PRNCPLS: The Content Playbook

1 — Where We Are

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Instagram followers

Monthly ad budget

The reality

No existing content calendar, no fully established series, no consistent posting rhythm
Inconsistency was the single most cited pain point in the internal survey
Multiple asset types have been tested and performed well: artist spotlight series, industry insights carousels, and "moment" pieces relating to the company and its activities. There is a bank of proven formats to build from
Lead content producer works 4 days/week full-time on content. Team assists with reviews and input. One additional video editor available but novice-level — requires managing
No videographer, no shoot days. All video is narrated voiceover with sourced footage
$300/month ad budget for boosting content on Instagram

What this means: The strategy must be built for a one-person operation. Complexity scales before frequency does. Every system, workflow, and series concept in this document is designed with that constraint front and centre.

2 — Strategic Foundation

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The goal

Build cultural authority. Be recognised as people who see things before they become obvious
Get on the radar of serious stakeholders. Labels, managers, brands, platforms
Not virality. Not reach for its own sake. Reputation over conversion. Direct leads are a future state

Audience

Priority eyes: Label teams & A&R, artist managers, brand partners, platform executives. These are the decision makers the content is ultimately trying to reach
Core audience: Artists & musician teams, industry peers, press & curators, aspiring music marketing pros, adjacent industries, future talent. This is who will make up the bulk of the following — and they act as credibility multipliers that make the priority eyes pay attention
Wider reach: Music lovers & broader culture. Reached as a byproduct of getting the first two right

Content lenses

Edutainment

Teach the audience something, but make it worth watching on its own merits.

Discovery

Put people onto new things. Artists, movements, ideas, sounds they haven't clocked yet.

The content quality test

Every post must pass at least one gate:

Teach Leave them more informed

Reveal Introduce something they hadn't clocked

Reframe Shift how they see it

If it doesn't do at least one, it doesn't go out.

The sell philosophy

Show don't tell. Demonstrate expertise through the content, not by listing services
Sell through signal. Earn attention through taste, then selectively connect it back to the work
Never hard-pitch. Commercial intent lives in the quality of the content, not in CTAs

Instagram's role

Credibility and audience builder. The content establishes cultural authority and grows a community that trusts PRNCPLS
Validation layer. When someone hears the name and checks the page, the content confirms we're serious
$300/month ad budget for boosting content reach

Flywheel thinkingEvery vertical considered for merch, events, IRL spinoffs

Every content vertical should be evaluated for what else it can spin off — merch, events, IRL experiences

3 — The Principles

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PRNCPLS is named after its principles. They need to be defined. The following three are consolidated from internal survey responses and need team sign-off on final phrasing.

1 Artist-first

The artist's vision and long-term career comes before marketing tactics or short-term wins.

Source words

Artist-first · The artist's vision comes before tactics · Long-term career over short-term wins · Protect the artist · Their story, not ours

Final phrasing

TBD

2 Culture over noise

Rooted in genuine cultural understanding, not trends or tricks. Real work, not manufactured hype.

Source words

Culture before algorithm · Authenticity over hype · Real connections not manufactured moments · Never make noise for its own sake · Only enter conversations where there is a legitimate point of view

Final phrasing

TBD

3 Built to last / Standards over shortcuts

Strategic depth behind the taste. Long-term credibility over short-term reach. Integrity sets the standard.

Source words

Taste backed by strategy · Long-term thinking · Moral compass · Sustainable credibility over viral one-offs · Cultural fluency is not just vibes · Doing business with integrity · Protecting the standard

Final phrasing

TBD

Next step: Team to agree final phrasing for each principle. Once locked, these become the foundation for the Principles Series content and the litmus test for all new content concepts.

4 — Platform Strategy

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Why Instagram

Unanimous choice from the team as the flagship platform
Where culture is read fastest — the primary audience is active here and uses it to validate who they're considering working with
B2B buyers increasingly use Instagram to research and evaluate companies before making contact
The algorithm now rewards watch time, saves, shares, and DM sends over likes — this favours substantive content over filler, which plays directly to PRNCPLS's strengths
Reels drive discovery to non-followers. Carousels drive the highest engagement rates. Both are core to the content plan
One platform done well beats five done badly. Everything else is future state until Instagram is proven

Platform tiers

Flagship

Instagram

Primary content home. Where the strategy lives and where we prove the content first.

Secondary

LinkedIn YouTube

LinkedIn for credibility with serious stakeholders. YouTube for long-form authority — series-led, grown into once Instagram is proven.

Future state

Email Website TikTok

Newsletter once CRM and business model are ready. Website as credibility archive. TikTok for discovery when bandwidth allows.

Deprioritised

Too noisy, no clear strategic case for PRNCPLS at this stage.

