How to Set Up Simplified for Your Small Business: The Compl...

This guide will walk you through setting up Simplified AI from scratch, even if you've never used an AI tool before.

Running a small business means wearing countless hats. You're the marketer, the content creator, the social media manager, and somehow, you're also supposed to find time to actually run your business. If you've ever spent an entire afternoon trying to create a single Instagram post—picking the right image, writing the caption, scheduling it—you know exactly how exhausting content creation can be.

Here's the good news: there's a tool designed specifically for overwhelmed business owners like you. Simplified AI brings together everything you need for content creation into one platform. Instead of bouncing between Canva for graphics, ChatGPT for writing, Buffer for scheduling, and editing software for videos, you can do it all in one place.

This guide will walk you through setting up Simplified AI from scratch, even if you've never used an AI tool before. By the end, you'll know how to create professional social media posts, write blog content, design graphics, and schedule everything to post automatically—all without needing a marketing degree or technical background.

What Exactly is Simplified AI?

Before we dive into the setup process, let's clarify what you're getting. Simplified AI is an all-in-one marketing platform that combines content creation, social media management, design tools, and video creation into a single workspace. Think of it as having a marketing assistant who never sleeps, never complains, and works at the speed of light.

The platform handles several core functions:

Content Writing: Generate blog posts, social media captions, email copy, product descriptions, and more using AI that learns your brand voice.

Graphic Design: Create professional-looking images, social media graphics, and marketing materials without design experience.

Video Creation: Transform text prompts or scripts into short videos suitable for social media platforms.

Social Media Management: Schedule posts, connect multiple accounts, and track performance from one dashboard.

Brand Management: Store your colors, fonts, and logos so everything you create maintains consistency.

For small business owners, this means you can create a week's worth of social media content in about an hour instead of spending your entire weekend on marketing tasks. The AI handles the heavy lifting while you maintain creative control.

Part 1: Creating Your Account and Choosing the Right Plan

Step 1: Sign Up for Your Free Account

Getting started with Simplified requires no credit card and takes less than two minutes. Here's exactly how to do it:

You have two options for creating your account:

Option A - Email Sign-Up: Click on the email sign-up option, enter your business email address, create a password (make it strong—at least 12 characters with a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols), and click "Sign Up."

Option B - Google Sign-Up: If you already use Gmail or Google Workspace for your business, click "Continue with Google." This automatically pulls your information from your Google account, making setup even faster.

After clicking sign up, your account is created immediately. No verification emails to wait for, no complicated onboarding questionnaires. You're in.

Step 2: Understanding Your Plan Options

Simplified offers several pricing tiers, and choosing the right one matters for your business. Here's a detailed breakdown:

Free Forever Plan - $0/month

This plan includes three connected social media accounts, 5,000 AI-generated words per month, five AI designs, and 500MB of storage space. It's perfect for testing the platform before committing any money. You can create a handful of posts each month and get a real feel for how the tools work.

Pro Plan - $19-29/month

The Pro tier expands your capabilities significantly. You get seven connected social media accounts, 100,000 AI words per month (enough for serious content creation), 100 AI designs, and 5GB of storage. The price varies based on whether you pay monthly ($29) or annually ($19 per month when billed yearly).

Business Plan - $49-79/month

Designed for small teams, this plan includes 15 connected social media accounts, unlimited AI content generation, three team member seats, and API access for more advanced integrations. Pricing follows the same monthly versus annual structure.

Enterprise Plan - Custom Pricing

For larger agencies or businesses with extensive needs, Enterprise offers unlimited everything, ten or more team seats, and workflow automation features.

My recommendation: Start with the Free plan, even if you're fairly certain you'll upgrade. Spend two to three weeks actually using the platform. Create some posts, connect your accounts, and see how it fits into your workflow. Then upgrade to Pro if you find yourself bumping against the free tier's limitations. This approach costs you nothing but gives you confidence in your decision.

Step 3: Complete Your Profile Setup

Once you're logged in, take a moment to set up your profile. Click on your profile icon in the top right corner and add:

Your business name exactly as you want it to appear Your company logo (optional but helpful) Your timezone (crucial for scheduling posts accurately)

This step takes about 30 seconds but helps Simplified personalize your experience and ensures your scheduled posts go out at the times you expect.

Part 2: Essential Configuration Before Creating Content

Before you start generating content, invest fifteen minutes in configuration. This upfront work pays dividends every single time you create something new.

Step 4: Build Your Brand Kit

Your Brand Kit is perhaps the most valuable setup step in Simplified. It stores your company's visual identity—colors, fonts, and logos—so the platform can automatically apply them to everything you create. This means every social post, every graphic, and every video maintains perfect brand consistency without you having to manually adjust settings each time.

