Skill: Social Media Post Creator

This is Part 11 of a 16-part series on building your AI VP of Marketing with Claude Cowork. Previous: Wiring It Together | Next: Agent: Channel Distribution Planner

# Marketing VP -- Acme Widget Co.

## Business Overview
Acme Widget Co. sells industrial-grade fastening systems to manufacturing
plants across the Midwest. Founded 2019, 12 employees, $2.4M annual revenue.

## Target Audience
Operations managers and procurement leads at mid-size manufacturing plants
(50-500 employees). They care about reliability, lead times, and total cost
of ownership. Most are 35-55, skeptical of marketing, and make decisions
based on spec sheets and peer recommendations.

## Brand Voice
Direct, technical, no-nonsense, helpful. We sound like an experienced
engineer explaining a product -- not a salesperson pitching one.

# Brand Voice

## Tone
Direct, technical, no-nonsense, helpful, specific.

## Words We Use
- spec, tolerance, load rating, lead time, unit cost
- plain numbers and measurements over vague claims

## Words We Never Use
- game-changing, revolutionary, synergy, leverage, empower
- "we are excited to announce" or any variation

## Sentence Structure
- Lead with the fact or the benefit. Never lead with "we."
- Active voice always.
- Short paragraphs. One idea per paragraph.

Acme Widget Co. just released the T-90 titanium anchor bolt, rated for
12,000 lbs of shear load in concrete applications. The T-90 replaces
the T-70 in high-vibration environments where standard carbon steel
bolts fatigue after 18-24 months. Independent testing shows the T-90
lasts 5x longer under cyclic loading. Available in M12, M16, and M20
sizes. Lead time is 3 weeks for standard orders, 5 days for rush.

Social Media in the Pipeline

Your pipeline from Article 10 ends with distribution-ready content. The Content Repurposer produces blog posts, emails, and general channel content. But "content for social media" and "a LinkedIn post that actually performs on LinkedIn" are different outputs. Each social platform has conventions, length constraints, and audience expectations that shape how the same message lands.

This skill handles the last-mile transformation. It takes finished content -- a blog post, a product announcement, a technical tip -- and produces posts formatted for specific platforms. The input is your content. The output is four platform-ready posts, each shaped for where it will be published.

Platform-Specific Variations

The same announcement reads differently on LinkedIn than it does on X. Not because the message changes, but because the format, length, and audience context are different. Operations managers on LinkedIn scroll past content that reads like an ad. The same people on Facebook respond to a different framing entirely.

Here is what each platform demands:

LinkedIn: Professional, but not corporate. 150-300 words. Lead with an insight or a specific claim, not a product pitch. Your audience here is operations managers and procurement leads who evaluate vendors by credibility, not enthusiasm. One to three hashtags maximum -- hashtag spam signals consumer marketing, which your audience ignores. Structure longer posts with line breaks between ideas. A strong opening line matters because LinkedIn truncates after roughly three lines behind a "see more" click.

X/Twitter: 280 characters. That constraint forces clarity. Strip the message to its sharpest point. Technical specs work well here because numbers are dense with meaning -- "12,000 lbs shear load, 5x fatigue life" communicates more in fewer characters than any adjective. For longer announcements, thread format works: first tweet hooks, subsequent tweets add detail. No hashtags in the main body. Put them at the end or skip them entirely.

Instagram: Caption-driven, visual-first. 150-300 words for the caption, but the first line must grab attention before the truncation fold. Five to fifteen hashtags are standard on this platform -- mix broad industry tags (#manufacturing, #industrialsupply) with specific ones (#fasteners, #anchorbolt). Include a call to action. Instagram audiences expect to be told what to do next: visit a link, check a spec sheet, ask a question in comments.

Facebook: Conversational, community-oriented. Medium length -- 100-250 words. Works best when the post invites a response or shares something useful without requiring a click-through. Link posts get decent reach if the preview text stands on its own. Your manufacturing audience on Facebook skews toward owner-operators and plant managers who browse during breaks, not procurement leads doing vendor research. Adjust the framing accordingly -- less spec-sheet, more practical benefit.

These norms shift over time. LinkedIn's algorithm favors different formats every six months. X's character limit might change again. Instagram's hashtag effectiveness fluctuates. Build the skill so platform specs live in an updateable location rather than buried in the prompt logic.

Build with /skill-creator

Open your Cowork project and type /skill-creator. Paste the following prompt:

Build a skill called "Social Media Posts" that transforms content into
platform-specific social media posts.

Inputs:
- Content: the source material to transform (blog post, product
  announcement, technical tip, or any marketing content)
- Platform: "all" to generate posts for every platform, or specify
  one: "linkedin", "x", "instagram", "facebook"
- CTA (optional): a specific call to action to include. If not
  provided, generate an appropriate one based on the content.

