Free routine · from Dani

The 7-Day Posting Routine

Seven days. About 20 minutes a day. By Sunday you have a week of posts made, scheduled and scored. Plus 30 hook prompts, so you never start from a blank page again.

Create
Review
Schedule
Learn

Why this works

Posting isn’t a discipline problem. It’s a planning problem.

I run four apps, largely on my own, with AI. I didn’t have time to post either. So I built a machine that does it. In my first month testing it:

906

posts in one month. That’s 30 a day.

811K

views. From a machine that did the posting.

1 routine

underneath it all. This one.

Lack of motivation is really just lack of clarity. When the week is planned, you stop deciding every single day. You just follow the plan. This is that plan, done by hand with ChatGPT or Claude. Both work.

Before you start

Three rules.

Make it ask before it answers. Add this line to any prompt that matters: “Before you answer, ask me 3 questions that would help you do your best work.” One line. It fixes most bland output.
Talk, don’t type. Answer your AI out loud with voice input. You say more, and you sound like you.
If something breaks, paste the error into your AI and ask it to fix it. That is the first skill.

Every prompt below has a copy button. Swap anything in [BRACKETS] for your own words.

Days 1 to 4 · Create

Day 1 · Write your brief

20 min

Your AI doesn’t know your business. So it writes like everyone else’s. Today you fix that, once.

Do this

Paste the prompt. Answer one question at a time. Save the result as “my brief”.

You get

One page that knows your people, your offer and how you talk. You paste it into every prompt this week.

Prompt 1 · The brief

You're my content strategist. Interview me to write a one-page brief for my social media.

Ask me one question at a time. Wait for my answer before you ask the next one. Ask about:
- who I want to reach, in one sentence
- what I sell, and what changes for people after they buy
- the 3 questions clients ask me most
- 3 stories only I can tell: a client win, a mistake I made, why I started
- how I talk: words I use a lot, and words I would never say

Then write my brief in plain words, under 300 words, with these headings:
Who · Offer · Their questions · My stories · My voice

Use my exact words wherever you can. Only use what I told you.

Day 2 · Find 10 posts worth copying

30 min

Don’t guess what to post. Your audience already voted. You just have to read the results.

The formula

Your niche + a platform search + the outlier filter = 10 posts worth copying.

Niche: who, in one sentence. “Busy mums who want to cook more at home.”
Platform search: search your niche on TikTok or Instagram. On TikTok, tap the Photo tab to see carousels.
The outlier filter: likes ÷ followers. A 300-follower account with 4,000 likes is the signal. A 2M account with 50K likes is noise.

Do this

Find 10 posts with the best likes ÷ followers. Screenshot slide 1 and slide 2 of each. Note the likes and followers.

You get

A one-page research doc: what works in your niche right now, and why.

Prompt 2 · The research

Here is my brief: [PASTE YOUR BRIEF]

I found 10 posts in my niche. For each one I'm giving you slide 1 (the hook), slide 2, the likes and the account's followers.
[PASTE OR UPLOAD YOUR SCREENSHOTS AND NUMBERS]

1. Work out likes ÷ followers for each post. Rank them, highest first.
2. For the top 5, name the hook shape in 3 words or less (for example: "nobody told me", the list, the plain complaint).
3. Tell me what slide 2 does in each one.
4. Finish with one sentence: what does my audience reward right now?

Only use what is in the posts. If a number is missing, tell me.

Day 3 · Write 20 hooks. Keep 10.

20 min

The hook is the whole thought in the first line. If they don’t get it on slide 1, they don’t see slide 2.

Do this

Take the shapes that won on Day 2. Paste the prompt, or use the 30 hook prompts below. Then cut to 10 by hand.

You get

10 hooks in your niche’s language. Read each one out loud. If you wouldn’t say it to a client, cut it.

Prompt 3 · The hooks

Here is my brief: [PASTE YOUR BRIEF]
These hook shapes work in my niche: [PASTE THE SHAPES FROM DAY 2]

Write 20 hooks for carousel posts.
- Use only these shapes.
- Use the words my clients use, from the brief.
- Lowercase. Under 14 words each.
- Each hook is a whole thought. Someone should get it from the first line alone.
- Plain text only. Number them 1 to 20.

Day 4 · Turn 7 hooks into 7 posts

30 min

Carousels. No camera, no editing. Slide 2 is the punchline, not the lesson.

Do this

Paste your best 7 hooks into the prompt. Put the text on your own phone photos in Canva or the app’s own editor. Real beats polished.

You get

Seven finished posts with captions. A full week, made in one sitting.

Prompt 4 · The batch

Here is my brief: [PASTE YOUR BRIEF]
Here are my 7 best hooks: [PASTE THEM]

Turn each hook into a 5-slide carousel post.
- Slide 1: the hook, word for word.
- Slide 2: the punchline. The surprise or the answer, never a lesson.
- Slides 3 and 4: the point, one short line each. Use a story or example from my brief.
- Slide 5: one line that sounds like me signing off.
- Under 15 words per slide.

