Let’s be real, working in social media marketing means one thing - collaboration.
In social media agencies, in particular, it's a team effort to ensure clients remain satisfied with the services offered, and effective collaboration is essential to achieving this goal. However, without a well-defined content production-to-posting process, some challenges can surface.
That's where social media approval processes come to the rescue.
This guide will walk you through the various ways in which using a social media management tool like Sendible, with a built-in approval process, can significantly streamline your social media management efforts.
We’ll be covering:
- What is a Social Media Content Approval Process
- Why is it crucial for brands
- Who can benefit from using a social media content approval process
- Creating a Social Media Content Approval Workflow with Sendible
What is a Social Media Content Approval Process
A social media content approval process is an organised workflow used by brands and individuals to review, approve, and schedule content before it is posted on social media platforms.
In simple terms, it's like having a trusted backup plan to catch any typos before your content goes live.
Schedule your post for approval.
Why is it crucial for brands
Apart from the odd typo here and there, having an approval process for social media content offers several benefits for brands. Let’s dive into these benefits:
Consistency is king: Having a content approval process helps ensure that all social media content aligns with the brand guidelines and messaging. This consistency strengthens social media presence and trust among followers, customers, and stakeholders.
Don't tell a lie: Approval processes help ensure that content is factually accurate. This is especially important when communicating information that could impact customer trust or safety.
Banging Collaboration: Creating social media approval processes encourages collaboration among marketing teams and departments, fostering better communication and cross-functional cooperation within agencies and brands.
Who can benefit from using a social media content approval process
If you are an agency member, a social media manager or part of a social media team, having a social media approval tool, like Sendible, is essential for a seamless workflow. Here's how:
Social media managers in agencies: Balancing multiple clients sometimes means the little things may slip through the cracks. An approval process ensures that all content published on behalf of clients meets the highest quality standards, preventing errors, typos, or inappropriate social content from going live.
Small businesses: With limited resources and manpower, a structured approval process ensures that all social media content sticks to brand guidelines, maintaining a consistent and professional brand image across platforms.
In-house social media managers: Implementing a marketing approval process in-house can encourage a culture of supportive feedback. Constructive feedback plays a crucial role in the learning and development of team members, particularly those who are new to the role, such as interns. This feedback loop aids in the continuous improvement of their content creation skills.
"With native platforms, the approval process was unbelievably painful, and we couldn't handle the volume we are handling now without Sendible."
Rolf Jeger, Agency Director @ VOIMA
Creating a Social Media Content Approval Workflow with Sendible
Let’s use the example of social media managers within agencies to develop a seamless approval process using Sendible:
Step 1: Identify key stakeholders in the approval process
- Social media managers - Their role in this process would typically be to initiate content creation requests, coordinate with content creators and make sure the content aligns with the overall social media strategy.
- Content creators - Would be responsible for creating and submitting content drafts for social media publishing and revising content based on feedback.
- Account managers - Ensure that content is in line with the client’s brand guidelines, review content messaging, provide feedback and give final social media approval for content.
With Sendible, you can categorise users according to their roles in your social media team or agency and create an approval system. It's a breeze to set up teams that mirror your team's structure, making your social media workflow a piece of cake.
Seamless collaboration for teams on Sendible.
Step 2: Establishing a Content Calendar
Develop a content calendar that outlines your social media posting schedule. This can cover social content being posted daily, weekly, or monthly.
Using Sendible's calendar view, you can visually map out your content schedule and effortlessly plan your social media content to meet your goals and keep your audience engaged.
Step 3: Creating Content for Approval
Content production is the fun part, and getting it ready to post has been made equally as fun and easy with Sendible. On your Sendible dashboard, you can seamlessly upload and edit social media posts like Carousels, Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts with our built-in Canva integration and editing tool.
Once you're happy with the social media content produced, this piece of content can be sent for approval to the appropriate team member, aka the approver, and a little message can be left alongside the content. In your message, remember to include what you’d like reviewed and communicate deadlines clearly with them.
Step 4: Content Approval
An approval task is sent as a simple message within Sendible to the approver. They can then assess the content, respond within the message thread and decide whether to accept the scheduled post or reject it for further improvement.
Watch this reel to see how quickly an approval process can be👇
Approving posts in Bulk
Do you enjoy working in bulk? Then we've got the feature for you - Sendible's bulk importer.
With this amazing feature, you can easily upload all your posts at once and submit them for approval through a single platform. This saves you time and effort and ensures a smoother social media workflow. By being able to upload multiple posts simultaneously, you can streamline the content creation process and make it more efficient.
Not only does this feature speed up the approval process, but it also improves your team's organisation and collaboration. Instead of sending individual social media posts for approval, you can gather all the content in one place, making it easier for your team members to review and provide feedback.
And the best part is all the steps mentioned above still apply, but now you can simply click 'Import for approval' to take your workflow to the next level.
Wrapping it up
And you’ve got it! You've now got the hang of setting up and using an approval workflow in Sendible. This process helps ensure your content gets an extra set of eyes before going live, keeping your social media game strong and consistent. It's a simple way to level up your online presence!
You don't have to stop there, dive into some other Sendible features that can help your team collaborate even better.
Start your 14-day free trial and let us know what you think of Sendible.