Piqki S3 Content Playbook

*Built by Max. Last updated: 2026-02-20 13:20 PST. Operational document — hand directly to contractors.*

Overview

This is the complete S3 content strategy for Piqki. Three pillars. Two formats. One entry point offer. Everything else is noise.

S3 = Demand Generation (50%) → Demand Conversion (30%) → Loyalty/Advocacy (20%).

The system works when you stop reinventing every week and start doubling down on what performs. This document tells you exactly what to post, why, and how to measure it.

1. Target Persona — Who She Actually Is

Forget "beauty-forward women 18-35." Here's who we're actually talking to:

Her life situation:

She's 23-31. She has a job that actually matters to her — creative director at a small agency, brand manager, freelance designer, social media lead, grad student with a part-time income. She's not broke but she's not rich. She spends $200 at Zara without blinking, but she'll spend 45 minutes researching whether a $35 face serum is worth it. She's optimizing everything: her routine, her feed, her time. She lives in a city or wants to feel like she does.

What's going on in her life that makes Piqki relevant:

She cares deeply about how she presents herself but has almost no patience for rituals that don't fit her schedule. Nails are a signal — to her coworkers, her date, herself — but the current options make her choose between looking put-together and losing 2 hours of her life. She's already abandoned salon visits twice this year because of the time and cost. She's done the Olive & June kit. It looked decent but felt like a project. She's tried the cheap press-ons. They looked fake. They popped off on day 3. She told herself she just "isn't a press-on person" — but she still stops scrolling every time she sees a set of nails she loves.

What she hates about nails right now:

• Salon: $75-95 every 3 weeks, minimum 90 minutes, scheduling anxiety, small talk she doesn't want to have, grow-out guilt
• Gel at home: requires UV lamp, still takes forever, ruins her actual nails
• Cheap press-ons: look fake, fit badly, she has to size them herself (takes 20 min), they pop off embarrassingly in public
• Olive & June: requires a nail art kit and 45 minutes of YouTube patience she doesn't have
• Glamnetic: fun but not elevated — looks like nail art, not nails
• Nothing currently feels like *her* — aesthetic, fast, and actually stays on

What she aspires to:

The nails she sees on the woman in the coffee shop who looks like she has her shit together. The nails in Loewe editorials. The nails her favorite creator has in every video. Not "nail art" — *nails*. The vibe is effortless, elevated, slightly editorial. She wants to look like she just *has* good taste, not like she tried.

What's in her feed:

• Brands: Rhode, Loewe, Toteme, Glossier (nostalgia), Chillhouse, Aesop, By Far, Jacquemus
• Creators: Matilda Djerf, Devon Lee Carlson, Sofia Richie-era aesthetics, quiet luxury-adjacent content, NYC street style accounts, "a day in my life" creators who make mundane things look cool
• Aesthetics: muted palettes, natural light, lived-in settings, candid angles, objects arranged on marble or linen, "effortless but curated"
• Formats: lo-fi video that doesn't feel produced, honest reviews, dry humor, "things I stopped doing" posts, "this changed how I think about X"

How she discovers new nail brands:

1. TikTok For You Page — she's not searching for nail brands, she finds them

2. Someone she already follows posts their nails and she goes hunting for the brand

3. Instagram Explore if she's seen 2-3 ads for something and finally clicks out of curiosity

4. A creator she trusts recommends it in a "things I'm obsessed with" post

5. She does NOT read beauty blogs. She does NOT trust ads the first time she sees them.

What earns her trust:

• Real people wearing the product in real settings (not a studio)
• Honest content that mentions what it *doesn't* do — she's allergic to oversell
• Aesthetic consistency — if the feed looks like something she'd already follow, she trusts the brand
• Social proof from people who look like her, not celebrities
• Reviews that address the fit, the hold, and the real-world wear time
• Brands that feel like a person made them, not a committee

What loses her trust instantly:

• Stock photo energy
• Overly polished "professional" product shots that look like a catalog
• "Drugstore quality meets luxury price" positioning (pick a lane)
• Before/after content that's too perfect (fake)
• Captions that use the word "obsessed" in the first sentence
• Any creative that looks like a Facebook ad
• A feed that mixes 4 different aesthetics — if it's not consistent, it doesn't feel real

2. Competitive White Space

Here's where everyone else is and where Piqki lives:

The gap Piqki owns:

Every competitor made a choice: be affordable OR be elevated. Be innovative OR be aesthetic. Be expressive OR be simple. Piqki doesn't make that choice.

