The social media scheduling tools everyone uses are built to schedule. They're not built to help you have something to schedule. So creators open them, see seven empty slots, and close them.
The idea is a Google Sheet that does both. It plans the week, and it helps the creator fill the week. A swipe file, a set of prompts, a habit tracker, and, if you go far enough, a script that posts for them.
It's one of the 100 business ideas in Google Sheets I put together, and it's one where the spreadsheet version can be better than the app version.
The idea
Create a tool that not only helps social media creators plan their schedule, but also helps them create their posts. Scheduling is a calendar. Creating is the hard part, and it's where a sheet can help in ways a scheduling app doesn't.
Use the bookmarklet I've shown in Better Sheets videos to build a swipe file creator for your users. One click on a post they like, and it lands in their sheet with the link and the text. Over a month they end up with a hundred posts they admire, sorted by format, and that's the raw material for their own.
Think about the unique platforms your users might want to use, and how you can create the ultimate planner and scheduler for them. A scheduler for LinkedIn creators is different from one for TikTok creators. The post lengths, the cadence, the formats, and the metrics are all different. Pick one platform and one kind of creator and build for them.
Maybe it prompts them to create more, to fill more posts per week than they'd planned. Maybe it's a habit tracker that shows whether they can produce more than they usually do. A creator who thinks they can do three posts a week and sees a streak of five will keep going.
Or it's a scheduler that can access the API of the platform they're using, and actually posts for them at the scheduled time. If you don't think Google Sheets can access an API, check out my course Spreadsheet Automation 101, which walks through calling APIs from Apps Script.
Start with the planning and creation layers. Add the posting layer once you have buyers who ask for it. The first two are enough to sell.
How to build it in Google Sheets
Tabs
- Calendar: one row per post. Date, Time, Platform, Format, Hook, Full Post, Status, Link After Posting, Likes, Comments.
- Swipe File: what the bookmarklet collects. Source, Author, Text, Format, Why I Saved It.
- Prompts: 50 or more starters by format. "A mistake I made this week", "Before and after", "One tool I'd never give up".
- Habit: one row per week. Posts Planned, Posts Published, Streak.
- Settings: target posts per week, platform, character limit, and the cells a posting script would read.
Features to use
- Data validation dropdowns on Platform, Format, and Status, so the Calendar stays clean and filterable.
- LEN with conditional formatting on the Full Post column, red past the platform's limit. Store the limit on Settings so it's one cell to change.
-
A random prompt on the Calendar tab so an empty row gets a starter:
=INDEX(Prompts!A2:A, RANDBETWEEN(1, COUNTA(Prompts!A2:A))). - COUNTIF on the Habit tab to count published posts per week, with a SPARKLINE for the trend.
- Checkboxes for Published, because ticking it is the habit.
- Apps Script with a time-driven trigger that runs every hour, checks the Calendar for posts that are due, and either emails the creator a reminder with the text ready to paste, or calls the platform API to post it.
- Protected ranges on Settings and the formula columns.
Ship the reminder version first. An hourly email that says "here's your post, go paste it" gets most of the value with none of the API hassle.
Who pays for it, and how to sell it
The buyer is a creator who's trying to be consistent and failing. Solo founders posting on LinkedIn, coaches on Instagram, small brands on Twitter. They're paying for the system, the prompts, and the swipe file mechanic. If you add posting, they're paying to not open the app at all.
Price the planner and creation version as a one-time template, $19 to $49. Price the version with the posting script and ongoing prompt updates as a subscription, because API changes and new prompts are ongoing work.
Sell the one-time version on Gumroad. For the subscription, or for any version you plan to keep improving, use OnlySheets so payment and sheet sharing happen together and you maintain one master copy.
The service is setup. Charge to install the bookmarklet, connect the script, and load 20 prompts written for their niche. An hour of your time, priced accordingly.
For the first ten customers, use the tool in public. Post every day from the sheet for a month, and share a screenshot of the Habit tab at the end. Creators who are struggling with consistency will ask what you're using. That's the moment to send the link.
Related ideas from the list
- 100 Pre-written Twitter Templates, the content that fills the empty slots in this scheduler.
- LinkedIn Post Generator, the creation half of this idea built for one platform.
- Creator Command Center, the bigger sheet this scheduler would live inside.
Want the other 99? This is one idea from my list of 100 business ideas you can build in Google Sheets. Get all 100 business ideas as a free Google Sheet.
And if you want to learn how to package and sell spreadsheets, my course Selling Spreadsheets walks through exactly that.