Social Media Marketing Mix Review — 7 Ps Diagnostic

Use when

• Applies the 7 Ps marketing mix framework (Dallas, 2022) as a structured diagnostic review of a client's social media strategy. Produces a scored one-page quarterly summary with red-flag indicators and prioritised recommended actions per P. Invoke at a quarterly review, when a client reports declining results without an obvious cause, when a new consultant takes over an account and needs a structured baseline assessment, or when a client asks "why isn't our social media working?".
• Use this skill when it is the closest match to the requested deliverable or workflow.

Do not use when

• Do not use this skill for graphic design, video production, software development, or legal advice beyond the repository's stated scope.
• Do not use it when another skill in this repository is clearly more specific to the requested deliverable.

Workflow

1. Collect the required inputs or source material before drafting, unless this skill explicitly generates the intake itself.
2. Follow the section order and decision rules in this SKILL.md; do not skip mandatory steps or required fields.
3. Review the draft against the quality criteria, then deliver the final output in markdown unless the skill specifies another format.

Anti-Patterns

• Do not invent client facts, performance data, budgets, or approvals that were not provided or clearly inferred from evidence.
• Do not skip required inputs, mandatory sections, or quality checks just to make the output shorter.
• Do not drift into out-of-scope work such as code implementation, design production, or unsupported legal conclusions.

Outputs

• A structured audit, report, model, or analytical framework in markdown, with decisions and recommendations tied to evidence.

References

• Use the inline instructions in this skill now. If a references/ directory is added later, treat its files as the deeper source material and keep this SKILL.md execution-focused.

Purpose

Use this skill to systematically diagnose the health of a client's social media strategy using the 7 Ps marketing mix framework, as applied to social media by Dallas (2022). The output is a scored one-page summary — suitable for a quarterly review meeting, a new account baseline, or a cause-of-decline investigation.

Related skills: 05-social-media-strategy, meta-reporting, deck-quarterly-review

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Required Inputs

Before generating the review, ask for:

1. Client business name — trading name as it appears on social media
2. Industry — sector and sub-sector (e.g., hospitality — boutique hotel)
3. Country / city — primary market (default: Uganda / East Africa)
4. Review period — which quarter and year (e.g., Q1 2026: January–March)
5. Access to analytics — confirm whether platform insights, reach, and engagement data are available
6. Access to content archive — confirm whether recent posts (last 90 days) are available for review
7. Primary business goal this quarter — e.g., grow followers, drive WhatsApp enquiries, increase walk-in footfall
8. Known issues or client concerns — any specific complaints, observations, or hunches the client has already raised

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Diagnostic Framework — The 7 Ps

Work through each P in sequence. For each P, apply the diagnostic questions, note any red flags, and select the most relevant recommended action(s).

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1. Product

What the brand is selling via social media — and how clearly that is communicated.

Diagnostic questions:

• Is it immediately clear from the social media profile what this business sells?
• Does the content show the product or service in use, or does it only describe it?
• Does the content communicate the benefit to the customer, not just the features?
• Is the product well-suited to social media promotion — is it visual, demonstrable, or shareable?

Red flags:

• Profile bio does not state what the business does or who it serves
• All product content is "buy now" copy with no demonstration or benefit story
• The product is complex but no content explains it simply or shows it working

Recommended actions:

• Rewrite the profile bio using a WHO-WHAT-WHO-CTA structure (reference playbook-profile-optimisation)
• Add "benefit-led" content — before/after, results, customer outcomes — to all promotional posts
• Create a simple explainer post or short-form video for complex or unfamiliar products

Score this P (1–5): ___

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2. Price

How price is communicated — or withheld — on social media, and whether that serves the brand.

Diagnostic questions:

• Does the brand communicate price or pricing ranges publicly?
• If price is not shared, is there a clear alternative CTA (e.g., WhatsApp for enquiries)?
• Is pricing competitive relative to the market position the social media creates?
• Do promotional offers appear consistently, or are they random and reactive?

Red flags:

• No price information anywhere — audiences in EA expect at least a range or a clear enquiry route
• Promotional offers are inconsistent or feel desperate; constant discounting signals weak value
• Pricing content contradicts the premium positioning the brand is trying to create

Recommended actions:

• Adopt a price transparency policy: publish price ranges if not exact prices; add "DM / WhatsApp for pricing" CTA on all product posts
• Create a promotional calendar — plan offers in advance rather than running ad-hoc discounts
• Audit pricing positioning against the visual quality and tone of existing content

Score this P (1–5): ___

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3. Place

Where and how the audience engages with and purchases from the brand.

Diagnostic questions:

• Is the path from social post to purchase clear? (e.g., link in bio → WhatsApp → Mobile Money)
• Are the right platforms being used for the right audience segments?
• Is location or physical presence communicated where relevant (retail, hospitality, events)?
• Is WhatsApp integrated as the primary conversion channel?

Red flags (EA-specific):

• Posts drive traffic to a website that does not load on mobile or on a 3G connection
• No WhatsApp CTA despite operating in an East African market where WhatsApp is the dominant messaging and commerce channel
• A brick-and-mortar business never mentions its physical location on social media

Recommended actions:

• Map the full post-to-purchase journey and remove friction points (reference playbook-post-click-strategy)
• Add a WhatsApp Click-to-Chat link (wa.me/256XXXXXXXXX) as the primary CTA across all platforms
• Pin a Google Maps link and physical address to all relevant profiles; tag location on every relevant post

Score this P (1–5): ___

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4. Promotion

The mix and structure of promotional versus non-promotional content.

