How Do I Manage Team & Client Approval Workflows in SocialPilot?

The different access levels set for different roles ensure that there is a proper content flow within the team.

Posts created by a Content Scheduler appear in the 'Pending Review' queue because they can't be directly scheduled. They must be approved by the Manager, Admin, or Account Owner. They can review and approve the post or reject & send it back for edits or delete the posts. 

Once they are approved, the posts get added to the queue.

However, any post created by a Manager or Admin does not require any approval. They directly go to the publishing queue. 

Here is an overview of the whole workflow process, including the team members and the client:

Let us understand the process by breaking it down into team and client roles. So consider a scenario when a Content Scheduler has created a post and try to understand its journey through the approval flow. 

Team Approval Workflow

The details of the process are given below:

1. A Content Scheduler creates and schedules a post. 

2. The post will go to the 'Pending Review' lineup.  

3. Now, to see the post in the 'Pending Review' category, click on Manage Posts > Pending Review. 

4. Under the 'Pending Approval' section, each post will have a tag indicating its status, i.e., whether it is pending approval or awaiting correction. You can use a filter to see posts of the same tags. 

5. Every post will have a blue action button with a dropdown. Among these, choose the action you want to take. A Manager can:

• Approve to publish - This will send the post directly to 'Queued Posts'
• Send for Client Approval - Will send the post seeking approval from an 'Approver' client, if the need for client review is enabled for the account
• Sendback - The post will be sent back to the Content Scheduler for corrections 

6. If the post is returned to the Content Scheduler, they can access it in the same Pending Review category. 

7. After making the necessary edits, the Content Scheduler can again send the post for approval. 

8. The Manager can select to take any of the 3 courses of actions listed above. 

It is noteworthy to remember that the team member, be it the Manager, Admin, or Owner, can select multiple posts at a time and send them to the publishing queue or for client approval. 

The 'Teams' feature gives complete control over approving posts in the 'Pending Review' section to the Account Owner/Manager. 

How to Send Approval Link to a Client Manually?

If and when a post is scheduled that needs approval from a Client, a team member can send an Approval link to the respective Client. The Client will be notified of the post pending review by email according to their notification frequency. But the any team member can also send them an approval link by any other network according to the Client’s convenience so they can review and approve the post without any hassle.

Every Client can be sent a unique Approval link. Here is how to find the link:

1. Go to the Team and Client section in the main dashboard and select Manage Team and Client.

2. Hover over the client’s name you want to send the Approval link to and “Approval link” will be visible on the right side of the Status column.

   

3. When you click on the Approval link, the link will be copied to your clipboard.
4. Now you can paste the link and send it to your client through the network of your choice.

Client Approval Workflow

SocialPilot not only allows team members to participate in the content approval workflow but also lets you include your clients in the process if you choose to. And for that, you have to enable the 'Need Client Approval' feature and select clients as 'Approvers.'  

To learn how to enable client approval for posts, you have to go to Manage Accounts dashboard and enable "Need Client Approval" checkbox. To manage client access to various features, click here.

The team members and the clients together complete the process of the whole approval workflow. So let's see how the clients fit into the flow explained in the previous section. 

1. When a post is in the 'Pending Review' category, it needs to be approved by the Manager to go for publishing. 

2. If the 'Need Client Approval' feature is enabled for the account the post is meant for, the Manager can send it for a Client's approval. Note that it is the Manager's choice and not a necessity to involve the client. 

3. The post will now appear in the Pending Review queue of the clients. 

4. The clients who are designated as Approvers for that account will get notified about the post pending review.

Now, the client can approve a post in two ways.

Scenario 1: If a Client has not logged into their SocialPilot account, they still would be able to approve the posts that need their review. They will receive an Approve On-the-Go link along with the invite link. Clicking on this link will take the client to a separate page where they can review and take action on the posts that need their approval.

After the initial mail, every time a new post is created, the client will receive a mail with an Approval link or link, which they can use to approve or send back a post. They will receive these mails with the Approve On-the-Go link whether they sign into their SocialPilot account or not. These links will make the process of reviewing and approving posts much simpler for the clients.

Scenario 2: If a Client has signed into the SocialPilot account, can either use the Approval link sent to them in their emails or they can access the account dashboard where they can review all the posts under the Pending Review tab.

When reviewing posts, a Client can take the following actions:

• Approve to Publish - This will send the post directly to Queued Posts
• Sendback - This will send the post back to the Manager and Content scheduler, pending corrections.
• Comment on the Post: If the Client has any particular feedback, they can mention it in the comment with the post and then take any of the two actions mentioned above.

5. Now, the post needs to be edited and sent for approval from the Manager again. 

6. The Manager, as per the norm, may approve the post himself or send it for client approval again. 

This is how the whole of the content approval workflow functions on a SocialPilot account.