Quick question: how long did it take you to find the last piece of content you were looking for? If the answer is anything longer than "about 10 seconds" you might consider a better content organization system.
The good news? Building one is simpler than you think.
This guide will show you exactly how to use Planable's Labels and Campaigns together to create a system that actually works (and gets your team to use it).
Why your team actually needs this (beyond just being organized)
Decision making that actually makes sense
Ever tried to track how a product launch campaign performed across three months and 3 different social media pages? Without proper organization, you're looking at hours of manual work piecing together scattered content.
With Campaigns labeling you can see the complete picture of any initiative instantly. But here's where it gets really useful: you can compare campaigns against each other. Want to see which performed better—your holiday campaign or spring product launch? Since each post is attached to its campaign, you can pull analytics for each campaign separately and compare engagement, reach and performance metrics side by side.
Looking for that ONE post from last month?
You know that feeling when you're desperately searching for that one perfect post from six months ago, clicking through endless pages hoping you'll recognize it when you see it?
Yeah, Labels fix that. Instead of endless scrolling, you just filter by the right labels. Looking for that behind-the-scenes video from your Nike partnership during the holiday campaign? Filter by [Nike] + [Behind-the-Scenes] + [Holiday Campaign name] and there it is. Takes about 5 seconds instead of 20 minutes.
Partnership compliance made easy
If you're working with sponsors or partners, they usually have contracts requiring specific deliverable tracking. Missed those requirements? 😶 Well...
With mandatory labeling, every piece of partner content gets tagged according to the system you've set and your reports become copy-paste simple instead of "oh no, did we mention Nike enough times this month?" panic moments.
Setting up your Content System
Step 1: Decide what's required vs. nice-to-have
Some categories are essential. Like knowing who owns each piece of content. Others are helpful, but not critical. For example, you can ask yourself is this partner content? Because contracts matter. Your is this post part of a bigger initiative?
Start with just the non-negotiables. You can always add the nice-to-haves later when your team is comfortable with the system.
Step 2: Create naming rules that actually work
This is where most teams mess up. They create categories like "mktg" "Marketing" "Marketing Team" and "Marketing Department" that all mean the same thing.
Keep it simple:
Format: [Category Name]
Examples: [Marketing], [Nike Partnership], [Educational]
Golden rules:
- Pick one way to capitalize and stick with it
- Keep names short, but clear
- When in doubt, be more specific rather than more general
The 6 essential content categories your team might need
Here are some guidelines on you can build your labeling system with the categories that actually matter.
1. Department owner
Why it matters: Someone needs to be responsible for every piece of content. This matters most when multiple departments—Social, Brand, Partnerships—are all working in the same workspace.
Examples: [Marketing], [Sales], [Partnerships], [Social]
2. Campaign/Project connection
Why it matters: Instead of having campaign assets scattered across different tools and folders, everything lives in one place. No more hunting through Google Drive for campaign briefs or trying to remember which posts belonged to which initiative.
Examples: [Q4 Product Launch], [Holiday Campaign 2024], [Rebrand Initiative]
How it works: When you create a Campaign in Planable, you can assign posts to it, store media assets, set timelines, add descriptions and links, and even manage to-do lists. When the campaign is over, everything related to that initiative—posts, assets, analytics—is stored together. You can also see all campaign content displayed directly in your calendar view.
3. Partner/Brand Collaboration
Why it matters: If you work with sponsors or partners, they probably have contracts requiring specific deliverable tracking. You'd be able to show partners exactly how much exposure they got across all your content.
Examples: [Nike], [Spotify]
4. Content purpose
Why it matters: Helps you maintain a balanced content mix and measure what's actually working. You might discover you're creating 70% promotional content and wonder why engagement is low. This category makes those patterns visible.
Examples: [Educational], [Promotional], [News/Updates], [Testimonial], [How-to]
5. Content type
Why it matters: Format tracking is one of the most popular labeling practices because it directly impacts performance and production planning.
Examples: [Influencer], [UGC], [Static]
6. Marketing funnel stage
Why it matters: Different content serves different parts of your customer journey. Track what moves people through your funnel. This helps you see if you're creating too much awareness content, but not enough to convert prospects into customers.
Examples: [Brief], [Teaser], [Launch],[Engagement post]
The bottom line
Building a content labeling system isn't about creating the perfect organizational system. It's about creating a system that makes your team's life easier and your business decisions smarter.
Your future self (and your teammates) will thank you when you can find any piece of content in seconds and generate insights that actually help you make better decisions.