Chillhouse is the closest thing to a real competitor on brand — but they're too polished, too limited, and they don't lead with innovation. Their aesthetic is aspirational but their product is a commodity.

Piqki's white space: the nail brand that takes nails seriously without taking itself seriously. Innovation-forward (PiqWheel, future device), genuinely elevated in aesthetic, and expressive without being nail-art-cosplay. It's the brand for women who want good nails and zero friction — and who'd rather spend $50 on something smart than $90 on a salon appointment they had to schedule two weeks ago.

No one in the press-on space is leading with innovation as a core brand identity. That's Piqki's lane.

3. Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

Piqki makes premium press-on nails for women who care deeply about how their hands look and have zero patience for the time it takes to get there. The problem isn't finding beautiful nails — it's that every current option forces a trade-off: either sacrifice your Saturday afternoon at a salon, or accept that your nails will look like you tried and failed. Piqki eliminates that trade-off with the PiqWheel — a precision sizing system that cuts application time from 20 minutes to under 3, delivers a fit that stays on and looks real, and comes in an elevated aesthetic range that doesn't look like nail art from a vending machine. It's the first press-on brand built around the idea that the product should work as hard as the woman wearing it.

4. Point of View (POV)

*This is the backbone of P1 and P3 content. The emotional truth Piqki stands on.*

The beauty industry decided that caring about your nails means either spending money you don't have or spending time you definitely don't have. It's a tax on giving a shit. We think that's insane. Your nails should look exactly how you want them to look — today, in 15 minutes, on your terms. Not on the salon's schedule, not after a 45-minute YouTube tutorial, and not while praying the press-on you eyeballed doesn't fly off during your 2pm. Piqki exists because the tools finally caught up to the standard. You shouldn't have to choose.

5. Three Content Pillars

PILLAR 1 — Demand Generation (50% of content)

Goal: Shares + follower growth

KPI: Shares, reach, profile visits, follows

What P1 looks like for Piqki:

P1 is not about nails. It's about the problem, the feeling, the shared experience. The best P1 content is content she'd send to her friend and say "this is literally me." It earns follows from people who haven't heard of Piqki yet. It builds an audience before the ask.

P1 for Piqki = validating how broken the current nail situation is and establishing Piqki's POV on what nails should be. No product shots. No CTAs. Just truth.

Hero Message Angles (pick 2, run hard):

Angle A — "The Salon Is A Scam"

The anti-salon angle. The math doesn't add up. The time doesn't add up. The expectation doesn't add up. Make her feel seen for being annoyed by a system that everyone just accepted as normal. This angle is infinitely repeatable: salon wait times, the cost, the awkward small talk, the grow-out guilt, the 2-week scheduling wait, the UV damage, the "just a trim" that wasn't.

> Hook examples:

> - "spending $95 to sit in a chair for 2 hours so a stranger can ruin your nails while you stare at the wall is the weirdest normal thing"

> - "the salon appointment funnel: book 2 weeks out → cancel → rebook → show up late → pay $95 → tip 20% → chip on day 6"

> - "why do we accept that looking put-together costs our entire Saturday"

Angle B — "Press-Ons Were A Lie (Until Now)"

She's been burned by bad press-ons. She has a story. She wrote off the category because of it. This angle meets her where she is and reframes the category from "cheap shortcut" to "smart choice — if the product is actually good." The innovation story starts here.

> Hook examples:

> - "I used to say I wasn't a press-on person. turns out I was just a bad-press-on person."

> - "the press-on that pops off during your meeting is not a press-on problem. it's a sizing problem. solved."

> - "spending 20 minutes trying to figure out which size fits your weirdly shaped pinky and then giving up is a design failure. not a you failure."

Angle C — "Nails As Identity"

More subtle. About what nails signal — to herself and to others. The aesthetic flex. The quiet put-together energy. The thing she notices first on other women. This angle is shareable because it's relatable and aspirational simultaneously. Used sparingly — it's the brand POV angle, not the volume play.

> Hook examples:

> - "the first thing I look at on a woman is her nails. I'm not apologizing."

> - "there's a specific type of put-together that doesn't require explaining. nails are part of it."