Here's how to create your Brand Kit:

From your main dashboard, look in the left sidebar for "Brand Kit" or "Brandbook." Click to open it, then select "Create New Brand Kit."

Adding Your Brand Colors

Click "Add Color" to start building your palette. You'll need to enter your colors using hex codes—those six-character combinations that look like #FF5733. If you don't know your brand's hex codes, here are some ways to find them:

Check your website's CSS files or ask whoever built your site Use an online tool like "Image Color Picker" and upload your logo Look at any brand guidelines your designer may have provided If you're starting fresh, choose colors from a palette generator like Coolors.co

Add at least three colors:

Your primary brand color (the main color people associate with your business)
A secondary color (a complementary shade for accents)
A neutral color (usually a shade of gray or white for backgrounds and text)

Selecting Your Brand Fonts

Click "Add Font" to browse Simplified's font library. Choose fonts that match your brand personality:

For professional, corporate brands: Consider serif fonts like Playfair Display or clean sans-serifs like Inter For creative, friendly brands: Look at fonts like Poppins, Montserrat, or Lato For elegant, luxury brands: Try fonts like Didot, Cormorant, or Bodoni

Select a maximum of two fonts—one for headings and one for body text. More than that creates visual confusion.

Uploading Your Logo

Click "Upload Logo" and add your company logo. For best results, upload a PNG file with a transparent background. If you only have a JPG, that works too. Simplified will store multiple versions if you have different logo formats (horizontal, stacked, icon-only).

Defining Your Brand Voice

This is where things get interesting for AI-generated content. Describe how your brand communicates:

Are you professional and formal, or casual and conversational? Do you use humor, or keep things straightforward? Are you inspiring and motivational, or practical and no-nonsense?

Write a brief description like: "Friendly and approachable, using casual language without being unprofessional. We speak like a knowledgeable friend giving advice, not a corporate entity. We occasionally use humor but prioritize being helpful."

Click "Save Brand Kit" when you're finished. From this point forward, Simplified automatically applies these settings to every piece of content you create.

Step 5: Connect Your Social Media Accounts

Now you'll connect the social media platforms where you want to post. Simplified supports Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, TikTok, Pinterest, and Google Business Profile.

From your dashboard, find "Social Accounts" or "Connected Channels" in the navigation. Click "Add Social Account" or "Connect Account."

For each platform you want to connect:

Select the platform icon from the list A new window opens asking you to log into that platform Enter your username and password for your business account Review the permissions Simplified is requesting (typically posting access and analytics viewing) Click "Authorize" or "Allow" to complete the connection

Repeat this process for each social network you use. If you're on the Free plan, you can connect up to three accounts. Pro users can connect seven.

Important considerations:

For Instagram, you'll need an Instagram Business or Creator account (personal accounts won't work) For Facebook, you'll be connecting your Facebook Page, not your personal profile Some platforms may require re-authorization every few months for security reasons

Once connected, you can create content once and post to all platforms simultaneously, or customize versions for each platform before posting.

Part 3: Creating Your First Content

With your account configured, it's time to create something. Let's start with the most common use case—social media posts.

Step 6: Generate Your First Social Media Post

Creating AI-powered social media content is where Simplified really shines. The process takes less than a minute and produces surprisingly good results.

From your dashboard, click "AI Tools" in the left sidebar. Select "Social Media Post Generator" from the options.

You'll see a form with several fields:

Topic Field

This is where you tell Simplified what your post should be about. Be specific rather than vague. Instead of writing "coffee shop promotion," write "Grand opening special - first 50 customers get a free pastry with any coffee purchase this Saturday."

Step 7: Write Longer Content Like Blog Posts

When you need more substantial content—blog articles, email newsletters, product descriptions—Simplified's AI Writer handles the heavy lifting.

Navigate to "AI Tools" from your dashboard and select "AI Writer." Click "Template" to browse available writing formats.

Simplified offers dozens of templates including:

Blog Post Writer for full articles Product Description for e-commerce listings Email Copy for newsletters and promotional emails Write For Me for any custom writing need Landing Page Copy for website content Press Release for announcements

Select the template that matches your need. For this example, let's use the Blog Post Writer.

You'll see a form asking "What Would You Like to Write Today?" Here's where your input quality directly affects output quality. The more context you provide, the better your results.

Example of a weak prompt: "Write about customer service"

Example of a strong prompt: "Write a blog post about five ways small retail businesses can provide better customer service without hiring additional staff. Focus on practical tips like response time improvements, self-service options, and using technology. Target audience is retail store owners with fewer than ten employees. Tone should be helpful and actionable."

