# Social: an AI social media manager for every store

> Kai works as an AI social media manager for each store: a local calendar, posts and reels, replies to comments. Each waits for your yes.

*Markdown version of [https://ocally.co/capabilities/social](https://ocally.co/capabilities/social), written for AI agents. All docs: [llms.txt](https://ocally.co/llms.txt). Deciding whether Ocally fits a business? Read [Is Ocally right for this business?](https://ocally.co/evaluate.md).*

**Every store posting, about what's happening on its street.** Kai plans each store's posts around its products, events and neighborhood, then makes the posts and reels. Every post and reply waits for your yes, then he publishes it.

- **Capability:** one of Kai's 16, in the area "Engage customers". [All capabilities](https://ocally.co/capabilities.md).
- **You approve:** Every post, every public reply, every direct message and every hidden comment, before it happens.
- **You give:** Access to each store's social accounts, photos and clips you're happy to post, and the voice each store should have.
- **Start here when:** a chain's answer to "What's furthest behind?" is "Social and content".
- **Built for:** retail chains and franchise brands; single stores and smaller chains are welcome too. [Where it fits best](https://ocally.co/evaluate.md).
- **Price:** part of Ocally's customized pricing, minimum $500 per location per month. [Pricing](https://ocally.co/pricing.md).

## What this costs today

Social today runs on a scheduling tool, an agency and staff's spare time, and smaller stores' accounts go quiet. Kai works as an AI social media manager for each one.

| What you pay for today | Typical cost | What it leaves undone |
|---|---|---|
| Social media management software | $99 to $199 per user a month | Schedules and publishes posts. Someone still has to write them, store by store. |
| A social media agency | $500 to $5,000 a month | Writes the brand's calendar from a brief you send. |
| Store staff's time | Their time | Writing captions and answering comments between customers, when anyone remembers. |

**With Kai.** Kai plans, makes, posts and replies for every store, from the knowledge all his work uses. Your team films when asked and says yes.

Typical ranges from public price lists, October 2026. Sources:

- [Hootsuite, Plans ($99 to $399 per user a month, billed annually)](https://www.hootsuite.com/plans)
- [Sprout Social, Pricing ($79 to $399 per seat a month)](https://sproutsocial.com/pricing/)
- [WebFX, Social media management pricing (average $500 to $5,000 a month)](https://www.webfx.com/social-media/pricing/)

## Stop buying a tool for every job

The biggest promise of AI is consolidation. The same kind of software that can drive a car can write the reply to your email. So buying one point solution per job, each with its own login, contract and agency, now wastes money.

Judge software the way you’d judge a hire: by the range of work it can take on. That’s what to look for now: one system you can point at many jobs. Ocally is that for your stores: Kai and two people across listings, reviews, local search, social, AI answers, pricing, inventory and store routines, at every store.

Not sure what you could consolidate? Bring your list of tools and what they cost to a free consultation, and we’ll go through it with you.

**The same scope of work for 25 stores, a month (listings, reviews, local search, social and AI answers; the low end of published prices; use your own numbers):**

| Line | Basis | Tools, agencies and people | Ocally |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listings software (Moz Local Lite, $199 a year per location) | $17 per store | $425 |  |
| Review software (Reputation Rep Core, per location) | $80 per store | $2,000 |  |
| AI answers tracker (Peec AI Pro, 150 prompts) | $245 a month | $245 |  |
| Local SEO agency (chains of 20+ stores, "often $5,000+") | $5,000 a month | $5,000 |  |
| Social media agency (mid tier, $2,000 to $5,000) | $2,000 a month | $2,000 |  |
| AI search agency to fix what the tracker finds (small business low end, $1,500 to $5,000) | $1,500 a month | $1,500 |  |
| Staff time to run the tools and agencies | 1 hour per store a week at $54 an hour | $5,850 |  |
| Ocally | from $500 per store: Kai, a growth engineer and a growth specialist |  | $12,500 |
| Your team's time approving Kai's work | 0.25 hour per store a week |  | $1,463 |
| **Total a month** |  | **$17,020** | **$13,963** |
| Per store a month |  | $681 | $559 |