> - "nail people will understand"

Formats for P1:

• All-text posts (primary) — memes, observations, single bold statements. No design required. Maximum shareability. Works on Instagram, TikTok captions, Twitter/X, Pinterest. One format, everywhere.
• Lo-fi video (secondary) — model or hands-only footage, no studio, natural light, real setting. Candid. Never looks produced. Used when the message benefits from visual proof (e.g., showing the sizing problem, showing the before/after of application time).

P1 Paid (Cold Audiences):

Boost any organic P1 post that hits >5% engagement rate. Run as dark post to cold 18-35F US broad. Also test 3 lookalike audiences: email list LAL, IG follower LAL, video viewer LAL (25% watch time). Budget: P1 paid is awareness — optimize for engagement/video views at this stage, not conversions. CPM target <$15.

PILLAR 2 — Demand Conversion (30% of content)

Goal: Clicks + saves

KPI: Link clicks, saves, CTR, CAC, first purchase conversion

Entry Point Offer:

The PiqWheel Starter Set — 2 wheels, 32 nails total, ~$50 AOV. This is the ONE thing we talk about. Not a collection. Not a bundle. The set. Easy yes, clear value, simple decision.

How to talk about it:

• Lead with the outcome, not the product: *"nails done in under 3 minutes"*, *"woke up, pressed on, walked out"*
• The sizing system is the hero feature — it's what makes Piqki different from every other press-on. Demonstrate it. Show the wheel. Show how fast it is.
• Price anchor against the salon: $50 set lasts 4+ applications = $12/wear vs. $90+ at the salon. The math is a P2 weapon.
• Proof of hold: real women, real days. Not a controlled studio environment.

How NOT to talk about it:

• Do not say "luxury" — show it, don't say it
• Do not list 15 features — pick the one that changes the decision
• Do not run a "discount code in bio" CTA — it trains price sensitivity. The offer is the value, not a promo.
• Do not post product shots with white backgrounds — immediately signals mass market
• Do not use "obsessed" in the caption. Ever.

CTA Strategy:

• Primary CTA: ManyChat trigger. Caption says "Comment WHEEL to get the link." DM delivers product page URL + a one-line social proof message. Low-friction, high-intent.
• Secondary: "Link in bio" for posts where ManyChat feels heavy-handed. Keep it simple.
• Saves matter — a saved post is a high-intent signal. Create P2 content that people save as a reference (comparison content, "here's what to look for in press-ons," etc.)

Format for P2:

• Lo-fi video (primary) — hands-only transformation. Show the wheel, show the application, show the finish. Keep it under 30 seconds. Real setting, not a studio.
• Carousel (secondary) — for comparison/educational content (salon cost vs. Piqki math, sizing explained, etc.)

P2 Paid (Warm Retargeting):

Target: anyone who engaged with a P1 post, visited the profile, or watched >25% of a P1 video but hasn't purchased. This is the warm audience — they know Piqki, they just haven't clicked. Run P2 creative against them. Optimize for link clicks → purchases. CAC target: $25 or below. Daily budget scales based on audience size.

PILLAR 3 — Loyalty/Advocacy (20% of content)

Goal: Comments, repeat purchase, word-of-mouth

KPI: Comments, DMs, repeat purchase rate, UGC volume, referrals

What P3 looks like with no founder on camera:

No Gin on camera doesn't mean no humanity. P3 is where the brand shows its insides — but it's model-led, process-led, and community-led rather than founder-led.

P3 content types for Piqki:

Behind-the-scenes (no founder required):

• The PiqWheel development story — materials, molds, packaging decisions
• Design process: how a new colorway goes from concept to wheel
• Packaging reveal — the unboxing experience, unpacked
• Manufacturing quality checks — nail thickness, sizing precision, finish quality
• "Why we made it this way" — educational but personality-forward

Proof content:

• UGC reposts — real customers, real nails, real life (not studio)
• Before/after wear tests (7-day, 14-day — show real hold)
• "She wore these to X" posts — wedding, job interview, gym, concert. Real contexts.
• Review screenshots formatted as posts (make them look editorial, not testimonials)
• Creator content from seeded UGC partners — lo-fi, authentic, not sponsored-looking

Community building:

• "What's your go-to nail moment?" type prompts — invite answers in comments
• Polls/questions on stories: "bare nails or always on?" / "3-min or salon?"
• Celebrate her wins — repost someone's nails at a big life moment (promotion, wedding, etc.)
• Build the aesthetic language: what "Piqki nails" means as a style identity

P3 depth rule: P3 posts go deeper on P1 and P2 angles — not sideways. If P1 established "the salon is a scam," P3 follows up with customer stories about ditching their salon. If P2 showed the product, P3 shows it 6 days later still looking perfect. Same messages, deeper proof.