What it does:
1. Read .claude/rules/brand-voice.md to load brand voice standards
2. Read .claude/rules/social-platforms.md to load platform-specific
   formatting rules (character limits, hashtag conventions, tone
   adjustments)
3. Analyze the source content and extract:
   - The core message or announcement
   - Key technical details or specs worth highlighting
   - The most compelling benefit for the target audience
4. Generate a post for each requested platform, following these rules:

   LINKEDIN:
   - 150-300 words
   - Open with a specific insight, claim, or question -- not a product pitch
   - Professional but not corporate. Sound like an engineer sharing
     something useful, not a brand account pushing content
   - Use line breaks between ideas for scannability
   - 1-3 relevant hashtags at the end
   - Include a CTA in the final line

   X/TWITTER:
   - Primary post: 280 characters maximum, hard limit
   - If the content warrants it, suggest a 3-5 tweet thread with the
     primary post as the hook
   - Lead with the most specific, attention-grabbing fact or number
   - No hashtags in the body text. 1-2 hashtags at the end, only if
     they add discoverability
   - Skip the CTA if it does not fit in 280 characters

   INSTAGRAM:
   - 150-300 word caption
   - First line must work as a standalone hook (visible before truncation)
   - 5-15 hashtags, mix of broad industry and specific product/topic tags
   - Include a clear CTA (link in bio, comment, DM, etc.)
   - Suggest an image concept or describe what visual would pair with
     the caption

   FACEBOOK:
   - 100-250 words
   - Conversational, community-oriented tone
   - Frame around practical benefit or shared experience rather than
     product specs
   - If linking to content, make the post text stand alone without
     requiring the click
   - 0-3 hashtags, only if they are genuinely useful

5. After generating all posts, note any platform where the source
   content does not translate well and explain why

Output format:
For each platform, provide:
- The complete post text, ready to copy and paste
- Character/word count
- Suggested posting notes (best time context, image suggestions, etc.)

RULES:
- Maintain brand voice from brand-voice.md across all platforms. Adapt
  FORMAT to each platform but keep VOICE consistent.
- Never use words from the "never use" list regardless of platform norms
- Every post must include at least one specific number, measurement, or
  concrete fact from the source content
- If the source content is too thin for a platform (not enough material
  for a 150-word LinkedIn post, for example), say so instead of padding
  with filler

After Cowork processes this, you get a skill that reads your source content, references your brand rules and platform specs, and produces formatted posts for each platform. The skill pulls your voice rules automatically on every run -- you do not need to remind it about banned vocabulary or tone requirements.

The key detail in this prompt is the instruction to adapt format while keeping voice consistent. That distinction prevents the most common social media problem: posts that sound like four different brands because each platform pulled the voice in a different direction.

# Social Platform Specifications

## LinkedIn
- Length: 150-300 words
- Hashtags: 1-3, professional/industry terms only
- Tone adjustment: professional, insight-led, no hard sell
- Truncation: ~3 lines before "see more"

## X/Twitter
- Length: 280 characters (hard limit)
- Hashtags: 0-2, end of post only
- Tone adjustment: concise, fact-forward, punchy
- Thread format: hook tweet + 3-5 detail tweets for longer content

## Instagram
- Caption length: 150-300 words
- Hashtags: 5-15, mix broad and specific
- Tone adjustment: visual-first framing, clear CTA
- Truncation: first line must stand alone

## Facebook
- Length: 100-250 words
- Hashtags: 0-3
- Tone adjustment: conversational, community, practical benefit
- Link posts: text must work without the click-through

Test Across Platforms

Run the skill with a real piece of Acme Widget Co. content. Use the T-90 titanium anchor bolt announcement as input -- a new product that replaces an older model in demanding applications. Set the platform to "all."

Here is what the output looks like for each platform:

LinkedIn

Most anchor bolts in high-vibration environments fatigue after 18-24
months. That is the typical lifespan for carbon steel in cyclic loading
applications -- and the reason half the maintenance calls at concrete-
mounted equipment come down to failed fasteners.

The T-90 titanium anchor bolt changes that math. Independent testing
shows 5x longer fatigue life under cyclic loading compared to standard
carbon steel. Shear load rating is 12,000 lbs in concrete. It is a
direct replacement for the T-70 in the same mounting pattern, so
retrofitting does not require new hardware or drilling.

