The Curly Sunshine Brand & Social Media Strategy
Ana Daniela Alvarez
Case Study: The Curly Sunshine | Brand & Social Media Strategy
My Role: Social Media Manager | Brand Strategist
Project: My own personal brand, The Curly Sunshine
Objective: Build a clear brand identity and social media strategy to connect with my audience and grow engagement.
Challenge
As a lifestyle and self-care creator, I wanted to clarify:
Who my audience is and what they value
My unique positioning in a crowded niche
How to structure content to build engagement and trust
Step 1: Set the Brand Identity
Mission, Vision & Values
Mission: “I share my process so other women in their 20s enjoy their own journey, feel confident traveling, and grow into their best version.”
Vision: Build a brand that inspires women to live intentionally, travel solo with confidence, and create a life they love.
Core Values: Authenticity, Vulnerability, Intentionality
Secondary Values: Self-love, Self-care, Simplicity, Inspiration, Romanticizing life
Unique Value Proposition (UVP)
“The Curly Sunshine helps women in their 20s enjoy their process, feel confident exploring life and traveling, and grow into their best version by sharing her journey authentically and intentionally. Her content brings simplicity, vulnerability, and inspiration to women who want to romanticize their everyday life and navigate this decade with confidence and self-care.”
Example of one of the user personas
Step 2: User Personas
Created 3 user personas for my target audience so the content I create is clearer.
Target audience: women in their 20s navigating life changes, career shifts, and personal growth
Wants: inspiration, guidance, and relatable content that makes them feel less alone
Step 3: Social Media Audit
Reviewed platforms (Instagram, TikTok, Substack)
Analyzed engagement, reach, and top-performing posts
Identified which formats and topics resonated most with the audience
Step 4: Set the Brand's Goals and Social Media Objectives
Upon auditing the social media channels, we created clear and SMART social media goals for the brand, allowing us to start working on the Action Plan.
Step 5: Created the Action for the Brand
Set the content pillars and their purpose
Solo Travel: Drive saves, SEO traffic, and future brand collabs.
Romanticizing life: Connect emotionally with my audience.
Living Alone Diaries: Build loyalty and relatability.
Student life: Positions me as your go-to " marketing girlie " while sharing everyday study routines.
Analytics of how the content performed
After one month of posting is done, analyze the insights of all accounts (IG, TikTok, and Substack).
Based on the performance, set goals and a content calendar for the next month.
Community building strategy:
Reply to as many comments as possible to build community and spark conversation.
Whenever there’s an opportunity to reply with a question, take it.
Focus on nourishing the community through stories: ask daily questions, use polls.
Be up to date with DMs.
Set the purpose of each platform:
TikTok: Unfiltered Connection
Purpose: This is the place for spontaneous, low-edit content where I host genuine, deep conversations, letting new people find me through realness and authenticity.
Role: Top of Funnel (Awareness/Authentic Connection). It serves as the primary engine for mass discovery and building an initial, unpolished connection with the audience.
Instagram: Curated Content
Purpose: It’s the place for curated content and the brand's aesthetic. Manage daily community interactions through Stories, DMs, and polished posts.
Role: Middle of Funnel (Nurturing/Aesthetic Appeal). It converts casual viewers into loyal followers by providing consistent visual value and a centralized brand portfolioHow-to videos. Curated lifestyle and travel content. Travel photo dumps. Storytimes that are SEO + Storytelling rich. SEO rich captions.
Substack: Vulnerability/Value
Purpose: To share the deepest, most personal stories and long-form insights that truly establish me as an expert, making the paid subscription feel absolutely worth it.
Role: Bottom of Funnel (Monetization/Retention). It secures a stable, recurring income by building genuine intimacy and sending high-value, exclusive content directly to their inbox.
Set Growth Strategy
Growth strategy will mainly focus on SEO rich content, especially on TikTok (using Creator Search Insights to find keywords).
Focus on dividing the content posted on TikTok and IG. TikTok will be more authentic and less edited, and Instagram more curated. This way, different content will be shared, and both platforms will grow.
Check the whole process: In the presentation
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Posted Nov 17, 2025
Developed brand identity and social media strategy for The Curly Sunshine to grow engagement.