Instagram best practices (2026)

Watch time is the #1 ranking signal — hook in the first 3 seconds, hold attention throughout
DM shares are the strongest signal for reaching new audiences — make content people want to send to someone
Saves signal value — educational content, checklists, insight-driven posts get saved most
Likes are now the weakest engagement signal
Reels: 15–30 seconds is the sweet spot. Longer reels (up to 3 min) now also get recommended to non-followers
Carousels: highest engagement rate of any format. Great for swipeable breakdowns and case studies
Stories: post consistently, use for behind-the-scenes and real-time. Story replies strengthen your algorithmic relationship with that follower
3–5 hashtags max. Keywords in captions and bio matter more for discoverability now
Consistency matters more than volume — posting regularly then disappearing kills reach
Original content gets 40–60% more distribution than reposts. Accounts posting 10+ reposts in 30 days get excluded from recommendations
About half of Instagram video is watched without sound — text on screen from frame one

5 — Content Pillars

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Four thematic territories that all PRNCPLS content maps back to. Every piece of content should sit in at least one pillar. If it doesn't fit any, it doesn't belong on the page.

The Culture

Music, movements, moments. What's happening, what's shifting, what people should be paying attention to.

Builds taste

The Craft

How music marketing actually works. Campaign thinking, strategy breakdowns, industry insight.

Builds authority

The People

The humans behind PRNCPLS and around it. Collaborators, guest voices, interviews, personal stories.

Builds trust

The Principles

What PRNCPLS stands for. Opinionated takes, POV content, the Principles Series. Permission to be bold.

Builds identity

How pillars get applied

Tagging: every piece of content gets tagged to at least one pillar
Balance: when planning the week, check you're not overloading one pillar and neglecting another
Filter: if a content idea doesn't fit any pillar, it probably doesn't belong
Series mapping: each content series (section 07) maps to a home pillar. Some touch two — that's fine

The flow

PILLAR

→

SERIES

→

FORMAT

→

POST

Pillar is the territory. Series is the recurring concept. Format is the container. Post is the individual piece.

6 — Content Formats

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The containers. Each content series (section 07) maps to one of these.

PRNCPLS

Reel

15–90 sec. Narrated voiceover, sourced footage, Premiere. Primary discovery format.

PRNCPLS

Carousel

Up to 20 slides. Highest engagement rate on IG. Breakdowns, insights, case studies.

PRNCPLS

Artist-first.

Static graphic

Single image. Clean, typographic, ownable. Principles, statements, announcements.

7 — Series Overview

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The recurring concepts. Each series maps to a pillar and a format. Deeper detail on each to follow — this is the at-a-glance menu.

All Active Template WIP Blocked In Dev Open

Series Pillar Format Cadence Status

Featured Playlists The Culture Carousel Weekly ACTIVE

Video Essays Culture / Craft Reel Bi-weekly TEMPLATE WIP

Artist Spotlights The Culture Carousel / Reel Rotating TEMPLATE WIP

Campaign Breakdowns The Craft Carousel Rotating TEMPLATE WIP

The Principles Series The Principles Static TBD BLOCKED

Till My Tape Pop The People Reel With playlists IN DEV

Vinyl is Plural The Culture Reel TBD OPEN

Weekly sequencing

Playlist first, deeper piece later. The playlist sets the cultural tone early in the week. The connected video/carousel follows and lands harder because the audience has already engaged with the vibe
CTA back to the playlist in the later piece — ties the week together and keeps people on the page
Not every week needs a direct connection between the two, but when there is one the feed feels intentional

7.1 — Featured Playlists ACTIVE

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PRNCPLS

Guest Name

PLAYLIST COVER

“YOU ARE WHAT YOU LISTEN TO”

PRNCPLS

Track Title

Artist Name

FEATURED SONG

×8 slides

PRNCPLS

“A short quote from the guest about their playlist.”

BACKPAGE

LISTEN NOW →

Cover — 1/10 slides

“You are what you listen to.” Guest-curated playlists that reveal taste and personality. Each guest picks 15–30 tracks, PRNCPLS packages it as a carousel with a cover image and quote.

Themed playlists also run as a deliberate choice — cultural moments, calendar events, seasonal themes. These aren’t just a fallback for when there’s no guest; they’re part of the mix.

Format: Carousel (3:4) Cadence: Weekly, every Tuesday Pillar: The Culture

Pipeline workflow

Outreach

15 personalised messages per week across IG DM and LinkedIn. Team shares warm intros from their network separately. Two sources tracked in separate Google Sheets: direct connections vs public outreach.

Confirmation

Guest says yes → send the brief. Guest provides: 15–30 tracks, a hi-res photo of themselves for the cover, and a short quote about their relationship with music or what the playlist means to them.

Action needed: A formal guest brief needs to be created and included in this playbook. The outreach methodology also needs to be clarified and documented.

Collection

Guest sends back their playlist (Spotify/Apple link or track list), hi-res photo, and quote. All assets go into a dedicated Google Drive folder per guest.

Production

Design carousel from assets. Write caption incorporating the guest’s quote. Schedule via Buffer for Tuesday.