The strong prompt gives Simplified context about the audience, the specific angle, the desired tone, and the scope of the content.

Advanced Settings

Number of Results: Choose between one and five variations. I recommend generating three for important pieces—you can mix and match the best elements from each.

Creativity Level: A slider from "Conservative" to "Creative." Conservative sticks closer to common language patterns and is better for professional or technical content. Creative produces more varied, sometimes unexpected phrasing—good for marketing copy but sometimes requires more editing.

Language: Select your target language if not English.

Click "Generate" and wait while Simplified creates your content. For longer pieces like blog posts, this may take ten to twenty seconds.

Review the generated content. If you like a version, click "Open Editor" to work with it further. The editor allows you to:

Edit any section directly Add or remove paragraphs Adjust formatting Run additional AI operations on specific sections (expand, shorten, rewrite) Save your work in progress

When your content is ready, save it to your Simplified library or copy it to paste into your blog platform.

If you're looking to improve your blog's search visibility alongside creating content, you might find value in understanding how AI-powered SEO helps small businesses compete with larger competitors in search rankings.

Step 8: Create Custom Graphics and Designs

Not every post needs a photograph. Sometimes you need custom graphics—quote images, promotional banners, infographics, or social media-specific designs. Simplified's design tools let you create professional visuals without Photoshop skills.

From your dashboard, navigate to "AI Tools" and select "AI Designer" or "Design Tools."

You have three starting points:

Templates (Fastest)

Browse thousands of pre-made designs organized by category (social media posts, stories, ads, presentations, etc.) and purpose (promotional, inspirational, informational). Find one that fits your need, click to open it, and customize the text, colors, and images. Your Brand Kit automatically applies your colors and fonts.

Blank Canvas

Choose your dimensions (1080x1080 for Instagram squares, 1920x1080 for Facebook covers, etc.) and build from scratch. Add text boxes, shapes, images, and elements by dragging them onto your canvas.

Magic Design (Easiest)

This is where AI does most of the work. Click "Magic Design" and describe what you want in plain language:

"Promotional graphic for 25% off summer sale with bright, energetic colors" "Professional quote graphic with the text 'Success is not final, failure is not fatal' on a subtle background" "Product showcase image featuring a red coffee mug centered on a clean white background"

Simplified generates multiple design options based on your description. Your brand colors and fonts are automatically applied. Click your favorite, make any adjustments, and download or publish.

The design tools integrate with your social media scheduling, so you can create a graphic and immediately schedule it to post without leaving Simplified.

Step 9: Create Video Content (When You're Ready)

Video content generates significantly more engagement than static images on most platforms. Simplified lets you create videos from text prompts, even if you've never touched video editing software.

This feature is more advanced, so feel free to skip it initially and return when you're comfortable with the basics.

Navigate to "AI Tools" and select "AI Video Generator" or "Text to Video."

You have two main options:

Text to Video

Write a description of the video you want, similar to how you'd describe it to a human video editor:

"Create a 30-second promotional video for a yoga studio. Show people doing various yoga poses in a bright, airy space. Include text overlay saying 'Find Your Balance' and 'First Class Free.' Use calm, relaxing background music."

Script to Video

If you have specific narration or text you want included, paste your script and Simplified creates video scenes to match each section.

Before generating, configure these settings:

Video Length: Choose 15, 30, or 60 seconds depending on your platform and purpose Subtitles: Enable for accessibility and because most social media videos are watched without sound AI Voice Narration: Optional—adds a voiceover reading your script

Click "Generate" and wait while Simplified creates your video. Review the result, request changes if needed, then download or publish directly to your social accounts.

For businesses wanting to explore more sophisticated video creation, including AI-generated presenters, video avatars can help small businesses compete with larger brands that have bigger production budgets.

Part 4: Scheduling and Automating Your Content

Creating content is only half the battle. Getting it in front of your audience at the right time is equally important. Simplified's scheduling features let you plan weeks of content in advance.

Step 10: Schedule Posts for Automatic Publishing

After creating any piece of content—whether a social media post, graphic, or video—you can schedule it instead of publishing immediately.

When you're viewing your finished content, look for the "Schedule" button (instead of "Publish"). Click it to open the scheduling interface.

A calendar view appears showing the current month. Click on the date you want your content to post. Then set the specific time you want it published.

