How to Build a Social Media Strategy for a Wellness Brand (That Actually Works)

The wellness industry is one of the most competitive spaces on social media. Every week brings a new supplement brand, a new fitness app, a new 'clean' beauty launch — all fighting for the same eyeballs, the same creators, the same corner of the TikTok algorithm.

So how do you build a social media strategy that actually cuts through?

After 11 years working with wellness brands — from pre-seed startups to established names — here's what I've learned about what separates the brands that grow their social presence from the ones that just post consistently and wonder why nothing changes.

Start with your positioning, not your posting schedule. The most common mistake wellness brands make on social media is starting with tactics. They ask: how many times should we post? What should go on Instagram versus TikTok? Should we use trending audio?

None of that matters until you've answered a more fundamental question: why should someone follow you?

Your social media strategy should start with brand positioning. Who are you for? What do you stand for? What's the emotional job your product or service does for your customer? Once you can answer those questions clearly, every content decision becomes easier. Choose platforms based on your audience, not trends

You don't need to be everywhere. You need to be where your customers are, and where your content can perform.

For most wellness brands, this means making a considered choice between Instagram, TikTok and YouTube — and possibly Pinterest if your product has strong visual appeal. LinkedIn matters if you're selling B2B or building a founder-led brand.

The mistake I see constantly is brands spreading themselves across five platforms with mediocre content on all of them. Pick two. Do them properly.

Build content pillars, not a content calendar. A content calendar tells you what to post on Tuesday. A content strategy tells you why you're posting at all.

Content pillars are the three to five themes your brand will consistently own on social. For a wellness brand, these might be education (ingredient science, how-tos), community (customer stories, UGC), culture (brand values, behind the scenes), and conversion (product features, offers).

Every piece of content should map to a pillar. If it doesn't, it probably shouldn't be posted.

Invest in organic before you scale paid. Paid social amplifies what's already working. If your organic content isn't landing, running paid behind it will just burn budget faster.

Get your organic strategy right first — nail your tone of voice, figure out which formats your audience responds to, build a consistent visual identity. Then, once you have proof of concept, use paid to accelerate.

Measure what matters. Not all metrics are equal. Follower count is vanity. Engagement rate, click-through rate, conversion from social, and content-attributed revenue — those are the numbers that tell you whether your strategy is working.

Set your KPIs before you start, review them monthly, and be willing to change what isn't working. A social media strategy isn't a document you create once — it's a living thing that evolves with your brand and your audience.

When to get outside help. If you're a founder wearing five hats, a stretched marketing team, or a brand that's been posting without a clear strategy for months — this is usually when it makes sense to bring in a consultant.

A good social media strategist won't just hand you a document and disappear. They'll help you build the thinking, the processes and the confidence to own your social presence long-term.

If that sounds like what you need, feel free to get in touch. I'd love to help.

What Is a Fractional Head of Social And Does Your Brand Need One?

If you've been trying to hire a senior social media lead and keep hitting walls — either the right people are too expensive, or you don't have enough work for a full-time hire — you're not alone.

More and more brands are solving this problem with a fractional arrangement. But what does that actually mean, and is it the right move for you?

What 'fractional' means

A fractional Head of Social is a senior social media professional who works with you on a part-time or project basis, rather than as a full-time employee.

Think of it like having access to a Head of Social for two or three days a week — but without the full-time salary, the employer NI contributions, the holiday pay, or the long recruitment process.

You get senior-level thinking, leadership and execution for a fraction of the cost and commitment.

What a fractional Head of Social actually does

The scope varies depending on what you need, but typically covers:

• Owning the social media strategy end-to-end

• Managing your in-house team or external agency

• Maintaining the editorial calendar and creative direction

• Presenting social performance to senior stakeholders

• Managing influencer partnerships and creator relationships

• Setting KPIs and reporting on what's working

• Upskilling junior team members

Who is it right for?

