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Summary
The onboarding questionnaire is the first step in launching a successful social media strategy. It enables us to capture vital details about your business, target audience, brand identity, and content preferences. With this comprehensive information, we can develop, publish, and optimise posts that resonate with your audience, drive engagement, and achieve measurable results, all whilst staying compliant with industry policies and legal regulations.
In this guide, we detail what to expect during onboarding, how to prepare the necessary information, and why each element is crucial to your social media strategy’s success.
Establishing an effective social media presence can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. The onboarding questionnaire simplifies the process by gathering all the information we need to create tailored social media strategies that meet your specific objectives.
Why the onboarding questionnaire matters
The onboarding questionnaire is essential for several reasons:
1. Customisation: It captures unique business details such as your company overview, brand voice, key messaging points, and marketing goals. This ensures we create content and social strategies that authentically represent your business.
2. Efficiency: Sharing key details upfront eliminates the need for extensive back-and-forth communications, speeding up the content creation process.
3. Data-driven strategy: Detailed insights into your target audience, content preferences, and performance expectations allow us to build a data-driven social media strategy. This drives engagement, builds brand loyalty, and maximises the value of every interaction.
4. Compliance: Including questions about industry-specific rules and data privacy (e.g. GDPR/CCPA) ensures that your content adheres to regulatory standards and platform policies from the very start.
How your onboarding questionnaire guides our GorillaAudit®
The detailed responses you provide in the onboarding questionnaire form the backbone of our GorillaAudit, a five-stage strategy analysis and review process you approve at each stage to ensure that your social media strategy remains fully aligned with your vision. For example, if you’re an ecommerce brand, we specifically ask whether your product images are readily accessible via your Shopify store or if you want to upload custom visuals and lifestyle shots. This not only clarifies your creative asset requirements but also ensures that every subsequent stage, from research to content planning and development, is fully informed by your input.
Whilst this multi-stage strategy planning process is separate from the questionnaire itself, the initial steps build directly on the data you provide. Here’s an overview of how we use your input to shape a successful strategy:
Stage 1: Onboarding and Alignment
We begin by discussing your questionnaire responses, clarifying your chosen target channels, and establishing clear goals and KPIs to measure success. This initial alignment ensures we thoroughly understand your objectives and any brand or regulatory frameworks we need to incorporate before moving forward, setting a strong foundation for your social media strategy.Stage 2: Research and Initial Audit
We conduct an in-depth competitive analysis to pinpoint gaps and opportunities in your market. Using insights gathered, our team formulates an initial strategic direction, such as storytelling or community building, and refines buyer personas. This stage ensures our direction aligns precisely with market realities and your objectives.Stage 3: Content Planning and Calendar
We design the structural blueprint of your content calendar, outlining key content themes, brand messaging pillars, and posting schedules aligned with your objectives. Our team ensures each post resonates with your target audience, and for Enterprise clients, we implement additional brand protection measures, regulatory compliance checks, or multi-language support. This careful planning stage guarantees your content plan supports your goals effectively.Stage 4: Content Development
With a clear content plan established, we produce impactful visuals and engaging copy tailored to your audience and channels. We meticulously verify hashtags and tags to enhance relevance and maintain brand safety. Enterprise clients benefit from advanced brand safety measures and regulatory reviews, ensuring all content consistently meets high standards whilst adhering strictly to brand standards and industry regulations.Stage 5: Final Quality Assurance (QA) and Compliance
Before posts go live, we conduct comprehensive quality assurance checks, verifying scheduled dates, times, and channel-specific compliance. Rigorous brand-safety evaluations and compliance reviews are conducted for regulated industries. You’ll review all final details, giving approval only when everything meets your standards, ensuring a smooth and compliant launch.
Completing the onboarding questionnaire is crucial because it supplies the detailed information underpinning each strategic stage. The insights you share enable us to tailor our research, refine strategies, craft bespoke creative elements, and develop an effective posting schedule. Simply put, your responses guide each step of our multi-stage strategy, ensuring that every phase aligns with your business objectives for an impactful social media presence.