Consider these timing guidelines for maximum engagement:

Best Days: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday typically see higher engagement than Monday (everyone's catching up) or Friday-Sunday (people are offline more)

Best Times:

B2B audiences: 9 AM to 2 PM on weekdays when people are at work
B2C audiences: 7 PM to 9 PM on weekdays when people are relaxing, or weekend mornings
Food-related businesses: Just before meal times (11 AM, 5 PM)

Simplified can recommend optimal posting times based on when your specific audience is most active. Look for "Best Time" suggestions in the scheduling interface once you've been posting for a few weeks and have accumulated data.

Click "Confirm Schedule" to finalize. Your content is now queued and will automatically publish at the specified time.

Step 11: Build a Content Calendar

For serious content planning, create your entire month's content in batches rather than one post at a time.

Simplified's calendar view shows all your scheduled content at a glance. Access it from "Content Calendar" or "Schedule" in your dashboard.

From the calendar view, you can:

See which days have content scheduled and which are empty Drag and drop posts to different dates Click on any scheduled item to edit or reschedule Identify gaps in your content strategy

A batch creation workflow that works well:

Set aside two to three hours once per month for content creation. During this time:

Create four to five post ideas for each week of the upcoming month
Generate all the content using AI tools
Create or select visuals for each post
Schedule everything across the month
Review the calendar to ensure good distribution

This approach front-loads your effort but frees you from thinking about content daily. You can always add timely posts (responding to news, sharing spontaneous moments) while your evergreen content posts automatically.

Step 12: Monitor Performance with Analytics

After you've been posting consistently for two to four weeks, start checking your analytics to understand what's working.

From your dashboard, navigate to "Analytics" or "Reports." You'll see metrics including:

Reach: How many people saw your content Engagement: Likes, comments, shares, and clicks Follower Growth: Changes in your audience size over time Best Performing Posts: Your top content ranked by engagement

Use this data to guide future content decisions:

If video posts get three times the engagement of images, create more videos If posts on Thursday evening outperform other times, adjust your schedule If certain topics consistently underperform, pivot to subjects your audience prefers

The analytics dashboard becomes more useful over time as it accumulates more data. Check it monthly rather than obsessively monitoring daily fluctuations.

Part 5: Team Collaboration Features

If you work with partners, employees, or contractors who help with your marketing, Simplified's collaboration features keep everyone coordinated.

Step 13: Invite Team Members

Available on Pro and Business plans, you can add team members to your Simplified workspace.

Navigate to "Team" or "Members" from your dashboard settings. Click "Invite Team Member" and enter their email address.

Assign appropriate permission levels:

Editor: Full access to create, edit, and publish content. Suitable for marketing team members or contractors who handle your content.

Viewer: Can see content and reports but cannot make changes or publish. Useful for business partners who want visibility without day-to-day involvement.

Click "Send Invite." They'll receive an email with instructions to join your workspace.

Step 14: Set Up Content Approval Workflows

If you want to review content before it goes live (highly recommended for businesses with multiple content creators), enable approval workflows.

Go to "Settings" then "Approval Workflow." Toggle "Require Approval" to on. Specify which team members have approval authority.

With approval workflows enabled:

Team members create content, which goes into "Draft" status Designated approvers receive notifications of pending content Approvers review and either "Approve" (content moves to scheduled/published) or "Request Changes" (content returns to creator with feedback) Nothing publishes without explicit approval

This prevents embarrassing mistakes and ensures all content meets your brand standards before reaching your audience.

Part 6: Troubleshooting Common Issues

Even the best tools occasionally cause confusion. Here are solutions to the most common questions new users ask.

"I've used all my free AI words/designs for the month. What are my options?"

Your free tier quotas reset on your account anniversary date each month. You can either wait for the reset or upgrade to Pro for immediate access to higher limits. If you're consistently hitting limits, upgrading typically costs less than the time you'd spend working around restrictions.

"I accidentally deleted content. Can I get it back?"

Yes. Navigate to the specific project and look for "History" or "Version History." Simplified saves previous versions, allowing you to restore deleted content or revert to earlier drafts.

"I updated my Brand Kit, but my old posts still show the old colors."

Brand Kit changes apply to future content, not retroactively. To update existing designs, open each one and look for "Apply Brand Kit" or "Update Branding" options. For social posts already published, you'll need to re-create them with the new branding.

"Can I use Simplified on my phone or tablet?"

Yes. Download the Simplified mobile app (available on iOS and Android) to manage your content on the go. The mobile app lets you create posts, check analytics, respond to comments, and adjust your schedule from anywhere.

"What payment methods are accepted?"

Simplified accepts all major credit and debit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover), PayPal, and invoice billing for Enterprise customers.

"My social media account keeps disconnecting."