A fractional arrangement works best for brands in a specific growth window — typically Series A to C, or established brands going through a transition. You've outgrown ad hoc social posting, but you're not ready to justify a full Head of Social salary.

It's also a strong option if you've just lost a senior team member and need experienced cover while you recruit, or if your current team needs direction and leadership rather than more execution.

What it's not

A fractional Head of Social isn't a social media manager. They're not there to schedule posts or reply to comments (though they might oversee someone who does). They're a strategic leader — someone who sets the direction, builds the team, and makes sure everything connects back to business goals.

If you're looking for someone to run your Instagram day-to-day, that's a different role. If you're looking for someone to build a social function that's worth running, that's when fractional senior leadership makes sense.

How to know if it's right for your brand

Ask yourself: do you have a clear social media strategy, or are you just posting? Is your team confident about what they're working towards? Are your social channels contributing meaningfully to your business goals?

If the answer to any of those is no, a fractional Head of Social can help. The best ones don't just do the work — they build the capability inside your team so that, over time, you need them less.

That's the approach I take. If you'd like to talk through what your brand needs, get in touch.

Influencer Marketing for D2C Brands: A Strategy That Actually Drives Results

Influencer marketing is one of the most misunderstood tools in the D2C brand toolkit. Brands either dismiss it as fluffy and untrackable, or pour money into it without a strategy and wonder why it doesn't convert.

The truth is that influencer marketing — when it's done with clear thinking and the right framework — is one of the highest-ROI channels available to D2C brands. Here's how to approach it strategically.

Stop chasing follower counts

The number one mistake brands make with influencer marketing is optimising for reach over relevance. A creator with 500,000 followers who doesn't align with your brand values will almost always underperform a creator with 15,000 followers who genuinely loves your category.

What you're really looking for is engaged, qualified audiences. A micro or mid-tier creator whose followers are your exact target customer is worth ten times a mega influencer with a passive, broadly diverse audience.

Define your objective before you brief anyone

Influencer campaigns serve very different purposes depending on what stage your brand is at. Are you trying to build brand awareness? Drive trial? Generate UGC for your paid social? Re-engage a lapsed customer base?

Each of those objectives needs a different type of creator, different content formats, different calls to action, and different metrics. Without a clear objective, you end up with content that looks nice and does nothing.

Build relationships, not transactions

The brands that get the most out of influencer marketing treat creators as partners, not media placements. That means taking time to find people who genuinely fit the brand, giving them a real brief with room to be creative, and building relationships that go beyond a single paid post.

Long-term creator partnerships almost always outperform one-off campaigns. The audience trust that builds over repeated, authentic content is something you simply can't buy in a single activation.

Get your measurement framework right

You don't need to track everything — you need to track the right things. At minimum, you should be measuring reach and impressions (for awareness), engagement rate (for resonance), link clicks and promo code usage (for conversion), and UGC generated (for content value).

Set your benchmarks before the campaign starts. Brief your creators clearly on what you need. And make peace with the fact that attribution in influencer marketing is imperfect — that doesn't mean it isn't working.

The briefing process matters more than you think

A great brief unlocks great content. A vague brief produces vague content. Your creator brief should cover: brand background and tone, campaign objective, key messages (what must come through), creative freedom (what they can own), mandatory inclusions (disclosures, tags, links), and deliverables and timeline.

The brief is also your first chance to set the tone of the relationship. Be clear, be human, and be open to their creative input. The best influencer content comes when the creator genuinely feels like they're collaborating, not just executing.

When to bring in outside expertise

If you're managing influencer marketing in-house and it feels chaotic — or you're not confident your strategy is working — it might be worth bringing in specialist support. A good influencer strategist will help you build the framework, identify the right creators, develop the briefing process and set up measurement that actually tells you something useful.

I've built influencer strategies for D2C brands across wellness, fitness, fashion and lifestyle. If you'd like to talk through your approach, get in touch.