What should you expect?
Our onboarding questionnaire is divided into seven key sections:
1. Business information
This section lays the foundation for your social media strategy by capturing essential company details:
Basic details: Business name, website, VAT status, and contact information.
Objectives: What do you want to achieve? Examples include growing followers, improving engagement, increasing website traffic, or boosting direct sales.
2. Audience insights
Since targeting the right audience is essential, we dive deep into your ideal customer profile:
Demographics: Who are your ideal customers? Share details like age, gender, income, and location.
Behaviours and interests: What hobbies, brands, or products do they engage with?
Pain points: What problems do your products or services solve for your customers?
Geographic focus: Which regions or countries should be targeted?
3. Brand assets
Strong branding is vital for effective social media management. In this section, we request the following:
Logos and visuals: High-quality logos, lifestyle shots, or product imagery. If you use Shopify, we can access product images via partner access.
Brand guidelines: Fonts, colour hex codes, and messaging preferences for consistent branding.
Creative input: Ideas for offers, promotions, or themes you’d like us to feature prominently in your social media posts.
4. Platform access
To manage your social profiles effectively and optimise performance, we require access to your social media pages:
Provide access to your business pages on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, or others.
If you prefer, login credentials can also be shared safely through our encrypted password vault.
5. Performance goals and past campaigns
Clear objectives and benchmarks help ensure your strategy aligns with your expectations:
KPIs: Define targets for key metrics, such as follower growth, engagement rate, reach, click-through rates, or lead generation.
Previous campaign insights: If available, share insights on past content performance or learnings to help us refine our strategy.
6. Content and messaging focus
In this section, we pinpoint the specific focus areas for content development:
Priority products or services: Highlight any products, services, or promotions you want to focus on.
Content preferences: Suggest content formats (e.g. carousels, short-form videos, stories) or themes (e.g. educational, inspirational, promotional) you prefer.
Tone and messaging: Preferences for copy style (e.g. professional, conversational, or light-hearted).
7. Compliance and policy considerations
Providing compliance details is optional for companies that are not subject to strict regulatory or data privacy requirements. However, if your business operates within a regulated sector or handles sensitive customer data, these details are required:
Industry-specific rules: Information on whether your business falls under any regulated categories (such as housing, credit, healthcare, or alcohol) so that strategies can be tailored accordingly.
Data privacy requirements: We ask for confirmation that your customer data collection complies with laws like GDPR, CCPA, or other relevant regulations to ensure that proper consent has been obtained. If you’re unsure whether your data collection practices meet these legal requirements, our team can review your processes, recommend appropriate adjustments, and even help implement consent management tools to ensure you’re fully compliant.
Brand and regulatory guidelines: Details on any internal guidelines or mandatory disclaimers for posts, including who will review and approve them.
Channel-specific requirements
Different social media channels require different inputs. Below is a breakdown of what we’ll need for each major channel:
How to prepare for the onboarding process
The more information you share about your business, audience, and objectives, the better the results we can deliver with your social media strategy. Here are some tips to ensure a smooth onboarding experience:
1. Provide key details: Gather all relevant branding assets, guidelines, audience insights, and account credentials beforehand.
2. Focus on your audience: Think carefully about your ideal customer’s demographics, interests, and online behaviours. The more specific you can be, the better we can engage them.
3. Upload assets securely: Use tools like Google Drive to share high-quality visuals, videos, and other essential files with our team securely.
4. Ask questions: If you’re unsure about any section of the questionnaire, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team.
If you’re also signing up for paid advertising or email marketing, be sure check out our other preparation guides:
A thorough onboarding questionnaire sets you up for success
The quality of your social media strategy directly depends on the detail and clarity provided during onboarding. By thoroughly completing the questionnaire, you empower our team to design a highly customised plan that accurately reflects your business goals, audience preferences, and brand identity.
With GoGorilla, your onboarding questionnaire isn't simply a formality. It is the foundation for measurable results. Partner with us today and leverage our data-driven approach to maximise your brand’s visibility, engagement, and growth across social media.