Some platforms require periodic re-authorization for security. When this happens, go to your Connected Accounts, remove the disconnected account, and reconnect it using current credentials. This is normal security behavior, not a Simplified problem.

Putting It All Together: Your Monthly Simplified Workflow

Now that you understand all the pieces, here's how to structure your ongoing use of Simplified for maximum efficiency:

Week 1: Analysis and Planning

Spend 30 minutes reviewing last month's analytics. Note which content performed best and worst. Identify three to five content themes for the upcoming month based on what resonated with your audience.

Week 2: Content Creation

Block two to three hours for batch content creation. Generate all written content using AI Writer—blog posts, email copy, social captions. Create or select visuals for each piece using design tools. This is your production session.

Week 3: Review and Scheduling

Review all created content for accuracy and brand fit. Make final edits. Schedule everything using the content calendar. Distribute posts evenly across the month, avoiding gaps longer than a few days.

Week 4: Optimization and Maintenance

Check mid-month analytics to see if any scheduled posts should be adjusted. Create any timely content responding to current events or opportunities. Start planning next month's themes.

This workflow means you spend concentrated time on content creation rather than scrambling daily to figure out what to post. Most small business owners find this approach reduces their marketing time investment by 60-70% compared to creating content ad-hoc.

Essential Best Practices for Success

After walking through hundreds of small businesses' Simplified implementations, certain patterns distinguish those who succeed from those who struggle:

Start with one tool and master it. Don't try to use AI Writer, video creation, design tools, and social scheduling all in your first week. Begin with social post generation. Once that's comfortable, add design tools. Then incorporate video. Rushing leads to overwhelm and abandonment.

Invest time in your Brand Kit. Every minute spent setting up your brand identity saves hours later. Complete this before creating any content.

Treat AI output as a first draft. The AI produces good content quickly, but you know your business better than any algorithm. Always review, personalize, and refine before publishing.

Schedule at least a week ahead. Falling into day-to-day posting means you're always reactive. Even a week of buffer gives you room to handle the unexpected without your marketing falling silent.

Check analytics monthly, not daily. Daily checking leads to overreaction to normal fluctuations. Monthly review reveals meaningful trends you can actually act on.

Use templates before creating from scratch. Templates exist because they work. Customize them rather than starting blank unless you have a very specific vision.

If you're just beginning your AI journey with business tools, you might appreciate a broader perspective on how to approach AI adoption as a small business owner.

How Simplified Fits with Your Broader Marketing Stack

While Simplified handles content creation and social media management excellently, it works best as part of a coordinated marketing approach.

Website and Blog: Use Simplified's AI Writer to create blog content, then publish to your WordPress, Shopify, Squarespace, or other platform. The content doesn't publish directly to your blog—you'll copy and paste—but the time savings in creation are significant.

Email Marketing: Generate email copy in Simplified, then paste into your email platform (Mailchimp, ConvertKit, Constant Contact, etc.). Consider pairing with tools that handle email automation while Simplified handles content creation.

Customer Communication: If you need live chat or customer support, Simplified doesn't cover that territory. Tools like Tidio handle real-time customer interaction while Simplified handles your proactive marketing content.

Business Operations: Simplified is purely marketing-focused. For invoicing, bookkeeping, and financial management, you'll need separate solutions.

Final Thoughts: Making Simplified Work for Your Business

The businesses that get the most value from Simplified share a common trait: consistency. They don't use the platform to create brilliant one-off content and then abandon it. They build Simplified into their regular operations, treating it like a marketing team member with assigned responsibilities.

Start your free account today. Complete the Brand Kit setup this week. Create and schedule your first week of content. Then evaluate honestly: Does this save you time? Does the output quality meet your standards? Is the learning curve manageable?

For most small businesses, the answers are yes, yes, and yes. The platform genuinely delivers on its promise of simplifying marketing for resource-constrained businesses.

Your competitors are already using AI tools to create more content faster. Not because they're more sophisticated than you, but because they've simply gotten started. Your getting started moment is today.

The free plan costs nothing except a few hours of your time. The potential upside is reclaiming hours every week that you currently spend on marketing tasks. Those hours can go back into serving customers, developing products, or simply having a life outside your business.

That's the real promise of AI tools like Simplified—not replacing human creativity, but amplifying it. Handling the repetitive tasks so you can focus on the strategic thinking that actually grows your business.

Go create your account. Set up your brand. Generate your first post. The technology is ready. Your audience is waiting. And that marketing content isn't going to create itself—at least not without you taking the first step.

How to Set Up Simplified for Your Small Business: The Complete Guide