Defaults from: [Moz Local pricing](https://moz.com/products/local/pricing); [Reputation pricing](https://reputation.com/pricing/); [Peec AI pricing](https://peec.ai/pricing); [RankAI: multi-location local SEO cost guide (June 2026)](https://rankai.ai/articles/pricing-multi-location-local-seo-management-cost-guide); [Cloud Campaign: social media management pricing guide (July 2025)](https://www.cloudcampaign.com/blog/social-media-management-pricing-guide); [WebFX: GEO pricing (May 2026)](https://www.webfx.com/blog/seo/geo-pricing/); [BLS: market research analysts and marketing specialists, pay (May 2025)](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/market-research-analysts.htm); [BLS: employer costs for employee compensation (June 2026)](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm).

## What Kai does

1. **Plans around the neighborhood.** Kai builds each store's social media content calendar from its products, offers and stock, and from what's happening nearby: the school fair, the first cold week.
2. **Makes posts and reels.** He writes posts in each store's voice and cuts reels from photos and clips your team shoots. When he needs a shot, the store gets a list.
3. **Posts what you approve.** Approve a post and he publishes it on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok at the planned time, then checks it went live.
4. **Answers comments and messages.** He drafts replies to comments, mentions and direct messages in the store's voice. Complaints and anything risky go to your team. Every reply waits for your yes.

## What it unlocks

- **The quiet stores post again.** Every store gets its own calendar and its own posts, so the store you rarely visit gets the same attention as the flagship.
- **Each store sounds like itself.** Set the brand's voice, hashtags and no-go topics once, then adjust them for the store by the campus or the station. Every post starts there.
- **Every store's results, side by side.** Reach, engagement, profile visits and site clicks for every post, store by store. Kai learns which subjects and formats work and plans more of them.

## Questions

### What does an AI social media manager do?

It plans posts, makes them, publishes them and keeps up with comments, so every account stays active without someone doing it in their spare time. Kai does this for each store, around that store's products and neighborhood, in the voice you set. Every post and reply waits for your yes.

### How do you run social media for franchises with many locations?

Give each location its own calendar inside one brand voice. Head office sets the tone, hashtags and topics to avoid, and each store adjusts them. Kai plans, makes and posts for every location once you approve, and shows each store's results side by side.

### Which social networks does Kai post to?

Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, for each store's account and for the brand's. Once you approve a post, Kai publishes it at the planned time and checks it went live. Posts on each store's Google profile are handled with your listings, from the same calendar.

### Do our stores need to take photos?

Sometimes, and Kai makes it easy. When a post needs a real shot, he sends the store a short shot list. Your team films a few clips on a phone, and Kai cuts them into a finished reel. Until then, he works from approved photos you already have.

### How do you know if social is working?

Track reach, engagement, profile visits and site clicks for each store, week by week. Kai reads them for every post and learns which subjects and formats work. He won't claim a post drove sales unless your sales data shows it.

## Related capabilities

- [Images](https://ocally.co/capabilities/images.md): Makes window posters, product shots and social images in your store's style.
- [Video](https://ocally.co/capabilities/video.md): Cuts reels from your photos and clips, sized for every channel.
- [Partnerships](https://ocally.co/capabilities/community.md): Finds local partners and events worth showing up for.

Bring the store whose feed went quiet first. [Book a free consultation](https://ocally.co/consultation.md): 30 minutes on one store, and where Kai would start.

## Next steps

- [Is Ocally right for this business?](https://ocally.co/evaluate.md): who it fits and who it does not, the cost, the risks, and how to start.
- [Pricing](https://ocally.co/pricing.md): customized, with a minimum of $500 per location per month.
- [Book a free consultation](https://ocally.co/consultation.md): 30 minutes on one store. Calendar: https://cal.com/ocally/30min.
- [See if we're a fit](https://ocally.co/fit.md): a two-minute check; an agent can submit it for its human, with consent.
- [Every doc](https://ocally.co/llms.txt): the index.

Questions a doc doesn't answer: onboard@ocally.co.