Diagnostic questions:

• What is the ratio of educational or entertaining content to promotional content? (Target: 80/20 rule, or apply the 10-4-1 rule — Bodnar and Cohen, 2012)
• Is promotional content spread throughout the week or bunched together?
• Are there campaigns with a clear start, middle, and end — or is promotion continuous and undifferentiated?
• Is paid social used to amplify organic content that is already performing?

Red flags:

• More than 30% of posts are direct promotional content — audiences disengage from feeds that feel like catalogues
• No planned campaigns — promotion is reactive, unstructured, and event-driven only
• Boosted posts with no targeting rationale or defined objective

Recommended actions:

• Apply the 10-4-1 rule (Bodnar and Cohen, 2012): for every 15 posts, use 10 shares of others' content, 4 original non-promotional posts, and 1 promotional post
• Build a quarterly campaign calendar with 2–3 major campaigns and 4–6 minor campaigns per quarter
• Use strategy-organic-paid-hybrid to determine which organic posts warrant paid amplification

Score this P (1–5): ___

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5. People

Who represents the brand on social media — visibly and behind the scenes.

Diagnostic questions:

• Is there a consistent brand voice across all content and platforms?
• Is there a human face — founder, team member, or employee — visible in the content?
• Who is responding to comments and DMs, and is the response style consistent?
• Are brand spokespeople or ambassadors used appropriately and briefed on brand standards?

Red flags (EA-specific):

• All content is product imagery or graphics only — no human presence; EA audiences trust people, not logos
• Multiple people post with completely different voices, tones, and quality levels
• DM responses are slow, inconsistent, or handled by different team members with no shared script

Recommended actions:

• Feature the founder or a named team member in at least one post per week
• Create a brand voice guide and brief all team members who post or respond (reference brand-voice-ai-training)
• Assign one named community management owner per account with defined response-time standards

Score this P (1–5): ___

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6. Process

How content is planned, produced, approved, and published.

Diagnostic questions:

• Is there a content calendar in place and being followed?
• Is there a content approval process with defined turnaround times?
• Is content scheduled in advance, or published reactively and ad hoc?
• Is there a quality control checklist applied before any post goes live?

Red flags:

• No content calendar — posting is irregular, reactive, and dependent on one person's availability
• No approval process — content goes live without client review or brand sign-off
• Frequent posting gaps of three or more days that are not planned (e.g., holidays, campaigns)

Recommended actions:

• Implement a monthly content calendar covering all platforms and content pillars (reference 11-content-calendar)
• Establish a content approval workflow with a 24-hour client review window before scheduled publication
• Use a scheduling tool (Buffer, FeedHive, or Meta Business Suite) to maintain posting consistency regardless of team availability

Score this P (1–5): ___

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7. Physical Evidence

The visual and reputational signals that make the brand believable and trustworthy.

Diagnostic questions:

• Is the visual identity — colours, fonts, photography style — consistent across all platforms?
• Are reviews, testimonials, and case studies featured regularly?
• Does the content look professional enough for the brand's price point and market positioning?
• Is the brand's East African market credibility visible — local clients, local context, local language?

Red flags (EA-specific):

• Stock imagery with no local context — looks generic and untrustworthy to EA audiences who recognise global stock photos
• No social proof: no reviews, no customer stories, no before/after content
• Inconsistent visual quality — some posts look professional, others look rushed or off-brand

Recommended actions:

• Introduce a visual system with defined templates, colour palette, and photography standards (reference platform-instagram-visual-system or playbook-social-media-brand-style-guide)
• Launch a "Customer Stories" content series using real client testimonials, photos, and outcomes (reference playbook-ugc-strategy)
• Publish at least one social proof post every two weeks: a review screenshot, a client testimonial, or a case study summary

Score this P (1–5): ___

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Output — One-Page Quarterly Review Summary

Generate the following table as the primary deliverable. Complete one row per P based on the diagnostic above.

P	Score (1–5)	Top Red Flag	Priority Action
Product
Price
Place
Promotion
People
Process
Physical Evidence
Overall score	/35

Score interpretation:

Band	Score	Meaning
Strong	28–35	Strategy is fundamentally sound — maintain momentum and refine
Developing	21–27	2–3 targeted improvements will produce measurable results
Weak	14–20	Systematic overhaul required across multiple Ps
Critical	Below 14	Fundamental strategy reset recommended before further content investment

After the table, include:

• 3 priority actions ranked by expected impact — these become the client's 90-day focus
• One-sentence overall assessment the consultant can read aloud in a review meeting
• Recommended next skill to run based on the lowest-scoring P (e.g., if Process scores 1–2, recommend 11-content-calendar next)

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Quality Criteria

• All 7 Ps are assessed with at least 3 diagnostic questions each; no P is skipped
• Red flags are specific to the client's situation — not generic marketing advice
• Every recommended action references a named skill in this repository where applicable
• The scoring table produces a total out of 35 with a written interpretation band
• EA-specific red flags are included for at least 3 Ps (Place, People, and Physical Evidence)
• The final output fits on one page — a business owner can read the summary in under 5 minutes
• The 10-4-1 rule (Bodnar and Cohen, 2012) is cited explicitly in the Promotion section

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References

• Dallas, M. (2022) Social Media Marketing Algorithms
• Bodnar, K. and Cohen, J. (2012) The B2B Social Media Book. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley
• Chaffey, D. (2024) Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice. 8th edn. Harlow: Pearson