A good tagging schema is six fields, each with a fixed list of allowed values, filled in before a post can be scheduled. That's enough to answer "which pillar works", "which formats do we reuse" and "what did this campaign produce" without a spreadsheet clean-up.
TLDR: Use six fields: campaign, pillar, format, funnel stage, audience or region, and source. Give each field a closed list of values, make the fields required at scheduling time, and review the lists every quarter.
The six fields and what each one answers
| Field | Example values | Question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Campaign | spring-launch, always-on | What effort was this part of? |
| Pillar | education, proof, culture, offer | Which message theme performs? |
| Format | carousel, short-video, photo, text | Which format earns its cost? |
| Funnel stage | awareness, consideration, action | Does the mix match our goal? |
| Audience or region | us-en, de-de, smb, enterprise | Who was it for? |
| Source | original, repurposed, ugc, partner | What can we reuse? |
Six is the ceiling. Every extra field lowers compliance, and a half-filled tag is worse than none: it makes the report look complete when it isn't.
Use closed lists, never free text
Free text gives you "Spring Launch", "spring launch", "SpringLaunch" and "spring-launch2" within a month. Every report then splits one campaign into four rows.
Write each field as a list in a shared doc and treat that doc as the only source. Rules that hold up:
- Lowercase, hyphens, no spaces.
- One value per field. If a post is two things, pick the main one.
- A named owner who approves new values.
- An "other" value that triggers a review, not a permanent home.
Put tag entry where the work happens
Tags added after publishing are tags that never get added. Make them part of scheduling: the post can't go into the queue until the fields are set. Mydrop's content calendar and workspaces let each brand keep its own labels, so a regional team doesn't rename the global list.
For agencies and multi-brand teams, keep the same six field names across every brand, even when the values differ. That way you can compare brands in one view.
Connect tags to numbers
A tag only earns its keep once it meets a result. Two joins matter:
- Platform metrics by tag. Group posts by pillar and format and compare median engagement, not averages, since one viral post bends an average.
- Click and conversion data by campaign. This is where your tag value and your UTM campaign name must match. The naming rules are in our guide to UTM and campaign naming standards.
For context on what a normal result looks like, Mydrop's data shows carousels running 10% above an account's typical post and a link in the caption costing 7%. Tags let you test whether the same is true for your own account, instead of trusting a benchmark.
Use the source tag to cut creative cost
The "source" field is the one teams skip, and it pays back fastest. When every asset is marked original, repurposed, UGC or partner, you can see how much of the calendar is reused. A team that finds 60% of last quarter's winners were never repurposed has just found its cheapest content plan. It also feeds the clean-up work described in reducing creative debt.
Audit the schema in 30 minutes each quarter
Export the last 90 days of posts and check four things:
- Share of posts with every field filled (aim for 95%).
- Values used fewer than three times (merge or retire them).
- Values used for more than half of all posts (the field is too broad, split it).
- New values added without approval.
Start with 20 posts
Don't retag the archive. Pick the next 20 scheduled posts, apply the six fields, and build one report grouped by pillar. If the report answers a question you couldn't answer last month, roll the schema out to every brand. If not, you've only changed 20 posts.
Google review
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