Then write a caption for each post: 2 short lines in my voice, ending with a question for the reader.

Tell it what to do, not what to avoid. Write “don’t say link in bio” and, somehow, “link in bio” ends up on the slide.

Day 5 · Review

Day 5 · Keep it, tweak it or bin it

15 min

You’re the editor. Nothing goes out without your yes.

Do this

Read all 7 out loud. Keep, tweak or bin each one. Run the voice check on any post you’re unsure about.

You get

A week of posts that sound like you on a good day. If you bin one, fix the brief, so the next batch learns.

Prompt 5 · The voice check

Here is my brief: [PASTE YOUR BRIEF]
Here is a post: [PASTE THE POST]

Read it like one of my clients would.
1. Does it sound like me? Score it 1 to 10, and quote the line that sounds least like me.
2. Rewrite only that line, using words from my brief.
3. Is slide 2 a punchline or a lesson? If it's a lesson, give me 2 punchier options.

Day 6 · Schedule

Day 6 · Line up the week

15 min

Later is a lie we tell ourselves. Schedule it now, and later is handled.

Do this

Schedule all 7 in the platform’s own scheduler (TikTok Studio, Meta Business Suite), or set a daily phone reminder and post by hand.

You get

One post a day, every day, for a week. Without thinking about it once.

The account rules

One post a day. Two at most.
Same time each day. Pick the hour your people scroll.
Captions end with a question. Written in your account’s language.
Under 1,000 followers? Leave out “link in bio”. Let the post do the work.
Brand-new account? Browse your niche like a normal person for 7 days before your first post.

Day 7 · Learn

Day 7 · Score the week

10 min, every Sunday

This is the part nobody teaches. It’s also why most accounts go quiet. They never find out what worked.

Do this

Write down the views and likes for each post. Paste them into the scorer.

You get

Your weekly scorecard: what to keep, what to drop, and 5 new hooks in the winning shape.

Prompt 6 · The weekly scorecard

Here is my brief: [PASTE YOUR BRIEF]
My followers: [NUMBER]
This week's posts, one per line: hook | hook shape | views | likes
[PASTE]

Build my weekly scorecard:
1. Rank the posts by views. Then rank them by likes ÷ followers.
2. Which hook shapes won? Which lost?
3. Keep: the 2 shapes to do more of next week.
4. Retire: the 1 shape to drop.
5. Write 5 new hooks in the winning shape. Lowercase, under 14 words.

Keep it short. I want to read it in 5 minutes.

Week 2, and every week after

One sitting on Sunday. About an hour.

Score last week (Day 7). Write hooks in the winning shape (Day 3). Make the batch (Day 4). Review it (Day 5). Schedule it (Day 6). Same routine. Smarter every week, because every batch starts from what your audience already said yes to.

The 30 hook prompts

Fill in the blanks. Keep the shape.

Six shapes, five prompts each. Swap the [brackets] for your niche. Or paste a whole group into your AI with your brief and say: “write one hook from each of these, for my niche.”

1 · “Nobody told me”

nobody told me [common step] would [surprising result]
nobody tells you this before you [big step your client takes]
what nobody tells you about [topic in your field]
i wish someone told me this before my first [client / launch / sale]
the part of [your service] nobody talks about

2 · The quoted dismissal

“it’s just [what people think your work is].” here’s what it really is
“you don’t need a [your role].” here’s what happened when they didn’t have one
“just [common advice].” why that doesn’t work for [who]
“[objection you hear].” i hear this every week
“can’t you just [do it faster / cheaper]?” what i say now

3 · The plain complaint

i’m so tired of [bad advice in your field]
can we stop pretending [common belief] works?
[their struggle] isn’t a [discipline / talent / money] problem
the worst part of [their situation] isn’t [what they think]
the question i get every single week: [question]

4 · The list

3 things i wish clients knew before [booking / buying / starting]
3 signs you’re ready for [your service]
5 things i’d never do as a [your role]
what i’d do if i were starting [their goal] today
the 3 questions i ask every new client

5 · The confession

i used to [common practice]. here’s why i stopped
the mistake i see every single week in [topic]
i got [topic] wrong for years
my most expensive mistake as a [your role]
i almost quit [your work] over this

6 · The result first

how [client type] got [result] without [thing they hate]
[result] in [time frame], and we never [expected thing]
what changed when [client] stopped [habit]
the small change that [result] for my clients
before: [problem]. after: [result]. here’s the one thing in between

The hook rules

Lowercase. It reads like a person, not an ad.
Under 14 words.
The whole thought on slide 1. Slide 2 is the punchline.
Their words, not yours. Use the phrases your clients actually say.

The Social Machine · live workshop with Dani

Want to build the whole thing live?

This routine is the machine, done by hand. In the workshop, we build the machine. It makes the batch in your voice. You approve it. It schedules it. Every Sunday it scores the week and writes the next hooks for you.

You leave with it running. Next week’s posts, made and scheduled.

Get the date →

switchboards.ai · The 7-Day Posting Routine · October 2026Made by Danielle Thompson. Share it with anyone who keeps meaning to post.