Three things worth knowing:
- Available in M12, M16, and M20 sizes
- Standard lead time is 3 weeks, rush orders ship in 5 days
- Same bolt pattern as the T-70 -- swap takes minutes, not hours

If your plant runs equipment on concrete pads with constant vibration,
the fatigue math on the T-90 is worth 10 minutes with the spec sheet.

acmewidget.com/t90-specs

#industrialfasteners #manufacturing #anchorbolt

Word count: 162

X/Twitter

New T-90 titanium anchor bolt: 12,000 lbs shear load, 5x fatigue life
vs carbon steel in high-vibration concrete mounts. M12/M16/M20. 3-week
lead time. Spec sheet: acmewidget.com/t90-specs

Character count: 198

Instagram

Carbon steel anchor bolts last 18-24 months in high-vibration
environments. Then they fail, and your maintenance crew spends a
shift replacing them.

The T-90 titanium anchor bolt lasts 5x longer under the same cyclic
loading conditions. Rated at 12,000 lbs of shear load in concrete
applications. Same mounting pattern as the T-70, so retrofitting
existing equipment takes minutes, not hours.

Available in M12, M16, and M20 sizes.
Standard lead time: 3 weeks.
Rush orders: 5 days.

If you have run into bolt fatigue on vibrating equipment, drop a
comment or DM us for the full spec sheet.

#manufacturing #industrialfasteners #anchorbolt #titanium
#concretefasteners #plantmaintenance #industrialsupply #mechanicaleng
#facilitymanagement #bolts #heavyindustry

Word count: 112 | Suggested image: close-up of the T-90 bolt next to a standard carbon steel bolt, both mounted in concrete, with size comparison visible.

Facebook

Quick question for anyone running heavy equipment on concrete pads --
how often are you replacing anchor bolts?

Standard carbon steel bolts fatigue in 18-24 months under constant
vibration. That means planned downtime, maintenance hours, and
replacement costs on a cycle that never stops.

We just released the T-90 titanium anchor bolt. Independent testing
shows 5x longer fatigue life, 12,000 lbs shear load rated. Same
mounting pattern as the T-70, so the swap is straightforward.

Spec sheet and sizing details here: acmewidget.com/t90-specs

Word count: 88

Look at what each platform got right. LinkedIn reads like an engineer sharing a finding, not a vendor pushing a product. The opening line is about the problem (bolt fatigue), not about Acme. X packs the critical specs -- load rating, fatigue multiplier, sizes, lead time, link -- into 198 characters with no wasted words. Instagram hits the pain point first, then the specs, then the engagement ask. Facebook opens conversationally and assumes the reader might share their own experience.

If any platform's output feels off, the fix is usually in your platform rules file, not in the skill itself. LinkedIn posts coming out too salesy? Tighten the tone adjustment in .claude/rules/social-platforms.md. X posts wasting characters on filler words? Add a constraint about prioritizing specs over descriptions.

Voice Consistency

Four platforms pull your voice in four directions. LinkedIn rewards "thought leader" phrasing, which drifts toward corporate jargon. X rewards provocation, which drifts toward clickbait. Instagram rewards casual energy, which drifts toward generic. Facebook rewards relatability, which drifts toward bland.

The anchor against all four drifts is your brand voice rules from Articles 4 and 6. The skill adapts format to each platform, but the voice rules set hard boundaries that no platform convention can override. "Never use the word leverage" applies on LinkedIn even though half of LinkedIn runs on that word. "Lead with the fact or the benefit" applies on Facebook even though most Facebook posts lead with a question or a story.

Run the Brand Voice Checker from Article 6 against each of the four outputs. The results should show consistent PASS ratings on tone, vocabulary, and sentence structure -- even though the posts look and feel different from each other. Voice consistency does not mean every post reads the same. It means every post sounds like the same company wrote it. In practice, the LinkedIn post passes cleanly -- the engineering-peer tone matches the brand naturally on that platform. X passes because the character limit forces you into specs and facts, which is what your voice rules already prefer. Instagram might get a WARN if the hashtag block introduces terms that feel too casual or too broad for your brand. Facebook might get a WARN if the conversational opener drifts too far from "direct and technical."

Those WARNs are useful calibration signals. They tell you where platform conventions and brand voice create friction. Start with the platform rules file. If that does not fix the drift, tighten the skill prompt. Accept the tradeoff only if the drift improves engagement without undermining brand recognition.

The goal is not identical posts across platforms. The goal is that someone who follows Acme Widget Co. on LinkedIn and Facebook recognizes the same company in both feeds. Same directness. Same reliance on specs over adjectives. Same refusal to hype. Different packaging.

What is Next

Creating platform-formatted posts is half the social media job. The other half is distribution: when to post, how often, in what sequence, and which platforms get priority for which types of content.

Article 12 builds a Channel Distribution Planner agent that takes your social posts and builds a publishing schedule. It considers platform-specific timing, content type, audience activity patterns, and posting frequency. The Social Media Post Creator produces the content. The Distribution Planner tells you when and where to publish it.

Part 11 of 16 -- Your AI VP of Marketing series | Next: Agent: Channel Distribution Planner