Playbook
A month of social posts planned in a sheet
Direct answer
Plan social posts on a private Google Sheet: one row for the date, the network, and a caption taken from work you actually did. ChatGPT can draft the caption from that note. You publish it yourself. Buffer is the separate queue. The free ChatGPT plan was listed on 25 October 2026. This has not been live-tested.
- Time to set up
- One sitting to make the sheet, then a note when the work is done
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Monthly cost, USD
- $0 on the free plan
- Monthly cost, GBP
- £0 on the free plan
- Last tested
- Not yet tested
- Updated
- 25 October 2026
Google's Sheets help page describes creating a spreadsheet from sheets.google.com. This guide does not add a Workspace subscription, and no Workspace price was copied. ChatGPT's pricing page on 25 October 2026 listed a free plan and did not print a dollar amount for the paid plans. Buffer's free queue is a different playbook. Meta Business Suite's scheduler was not used, because the product pages we tried did not return readable pricing or steps.
GBP figures are a budgeting conversion at £1 = $1.33 and €1 = £0.86, rounded to the nearest pound, fixed for this edition on 24 October 2026. They are not a live rate and not a quote. Vendor list prices are usually quoted before tax.
Primary tool: Google Sheets · Also uses ChatGPT
Who it is for
A cafe, salon, or shop that means to post and does not want a scheduler connected to the accounts yet.
Three versions of one note, for Google, Instagram, and LinkedIn, are the Claude guide. A queue that holds posts you have already approved is Buffer.
Replies to reviews are not captions. Those stay on the Google review page.
What you need
- A Google account that can open Sheets.
- One true note about work you did: a job, a product, or a change in hours.
- The login for the network you will post to, used by you, not by the sheet.
Step by step
01
Create a sheet with four columns
Google's help page says you open sheets.google.com and click New. Name the columns Date, Network, Caption, and Posted. One row is one post. Date is the day you intend to publish. Network is the name of the account, written by you. Posted stays blank until you have actually published. Do not share the file as anyone with the link.
02
Write the note before you ask for a caption
Two sentences about something that happened: what it was, and what a customer would need to know. If there is no price in the note, the caption must not grow one. If there is no photograph you have the right to use, do not ask for a description of a picture that does not exist. The Claude guide turns one note into three network versions. This page is the calendar those lines can sit on.
03
Draft in a ChatGPT Project, from the note only
OpenAI's Projects article says New project, then Project settings for the instructions. Tell it to use only the note, to keep the caption short, and to say if the note is too thin. Paste the note. Put the caption you accept into the sheet. The pricing page marked Projects on the free plan. Do not connect ChatGPT to the social account.
04
Fill a week you will actually post
Three rows is a week for many one-person businesses. Empty days are allowed. A row with a date and no caption is a reminder, not a post. Do not let the model fill the month with offers you did not write. Delete a discount, a review quote, or a claim about being the best. You did not supply those.
05
Publish it yourself on the day
Open the network, paste the caption, add the photo you already had, and post. Then put the date in the Posted column. The sheet does not have the password. If you later want a queue that holds the post, the Buffer guide is that product, and you still approve what it sends. This page does not turn on auto-posting.
06
Stop if the note is about a customer
A job you are proud of can still name a person who did not agree to be the content. Leave them out. A review reply is a different page. Do not copy a Google review into the calendar and call it a post. The review guide is where a reply is drafted, and you still post that reply yourself.
What can go wrong
A caption with a price you did not write
If the note has no price, the row must not gain one. A fluent discount is still a discount.
Connecting the sheet to the social account
This setup is a list. A connection that publishes is the Buffer playbook, after you have seen captions you were happy to put your name on.
A shared link to the planning sheet
Drafts of offers and half-written hours are not public. Keep the sheet private.
UK notes
Costs, including VAT
The recommended path is £0. No Workspace price was copied, and ChatGPT's paid prices were not in the 25 October 2026 text, so they are not converted into pounds. Buffer's free plan, described on its own page, is optional and separate. VAT on a later software invoice is a cost of the tool, not of the post.
Data flow
The caption is text you chose to publish. The note behind it might name a customer, a staff member, or a private address. Do not paste that into ChatGPT and do not put it in the sheet. A social account login stays with you. UK GDPR still applies to any personal data you were tempted to include. Leave it out.
HMRC and Making Tax Digital
A post is not an invoice and it does not file a return. If the caption mentions a price, that price has to match what you actually charge, including whether VAT is included, because a customer may rely on it. This page does not calculate VAT. Your existing price list does.
Practical orientation for a UK reader. Not tax, legal, or accounting advice.
Test log
Status: Pending first test
25 October 2026 · pending
Pending first test. The steps were compiled from Google Sheets help and the ChatGPT pricing and Projects pages. They have not been run on a live account.
Sources
- How to use Google Sheets — accessed 25 October 2026
- ChatGPT pricing — accessed 25 October 2026
- Projects in ChatGPT — accessed 25 October 2026
Disclosure
AgentShed is independent and this playbook is not sponsored. There is no affiliate link on this page. If that changes, the link will use rel="sponsored" and a sentence beside it will say so. The verdict is not for sale.
Questions people ask
Why not Buffer?
Buffer is the queue, and it has its own guide. This sheet is for someone who will paste the post on the day and does not want another login yet. You can move a row into Buffer later.
Can the sheet post to Instagram for me?
No. You publish it. A tool that posts on a timer is a different product, with its own password and its own playbook.
What if I have nothing true to say this week?
Leave the rows blank. An invented offer is worse than a quiet week. The repurposing guide starts from the same rule: one note that is true.
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Related playbooks
When this page is re-tested
One email when the log changes. No sequence of lessons.