactly the point.

This gap is the lesson

You designed your first post on instinct. Now you have a strategy. The difference between those two is what makes you hireable as a social media coordinator.

In Step 4, you'll redesign this post using your brand voice guide. Keep the original version saved so you can show both versions in an interview. Interviewers love seeing a "before strategy" and "after strategy" comparison.

My Step 2 post actually looks on-brand already?

Great instincts. Even if your design is close, having the documented strategy behind it changes how you talk about the work. In an interview, "I chose beige because it matches Rhode's minimalist palette defined in my brand voice guide" is much stronger than "I thought beige looked nice."

Help me figure out how well my post matches Rhode's brand strategy.

You now have a complete strategic foundation sitting in your spreadsheet. Every design choice from here on has a documented reason behind it. Next up, you'll put this strategy to work and build a full week of content.

Create Your Content Calendar

You've built a complete brand strategy for Rhode. You know the tone, the visual rules, the content pillars, and exactly who you're targeting.

Now you'll put that strategy to work by planning 5 posts across a 1-week calendar, designing each one in Canva, and writing platform-tailored captions. Every post maps to a content pillar, targets your audience persona, and follows Rhode's visual rules.

In this step, get ready to:

Plan a 1-week content calendar with 5 posts mapped to your content pillars.
Design all 5 posts in Canva using Rhode's visual rules from your brand voice guide.
Write platform-tailored captions with hashtag strategies for Instagram and TikTok.

Plan your 1-week content calendar

Before you design anything, you need to map out what you're creating and why. A content calendar turns your strategy into a concrete publishing plan where every post has a clear purpose.

Switch back to your Google Sheets spreadsheet and click the Content Calendar tab at the bottom.
In row 1, create these column headers: Date, Platform, Content Pillar, Post Description, Caption, and Hashtags.
Fill in 5 rows, one for each day Monday through Friday.
In the Platform column, assign each post to either Instagram or TikTok.
In the Content Pillar column, assign one of your 3 pillars (Routine Education, Texture and Aesthetic, or Campus Life Integration) to each post.
Make sure every pillar appears at least once across the 5 posts.
In the Post Description column, write a brief description of each post's concept. Vary the formats: aim for a mix of static posts, carousel ideas, and Reel or TikTok concepts.

Why map posts to content pillars?

Content pillars keep your campaign balanced. Without them, it's easy to accidentally post 5 product photos and zero lifestyle content.

In interviews, hiring managers look for this kind of strategic thinking. When you can explain why each post exists and which pillar it supports, you prove you plan with intention.

Leave the Caption and Hashtags columns empty for now. You'll fill those in after designing your posts.

Your Content Calendar tab should now show 5 rows with dates, platforms, pillars, and post descriptions filled in.

Not sure what post concepts to choose?

Refer back to your Brand Voice Guide tab. Each content pillar naturally suggests post types: Routine Education could be a "3-step morning routine" carousel, Texture and Aesthetic could be a close-up product shot, and Campus Life Integration could be a "dorm-room GRWM" Reel concept.

help me brainstorm 5 Rhode back-to-school post concepts using my content pillars

Design all 5 posts in Canva

With your calendar mapped out, you know exactly what each post needs to accomplish. Now you'll design all 5 posts using Rhode's visual rules from your brand voice guide.

Return to Canva and open your Rhode Campaign folder.
For Instagram feed posts, click Create a design and choose the Instagram Post template (1080x1080).
For vertical content (Reels, Stories, or TikTok concepts), choose the Instagram Story/Reel template (1080x1920).

What are Rhode's visual rules?

Pull these directly from your brand voice guide. Stick to Rhode's cream, beige, and greige palette. Use clean sans-serif fonts in lowercase. Focus on texture and close-up compositions.

Rhode's look is minimalist and calm. If your design feels busy or loud, strip elements away until it feels quiet.

Design your first new post based on the Monday entry in your content calendar. Apply Rhode's color palette, lowercase typography, and texture-focused composition.
Save the design inside your Rhode Campaign folder. Name it something clear like "Mon - Routine Education - Feed Post" so you can match it to your calendar.

Open your design and confirm it follows Rhode's visual rules. The palette should feel warm and muted, the typography should be clean and lowercase, and the composition should focus on texture or close-up detail.

Design posts 2 through 4, one for each remaining day (Tuesday through Thursday) in your calendar. Match each design to its assigned pillar and platform format.

Revisit your Step 2 post

Your Friday post is your 5th design. Before you create it from scratch, look at the Peptide Lip Treatment post you made in Step 2.

Open your Step 2 draft in the Rhode Campaign folder and compare it side-by-side with the 4 posts you just designed.