Publishing

Standard Tuesday slot. Post-publish checklist applies (see Logistics tab → Publishing Workflows).

Outreach targets

15 personalised messages per week across IG DM and LinkedIn
Warm intros from team network tracked separately
Goal: pipeline is always stacked — never scrambling week-of

Google Sheets

Guest Pipeline

Guest name	Source	Date contacted	Status	Asset folder	Playlist link	Published?

Statuses: Reached out → In conversation → Confirmed → Brief sent → Assets received → In production → Published

Themed Playlist Backups

Theme	Relevance	Assigned to	Status	Published?

Target: 2 new themes added per week.

7.2 — Video Essays TEMPLATE WIP

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Deep dive to be developed.

7.3 — Artist Spotlights TEMPLATE WIP

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Deep dive to be developed.

7.4 — Campaign Breakdowns TEMPLATE WIP

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Deep dive to be developed.

7.5 — The Principles Series BLOCKED

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Blocked pending principle sign-off. Deep dive to follow once phrasing is locked.

7.6 — Till My Tape Pop IN DEV

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Deep dive to be developed.

7.7 — Vinyl is Plural OPEN

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Deep dive to be developed.

8 — Schedules

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Three parallel tracks run every week: posting, production, and ideation. Each follows the same Mon–Thu rhythm anchored around the Wednesday marketing call.

1 — Posting schedule

Posts go out Tue/Wed/Thu. All three are auto-scheduled on Monday morning.

Mon#4Decent

Tue#2Strong

Wed#1Best day

Thu#3Strong

Fri#5Drop-off

Sat#7Lowest

Sun#6Low

Engagement by day. Data from Buffer (9.6M posts), Sprout Social, multiple 2026 studies.

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Posts

Schedule all 3

Playlist

Substance

Principle

2 — Production schedule (next week's assets)

Mon/Tue: produce 3 first drafts. Wed: review on call. Thu: revise and lock.

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Drafts

Produce

3 first drafts

Review on call

Revise & lock

3 — Ideation schedule (week after's concepts)

Mon/Tue: conceive concepts and angles. Wed: pitch on call. Thu: revise and confirm briefs.

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Ideas

Conceive

concepts & angles

Pitch on call

Revise & confirm

Combined weekly view

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Posting

Schedule all 3

Playlist

Substance

Principle

Production

Produce

3 first drafts

Review

Revise & lock

Ideation

Conceive

concepts

Pitch

Confirm

Wednesday call is the anchor. Both draft reviews and concept pitches happen in the same meeting. Mon/Tue is the production block. Thursday locks everything down. Friday is off.

9 — Publishing Workflows

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Auto-posting tool

Buffer RECOMMENDED

Meta Business Suite

Price

~$6/mo per channel

Free

Auto-publish reels

✓

Auto-publish carousels

✓

Schedule first comment

✓

✗

Best time to post suggestions

✓

Basic

Analytics

Per-post engagement

Basic reach

Interface

Clean, fast

Clunky

Captions

Written after final asset approval on Thursday. Each caption includes:

Caption copy
Hashtags (3–5 max)
First comment (if using for additional hashtags or CTA)
Tag any relevant accounts
Location tag if applicable

Post-publish checklist

Once a post goes live, run through:

0 of 7 complete

Confirm post published correctly (formatting, media quality, tags, location)

Check caption and hashtags are displaying properly

First comment posted (if applicable)

Share to stories

Respond to comments within the first hour (early engagement velocity matters for the algorithm)

Monitor DMs triggered by the post

Flag any standout performance or issues by end of day

10 — KPIs

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Keep it simple. We're tuning a machine, not reporting to a board.

What we track

Follower growth — direction over time, not a target number
Engagement rate per post — likes, comments, saves, shares as a % of reach
Saves and shares — the strongest algorithm signals. Tracked individually
Reel watch time / retention — are people staying past 3 seconds, watching to the end
DM shares — hardest to track but the most powerful growth signal

What we don't track

Impressions/reach as standalone metrics — meaningless without engagement context
Follower count as a vanity target — growth direction matters, hitting a number doesn't

Where to find it

Buffer

Per-post engagement rate
Likes, comments, shares per post
Follower growth over time
Best performing posts

Instagram Insights

Reel watch time & retention
DM shares per post
Saves per post
Audience demographics & active times

Review cadence

Weekly Thursday, last thing

2 minutes. Glance at the week's posts. Anything pop? Anything flop? Note it, don't overthink it.

Monthly First Wednesday call of the month

Pull the numbers, compare to last month, bring it to the team. Adjust the series mix based on what's working.

11 — Analysis

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Templates for weekly and monthly performance review. The weekly is a 2-minute Thursday glance — did anything pop or flop. The monthly is the proper review brought to the first Wednesday call of the month. The weekly feeds the monthly.

Weekly report template

METRIC

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

CHANGE

New followers

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Posts published

—

Avg engagement rate

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Total saves

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Total shares

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