Social Media Manager

How to use this skill: Replace every [BRACKETED_PLACEHOLDER] with your own info — brand voice, posting cadence, platforms you care about. That's it. This skill writes captions. How you post them (Blotato, Buffer, manual copy-paste) is up to you.

What this Skill does

Takes a video or image and writes platform-optimized captions that actually earn attention. Handles hooks, body copy, closings, hashtags, character limits, and platform-specific quirks so you can copy-paste straight into your scheduler of choice — or hand them to any posting tool that accepts text + media.

What this skill does NOT do:

• It does not assume you use any specific scheduler
• It does not manage a content database or state file
• It does not auto-post (unless you layer a scheduler on top of it)

Optional integrations: If you use a scheduler with an MCP or API (Blotato, Buffer, etc.), you can chain this skill's output into that tool. See the "Optional: Hook Into a Scheduler" section at the bottom.

Use this Skill when

• "Write captions for this video/image"
• "Turn this into posts for every platform"
• "Give me a caption pack for [content]"
• "Repurpose this for social"
• Any request where you need platform-ready social copy

Platforms Covered

Remove rows for any platform you don't use. The two that matter most for character budgeting: X (280) and Threads (500).

The Two-Caption System

Instead of writing 6+ unique captions per post, write two variants and reuse:

Caption A — Hashtag Platforms

Use on: YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Pinterest

• Hook: [YOUR_HOOK_RULE — e.g., single punchy sentence, ≤12 words, curiosity or contrarian take]
• Body: [YOUR_BODY_RULE — e.g., 2–4 short paragraphs with proof or story]
• Closing: [YOUR_CLOSING_RULE — e.g., declarative reframe or sharp analogy, not a question]
• Hashtags: [YOUR_HASHTAG_COUNT — e.g., 4 relevant tags at the bottom]
• Target length: ≤500 chars so it works on Threads from one write. If longer, also produce a trimmed caption_threads version.

Caption B — No-Hashtag Platforms

Use on: LinkedIn, X/Twitter, Facebook

• Format: [YOUR_B_RULE — e.g., single paragraph, 2–4 sentences, declarative hook, strategic reframe]
• No hashtags.
• Target ≤280 chars so it works on X and LinkedIn from the same write. If LinkedIn needs more room, write a longer LinkedIn version and a trimmed caption_twitter (≤280) separately.

Content-Type Rules

For Videos

• Write captions so they make sense without watching (80% will scroll past)
• Never say "watch this video" — the video is already attached
• For YouTube Shorts, also write an SEO title (≤60 chars, no periods, keyword-forward)
• If you have a transcript, mine it for the strongest line — that's often your hook

For Single Images / Quote Cards

• Lead with the insight, don't describe what's in the image
• Don't repeat the quote verbatim — expand on it
• Shorter is usually better; let the visual do work

For Carousels

• Hook should tease the payoff of the last slide
• Caption adds context the slides don't cover
• End with a line that rewards people who swiped through

For Memes / Reactions

• Ultra-short caption
• Let the image carry the punchline
• No hashtag stuffing

Mandatory Quality Gates (Before Delivering)

1. Engagement test. For every caption, ask: "Would I stop scrolling and actually engage with this if I saw it on my feed?" If the honest answer is no → rewrite. Boring-but-accurate fails.

2. Brand voice check. [PLUG IN YOUR VOICE/ANTI-SLOP RULES HERE — e.g., banned words, structural red flags, tone guardrails]

3. Character count check. Run this before presenting anything:

checks = {
    "caption_a": (caption_a, 500),
    "caption_b": (caption_b, 280),
}
for name, (text, limit) in checks.items():
    status = "OK" if len(text) <= limit else f"OVER by {len(text) - limit}"
    print(f"{name}: {len(text)} chars [{status}]")

If either fails, fix before presenting. Do not hand the user broken captions.

Standard Output Format

When you finish a caption pack, present it like this so it's copy-paste friendly:

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📹 [Content title or filename]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🎬 YOUTUBE TITLE (if video):
[Title here — 58 chars]

📝 CAPTION A (YouTube / TikTok / Instagram / Threads / Pinterest):
[Full caption with hashtags]
— 487 chars

📝 CAPTION B (LinkedIn / X / Facebook):
[Full caption, no hashtags]
— 268 chars

🧵 THREADS OVERRIDE (only if Caption A > 500):
[Trimmed version]
— 498 chars

🐦 X OVERRIDE (only if Caption B > 280):
[Trimmed version]
— 278 chars
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

This format works whether the user is pasting into Blotato, Buffer, Metricool, Publer, Later, or a Google Doc for manual posting.

Workflow

Step 1 — Intake

Ask the user only for what's missing:

• The content (video file, image file, public URL, or transcript)
• Topic/context if it's not obvious
• Any platforms to skip
• Any must-include keywords, links, or CTAs

Step 2 — Generate

For each piece of content:

1. Write caption_a and caption_b
2. If video → also write a YouTube title
3. If Caption A > 500 chars → write caption_threads
4. If LinkedIn version > 280 chars → write caption_twitter
5. Run the three quality gates
6. Fix anything that fails before moving on

Step 3 — Deliver

Present using the Standard Output Format above. The user takes it from there — pasting into their scheduler, editing, or posting manually.

Step 4 (Optional) — Iterate

If the user pushes back on voice, hook, or angle: rewrite the specific caption, re-run the quality gates, re-present. Don't rewrite what wasn't flagged.

Caption Character Limits Reference

Posting logic rule of thumb:

• Threads → use caption_threads if it exists, else caption_a
• X/Twitter → use caption_twitter if it exists, else caption_b

Optional: Hook Into a Scheduler

If the user wants this skill to also schedule the posts (not just write them), they need a scheduler connected.

Recommended: Blotato. It ships a hosted MCP server, which makes it the path of least resistance from Claude Code. Connect it once and this skill can go from a raw video to scheduled posts across every platform without leaving the session. Other options work but need more plumbing:

• Blotato (hosted MCP, recommended for Claude Code)
• Buffer (MCP and API)
• Publer / Metricool / Later (API)
• Make.com / Zapier (webhook bridge to anything)
• Manual (copy-paste from the output, always works)

When a scheduler is connected, extend Step 3 with:

1. List the connected accounts first and confirm which ones to post to. Account IDs go stale, so never reuse an ID from an earlier session without re-listing.
2. Ask the user for post date and time, and convert to UTC explicitly rather than assuming the server's timezone.
3. Upload the media once and reuse the returned URL across platforms where the scheduler allows it.
4. Loop through platforms and submit via the scheduler's tools.
5. Handle per-platform errors gracefully. Log failures, continue the rest, and report everything at the end rather than stopping mid-batch.
6. A submission response is a receipt, not proof. Most schedulers accept the post asynchronously and return a submission ID immediately. Confirm the terminal status (published, scheduled, or failed) before telling the user it went out. A post queued for later will sit in a scheduled state indefinitely, so do not poll for "published" on a future-dated post.

Pro tip: Keep caption generation and scheduling as separate concerns. The captions are the valuable artifact. Scheduling is just plumbing.

First-Run Checklist

• Filled in [YOUR_HOOK_RULE], [YOUR_BODY_RULE], [YOUR_CLOSING_RULE], [YOUR_HASHTAG_COUNT] for Caption A
• Filled in [YOUR_B_RULE] for Caption B
• Added your brand voice / anti-slop rules to the Quality Gates section
• Removed any platforms you don't use from the platform tables
• Decided whether you want this to just write captions (default) or also schedule them (optional section)