6. Format Selection — All In On Two

Format 1: All-Text Posts

The highest-leverage format for P1. No design budget. No model booking. Just words. The best P1 hooks — the salon rant, the press-on obituary, the nails-as-identity observation — don't need a visual. They need a truth. An all-text post that gets 500 shares outperforms a produced video that gets 200 likes every time. The format travels everywhere: Instagram caption-forward posts, TikTok text overlays, Twitter/X, Pinterest quotes. One post, every platform.

*When to use:* P1 primarily. Occasional P3 (brand POV statements, community prompts). Never P2.

Format 2: Lo-Fi Video

Not polished. Not studio. Natural light, real hands, real setting. This is the format that earns trust for P2 because it doesn't look like an ad. It looks like something she found, not something she was sold. Models and UGC creators shoot on iPhone. No production crew. Quick edits. The PiqWheel story (sizing → application → result) was MADE for this format — it's a transformation in 45 seconds.

*When to use:* P2 primarily (transformation, application demo, wear proof). Secondary P1 (when the message benefits from the visual, e.g., the "sizing problem" demonstrated physically).

What we're NOT doing:

• Elaborate Reels with transitions and music and text overlays everywhere
• Professional photography as primary social content
• Trend-chasing (audio trends, dance trends, whatever's viral this week)
• Carousel infographics with brand colors and icons

7. What Content Is NOT Piqki

This list is as important as the content plan. When in doubt, check here.

Do not post:

• Anything that looks like a Glamnetic ad (bright colors, emoji-heavy, "obsessed!!")
• White background product shots
• Content that leads with the product before the problem
• Captions that start with "Introducing..." or "We're excited to share..."
• Anything that requires explanation about what Piqki is before the hook lands
• Generic beauty creator content (GRWM that could be for any brand)
• Overly polished video — if it took more than 1 day to produce, it's probably too produced
• Discount/promo-first content in the first 90 days — don't train the audience on price
• Inspirational quotes unrelated to nails or the brand POV
• "Our mission is..." or values-speak without narrative. Show, don't speechify.
• Content that looks like it was made for a Facebook ad (it will be treated as such)

Aesthetic DON'Ts:

• Warm, orange-toned skin edits (not Piqki's palette)
• Maximalist backgrounds (nails should be the visual anchor)
• Text-heavy graphics with brand fonts — not social, feels like a flyer
• Before/after frames with cheesy arrows or graphic elements

Tone DON'Ts:

• Overly enthusiastic — Piqki is dry and confident, not exclamation-point energy
• Apologetic or tentative — no "we think you'll love this" hedging
• Trend-referencing without a reason (using a meme sound because it's trending, not because it fits)
• Overclaiming — if it's not proven, don't say it

8. Measurement Model

Weekly Check (Max runs this every Monday)

Pull these numbers:

• Follower growth (week over week)
• Reach per post (unique accounts reached)
• Shares per post (P1 primary metric)
• Saves per post (P2 primary metric)
• Comments per post (P3 primary metric)
• Profile visits from organic (intent signal)
• Link-in-bio clicks (conversion signal)
• ManyChat triggers (high-intent leads)
• For any boosted posts: CPM, CTR, CAC

How to read them:

Don't average everything together. Look at performance by pillar. A P1 post with 50 shares and 10 follows is working. A P2 post with 200 likes and 0 saves is not.

Benchmarks by Pillar

Pillar 1 — Demand Generation

Pillar 2 — Demand Conversion

Pillar 3 — Loyalty/Advocacy

Decision Rules

Double down when:

• Any P1 post hits >5% engagement rate → boost it immediately (cold audience)
• Any P2 post generates >40 saves → test a variation of the same angle
• A specific hook format consistently outperforms → run that format 2x/week
• A specific hero message angle generates shares + comments → that's your winning angle, run it 3x before pivoting

Kill when:

• A post format consistently underperforms vs. pillar benchmarks after 4 posts → cut the format
• A hero message angle generates below-minimum metrics across 3 posts → retire the angle
• A boosted post hits $50 spend with <0.8% CTR → off immediately (see Creative Testing System)
• An aesthetic direction generates unfollows or negative comments → immediate audit

The core rule: Find what works, double down on it for 4-6 weeks before pivoting. This system fails when you treat every week as a fresh start. It wins when you treat it like scientific iteration.