Does your Step 2 post follow the visual rules you documented in your brand voice guide? Does it fit one of your 3 content pillars?

If your Step 2 post still fits Rhode's visual identity and aligns with a content pillar, assign it to Friday in your calendar and move on.
If it no longer fits, redesign it using your brand voice guide. Update the colors, typography, and composition to match the standards you've been applying to posts 1 through 4.

Why does this comparison matter?

This is the difference between posting and strategy. Your Step 2 post was created on instinct. Your new posts are built on research, brand rules, and content pillars.

In an interview, "walk me through your process for creating this post" is one of the most common questions. Being able to explain why you chose a color palette, who the post targets, and which pillar it supports is what separates a coordinator from someone who just posts.

You should now have 5 completed designs in your Rhode Campaign folder. Each one uses Rhode's cream/beige/greige palette, lowercase sans-serif fonts, and texture-driven compositions.

Write platform-tailored captions and hashtags

A great design gets attention. A great caption gives the post a voice. Rhode's caption style is short, calm, and never pushy.

Return to your Content Calendar tab in Google Sheets.
For each Instagram post, write a short caption in the Caption column. Think "your new campus carry" rather than "BUY NOW! BACK TO SCHOOL SALE!" Keep it calm and conversational.
For each TikTok concept, write the caption and add a note about the trending sound or format you'd pair with the video idea.

Rhode's caption voice

Rhode's captions feel like a friend texting you, not a brand selling to you. Short sentences. Lowercase energy. The product speaks for itself.

Scroll through @rhode on Instagram and @rhodeskin on TikTok for real examples of how they write.

For each Instagram post, add 8-12 hashtags in the Hashtags column.
Mix branded hashtags like #rhode, #rhodeskin, #glazeddonutskin, and #peptidelivtreatment with discovery hashtags like #skincareroutine, #backtoschool, #campusskincare, and #cleanbeauty.

Why mix branded and discovery hashtags?

Branded hashtags like #rhodeskin connect your post to Rhode's existing community. Discovery hashtags like #backtoschool put your post in front of people who haven't heard of the brand yet.

A strong hashtag set does both: it reinforces brand identity and expands reach to new audiences at the same time.

Before you check your work, think about what a complete content calendar row looks like. Does every row in your sheet have all 6 columns filled in?

Scan your Content Calendar tab from top to bottom. Every row should have a date, platform, content pillar, post description, caption, and hashtags filled in.
Confirm that each of your 3 content pillars appears at least once across the 5 posts.
Confirm that each Instagram post has 8-12 hashtags and each TikTok concept includes a note about the sound or format.

Your Content Calendar tab should now look like a professional publishing plan with 5 fully detailed rows. Your Rhode Campaign folder in Canva should have 5 on-brand designs ready to go.

Captions feel off-brand?

If your captions sound too salesy or energetic, compare them against your tone attributes in the Brand Voice Guide tab. Rhode's voice is calm, understated, and aspirational. Read your caption out loud. If it sounds like it belongs in a clearance ad, rewrite it quieter.

help me rewrite my Rhode caption to match their calm, understated brand voice

Your content calendar is complete and your designs are locked in. Next up, you'll bring everything to life by scheduling your posts in Buffer and setting up a KPI tracker to measure performance.

Schedule and Track Your Campaign

In the last step, you created 5 on-brand posts with strategic captions and hashtags. Your content calendar is full, and every post maps back to a content pillar and audience persona.

Creating content is only half the job. Employers want to see that you can manage a publishing schedule and measure performance. Scheduling in Buffer and setting up KPI tracking proves you understand the full content lifecycle, from strategy through to performance analysis.

In this step, get ready to:

Upload and schedule all 5 posts in Buffer across a 1-week window.
Build a KPI Tracker spreadsheet with engagement rate formulas and benchmark targets.
Save portfolio screenshots of your completed campaign deliverables.

Upload and schedule your first post in Buffer

Buffer has a built-in Canva integration. You can pull your designs directly from Canva into Buffer without downloading and re-uploading files.

Return to your Buffer dashboard.
Click the + New button at the top of your dashboard, then select Post.
Select your connected channel at the top of the composer.
In the composer, click the integrations button and choose Canva from the menu.
When Canva opens, click Projects in the left panel, then open your Rhode Campaign folder.
Select your first post design.
Click Return to Buffer in the upper right corner of the Canva editor to insert the design into your post.
Paste the caption and hashtags for this post from your Content Calendar tab in Google Sheets into the text area.
Click Set Date and Time and choose the date from your content calendar (e.g. the Monday of your campaign week).
Click Schedule Post.

