Everything starts with research.
Self-Initiated Content & Social Strategy Research for a Design Agency
I built this project on my own time to demonstrate how I approach a content strategy engagement from scratch. I designed it around a fictional-but-realistic creative agency brief: a small design studio with an inconsistent social presence, no formalized content strategy, and big ambitions around brand positioning. The goals I defined for the imagined client reflect what I see come up again and again in this space: a desire to post more consistently, tell a stronger brand story, and build real engagement with peers and prospects — without a dedicated content team to make it happen.
The most useful thing about this project wasn't the competitor data itself — it was practicing the reframe that makes this kind of research actually land with a creative team. The research showed that consistent quality across a narrow set of content pillars outperformed broad but scattered posting every time. That insight turns social media from an overwhelming obligation into something a small team can own with intention. That's the kind of clarity I try to bring to every strategy engagement.
What I Did
Competitive Audit Across Four Agencies I selected four real agencies of varying sizes — from 5-person studios to 200-person firms — that represent the kind of work the imagined client admires, and analyzed their website content, social accounts, and brand voice. For each, I documented content pillars, follower metrics, posting patterns, and the specific tactics that made their presence effective.
Content Pillar Analysis Across all four agencies, I identified recurring content categories — project showcases, award announcements, company culture moments, partner amplification, and thought leadership — and mapped which combinations each relied on. Even the most successful agencies used as few as three pillars, as long as the visual execution stayed fresh. The key finding: client work was universally the dominant pillar, and the supplementary categories could remain deliberately lighter-weight.
Voice & Messaging Breakdown I evaluated how each agency balanced creative, sometimes abstract brand language with clarity about their actual services. The most effective sites layered visual interactivity with straightforward copy — design invited exploration, but messaging never left visitors confused about what the agency did. I translated this into a recommendation for the fictional client: lead with aesthetic, reinforce it with plain-spoken descriptions.
Platform-Specific Recommendations I developed tactical guidance for Instagram and LinkedIn, including how to treat Instagram's saved stories as a curated visual portfolio, how to vary post composition between close-up detail shots and wider contextual images, and why creating social-first content — rather than just repurposing client deliverables — drives stronger engagement.
Engagement & Community-Building Strategy I proposed an outreach initiative built around tagging, congratulatory posts, and strategic reposting of peer agencies and industry contacts — a tactic I observed working well across several of the agencies I studied. The underlying logic: visibility in a design community comes as much from generosity as self-promotion.
Key Deliverables
A visual research deck organized around goals, competitor profiles, and best practices
A recommended content pillar framework tailored to the agency's size and capacity
A shared content calendar structure and team-wide idea collection workflow
Specific recommendations around awards strategy, including which types require self-submission vs. client nomination
Tools & Platforms
Figma, Airtable