*Document ends. For paid creative testing detail, see: piqki-creative-testing-system.md*

*For financial scenario context, see: piqki-financial-updated.md*

Sources & Validation

[1] S3 System framework (Demand Generation → Demand Conversion → Loyalty/Advocacy; 50/30/20 split)

Source: Strong Brand Social, "F* The Algorithm 2.0" workshop, live February 17, 2026.

URL: https://strongbrandsocial.com/pages/f-the-algorithm-2-0-workshop-2-17-26-replay (password: NextBestStep)

Purchased by: Gin Venuto.

Status: Single-source. SBS's own framework — based on their internal case studies, not independently peer-reviewed research. Directional validation: Glamnetic competitor data confirms Brand Story/Values content shows higher engagement RATE than Product Launch (5.84% vs. 2.95%), consistent with P3 > P2 engagement rate logic. The 50/30/20 split is prescriptive guidance, not empirically derived from the Glamnetic dataset — treat as a starting hypothesis to calibrate against Piqki's own performance data.

[2] "No-founder content performs better on TikTok" (Glamnetic: non-founder 244K avg views vs. founder 124K)

Source: Upwork social media analysis dataset — Glamnetic TikTok, n=433 unique posts, scraped from TikTok platform, cleaned Feb 2026. Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J5WjdIoT_80kTiqEEmrAoHQ-JnL7Z3LDCx9sYD9WbLE

Status: Direct data — high reliability for Glamnetic. Engagement metrics are platform-scraped. Note: this finding applies specifically to Glamnetic's brand and audience. Olive & June shows the opposite pattern (founder 2.6x non-founder on TikTok). Piqki's no-founder model is validated against Glamnetic (the structurally most similar brand) but should be monitored in real performance data at launch.

[3] Trend/challenge content = highest views, lowest engagement rate (509K views, 0.74% eng rate)

Source: Same Upwork dataset as [2] — Glamnetic TikTok trend/challenge posts, n=6.

Status: Direct data, but small n (only 6 posts in this category). The pattern is internally consistent (views up, engagement rate down) and aligns with widely reported observations about trend-chasing content across TikTok generally. Small sample — do not over-index on the 0.74% exact figure; the directional insight (trend = views, not engagement) is the durable takeaway.

[4] "Comparison/Versus" category = 6x engagement vs. Product Launch (47K vs. 3.2K avg engagement)

Source: Same Upwork dataset as [2].

Status: ⚠️ Use with caution. The engagement numbers are real. However, caption validation of the #1 post (7.4M views, majority of the category's performance) reveals the post is NOT a product comparison — it's a personal testimonial/identity-shift story. The "Comparison/Versus" label is likely wrong for multiple posts in this category. The underlying insight (identity-shift testimonial content dramatically outperforms product content) is validated by the caption — but the category label that names it "Comparison" is unreliable. Reclassify as: anti-salon testimonial content outperforms product content by a wide margin.

[5] DTC beauty CAC benchmarks referenced in measurement model ($25 base, $18 optimistic)

Source: Internal modeling based on Northbeam DTC Benchmarks Report 2024 (vendor-published, URL: northbeam.io/resources) and general DTC practitioner knowledge (no single authoritative source).

Status: Directional only — treat as hypothesis. Northbeam is a paid measurement vendor with incentive to make paid ads look necessary. The $18-35 CAC range is a reasonable starting hypothesis for DTC beauty, but Piqki's actual CAC will be determined by April testing (see creative testing system). These benchmarks set the decision table; they do not guarantee Piqki will hit them.

[6] ManyChat "Comment [keyword] → DM link" strategy

Source: SBS workshop [1] + widely documented DTC practitioner methodology. ManyChat is the standard implementation tool (manychat.com).

Status: Validated in practice — ManyChat keyword triggers are used by hundreds of DTC brands and are documented to increase click-through rates vs. static "link in bio" by reducing friction. No Piqki-specific data yet. The mechanism is sound: lower friction → higher conversion. Actual performance will be validated in April testing.

[7] Press-on nail market — competitor pricing and positioning data

Source: Direct price research on Glamnetic (glamnetic.com), Olive & June (oliveandjune.com), Chillhouse (chillhouse.com), Kiss (Amazon and retail), conducted Feb 2026.

Status: Current as of Feb 2026. Prices shift — re-verify before any external-facing claims.

*Sources last reviewed: 2026-02-20 13:20 PST*