Your first post now appears on Buffer's visual content calendar at the date and time you selected.

What does scheduling do?

When you schedule a post in Buffer, it sits in a queue and publishes automatically at the date and time you chose. If you connected an Instagram professional account, Buffer auto-publishes feed posts for you. If you connected a personal account, Buffer sends a push notification reminding you to post manually.

Schedule button greyed out?

The Schedule Post button stays disabled while images are still uploading. Wait a few seconds for the upload to finish and the button will become clickable.

If you still can't schedule, make sure you selected at least one channel at the top of the composer.

Still stuck? Help me troubleshoot why my Buffer post won't schedule.

Schedule the remaining 4 posts

Now repeat the process for your remaining 4 posts. Buffer's free plan supports 10 scheduled posts per channel, so all 5 posts fit comfortably.

For each remaining post, click + New then Post, select your channel, use the Canva integration to pull in the design from your Rhode Campaign folder, paste the matching caption and hashtags, set the date and time from your content calendar, and click Schedule Post.
For any TikTok video concepts you planned: create the post in the same way, but instead of clicking Schedule Post, click Save as Draft. In the caption, add a note about the intended format (e.g. "GRWM Reel, trending sound: [sound name]").
Space your 5 posts across Monday through Friday of your campaign week, one post per day.

Why save TikTok concepts as drafts?

TikTok videos need to be filmed and edited natively. Buffer can schedule TikTok posts, but concept-stage video ideas that still need to be produced are better saved as drafts with notes about the intended format, sound, and style.

Before you check the calendar, predict what you expect to see. How many posts should appear spread across the week?

Click Calendar in the upper-right menu of your Buffer dashboard.
Confirm you see your 5 posts spread across Monday through Friday of your campaign week.

You should see 5 posts dotted across the week on the visual content calendar. Scheduled posts appear with their image thumbnails on the dates you selected. Any TikTok drafts appear in the Drafts tab instead of on the calendar.

Don't see all 5 posts on the calendar?

Make sure you're viewing the correct week. Use the arrow buttons on the calendar to navigate forward or backward to the week you scheduled your posts for.

If a post is missing, click + New then Post and create it using the same steps above.

Need help? My Buffer calendar is missing some of my scheduled posts.

Set up your KPI Tracker

A content calendar shows what you planned. A KPI tracker shows whether it worked. Setting up tracking before your posts go live proves you think about measurement from the start.

Switch back to your Rhode Back-to-School Campaign spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
Click on the KPI Tracker tab (the third tab you created in Step 1).
In Row 1, create columns with these headers: Post Date, Post Title, Platform, Content Pillar, Impressions, Reach, Likes, Comments, Shares, Saves, Engagement Rate, and Notes.
In Rows 2 through 6, fill in the Post Date, Post Title, Platform, and Content Pillar columns for each of your 5 posts, matching your content calendar.
Leave the Impressions, Reach, Likes, Comments, Shares, and Saves columns empty. You would fill these in with real data as your posts go live.

Your tracker now has the structural columns in place. Next you will add the formula that calculates performance automatically.

Click cell K2 (the Engagement Rate column for your first post) and enter this formula:

=(G2+H2+I2+J2)/E2

What does this formula calculate?

This formula adds up Likes (G2), Comments (H2), Shares (I2), and Saves (J2), then divides by Impressions (E2). The result is your engagement rate. An engagement rate of 0.03 means 3% of people who saw your post interacted with it.

Rhode's branded Reels typically hit 2-4% engagement. Setting this as your benchmark gives you a concrete target to measure against.

Copy the formula from K2 and paste it into cells K3 through K6 so every post row has the same calculation.
Format the Engagement Rate column as a percentage. Select cells K2:K6, click Format in the menu bar, select Number, then choose Percent.
In Row 7, add a label in the first column that says Target Benchmark. In the Engagement Rate column of that row, type 2-4%.

Your KPI Tracker now has 12 columns, 5 post rows with formulas, and a benchmark target row. The data columns are empty and ready to capture real performance numbers as posts go live.

Format the column headers

Bold Row 1 and freeze it so the headers stay visible as you scroll. Select Row 1, click View, then Freeze, then 1 row.

Seeing an error in the Engagement Rate column?

If your formula shows an error, that is expected. The data columns are still empty, so the formula is dividing by an empty cell. Once you enter real numbers into the Impressions, Likes, Comments, Shares, and Saves columns, the formula will calculate correctly.

To test it now, enter sample numbers (e.g. 1000 impressions, 15 likes, 5 comments, 3 shares, 7 saves) in one row and confirm the engagement rate shows 3%.

Still seeing issues? Help me fix my Google Sheets engagement rate formula.

Save your portfolio screenshots

Everything you have built in this project is portfolio material. Screenshots capture your deliverables in a format you can share in interviews or upload to a portfolio site.

Create a new folder on your computer called Rhode Campaign Portfolio.
Take a screenshot of your Buffer visual content calendar showing all 5 scheduled posts across the week. Save it to the Rhode Campaign Portfolio folder.
In Google Sheets, take a screenshot of each of your 3 tabs: Brand Voice Guide, Content Calendar, and KPI Tracker. Save all 3 to the folder.
In Canva, open each of your 5 post designs and take a screenshot of each one. Save all 5 to the folder.
Open your Rhode Campaign Portfolio folder and confirm it contains 9 screenshots total: 1 Buffer calendar, 3 Google Sheets tabs, and 5 Canva designs.

Why save screenshots?

Screenshots freeze your work at a specific point in time. If you later update your designs or change your calendar, the screenshots preserve the original campaign as a complete package. In an interview, you can walk through these screenshots to explain your strategy, design choices, and measurement plan.

Not sure how to take a screenshot?

On macOS, press Cmd+Shift+4 to select an area to capture. On Windows, press Windows+Shift+S to open the Snipping Tool. Both save a screenshot file you can move to your folder.

Need more help? Help me take and save screenshots on my computer.

Secret mission

Create a Product Drop Campaign Pitch

You've built a complete content calendar. Now prove you can think like a strategist. Pick a Rhode product, build a pitch deck in Canva, and create a campaign concept you could present in a real job interview.

Clean Up Your Resources

This project runs entirely on free tools, so there are no ongoing costs to worry about. Decide whether to keep your resources as they are, pause your scheduled posts, or clean everything up.

Resources you used:

Buffer free plan account with one connected channel and 5 scheduled posts.
"Rhode Campaign" folder in Canva with 5 post designs and the campaign pitch deck.
"Rhode Back-to-School Campaign" spreadsheet in Google Sheets with 3 tabs.
"Rhode Campaign Portfolio" folder with screenshots of all deliverables.

Keep everything running

No action needed. Choose this if you connected a real social account and want your posts to publish on schedule.

Your Buffer queue stays active. Posts will publish at their scheduled times if you connected a real Instagram account. Buffer's free plan allows up to 3 channels and 10 scheduled posts per channel at no cost.
Your Canva designs remain saved in the "Rhode Campaign" folder inside your Canva account.
Your Google Sheets spreadsheet stays in Google Drive at no charge.
Your portfolio screenshots folder stays wherever you saved it.

Pause - I'll come back to this later

Cancel your scheduled posts in Buffer so they do not publish to a real account. Your designs and spreadsheet remain saved and ready to pick up later.

Open Buffer and go to your publishing queue.
Delete each of your 5 scheduled posts from the queue. This prevents them from publishing but does not delete your Buffer account.
Your Canva designs, Google Sheets spreadsheet, and portfolio screenshots all stay saved. No further action needed for those.

Delete - I don't want to use this again

Remove all project resources and start fresh. Export anything you want to keep before deleting.

Export your 5 Canva post designs and pitch deck as PDFs or PNGs before deleting. In Canva, open each design, click Share, then Download, and choose your preferred format.
In Canva, open your Projects page, find the "Rhode Campaign" folder, click the three-dot menu on the folder, and select Move to trash.
In Google Drive, find the "Rhode Back-to-School Campaign" spreadsheet, right-click it, and select Move to trash.
Delete your "Rhode Campaign Portfolio" folder from wherever you saved it on your computer or cloud storage.
If you no longer need Buffer, log in at buffer.com, click your profile icon, select Account, scroll to the bottom, and look for the option to delete your account. Your free plan has no charges, so leaving the account open is also fine.

Nice Work!

You just built a complete, interview-ready social media campaign for Rhode. From brand research to content design to scheduling and KPI tracking, you now have a professional portfolio piece that proves you can do the full job of a social media coordinator.

You've learned how to:

Research a real brand and build a documented brand voice guide with tone attributes, visual rules, content pillars, and a target audience persona tailored to a specific campaign angle.
Design 5 on-brand social media posts in Canva with platform-tailored captions and hashtag strategies for Instagram and TikTok.
Schedule a 1-week content calendar in Buffer and build a KPI tracking spreadsheet with engagement rate formulas and benchmark targets.
Secret Mission: Created a product drop campaign pitch deck that demonstrates strategic thinking and could be presented in a job interview.

Ready to quiz yourself?