Approving social posts before they publish

Some social posts need publishing sign-off before they can be scheduled or published. Every post that goes to a LinkedIn account, company or personal, needs it. Your subscription can also have approval rules that cover other social posts. Sign-off happens on the post itself, in the Publishing Sign-off panel of the post editor under Grow → Posts.

Before you start

• Only subscription administrators can approve a post or request changes. For LinkedIn posts not covered by a rule, the reviewers are your subscription's administrators.
• The Publishing Sign-off panel appears once a post has been saved. See Social posts and the calendar.

Check whether a post needs sign-off

In Grow → Posts, a post that needs sign-off shows a Sign-off pill next to its status, for example Sign-off: not requested, Sign-off: Pending Review, Sign-off: Approved or Sign-off: Changes Requested. A post without this pill can be scheduled straight away.

Until the current version is approved, Schedule and Publish Now are unavailable in the editor, which shows Needs publishing sign-off before it can be scheduled or published.

Submit a post for review

1. Go to Grow → Posts and open the post.
2. In the Publishing Sign-off panel, select Submit for review.

The panel then shows the Content version, the Current stage, the Completion requirement (All reviewers or Any reviewer), the Approval stages, each marked Complete, Current or Waiting, and the Sign-off history. Reviewers get a notification that the version is ready for their review.

Approve a post or request changes

If you're a reviewer, the notification opens the post. Posts waiting for your decision also show Approve version and Request changes on their row in Grow → Posts.

1. Open the post and check its text and accounts. Exact version differences shows what changed in this version.
2. To approve, optionally add a Decision comment, then select Approve version.
3. To send it back, select Request changes, enter the Reason for the changes and select Request changes again. A reason is required.

You'll see Publishing decision saved. If the rule has more than one stage, the next stage's reviewers are notified. When the last stage approves, the post's author is notified and the post can be scheduled or published.

After changes are requested

The panel shows Changes requested before this can be published, with the reviewer's comment.

1. Make the changes in the editor.
2. Select Save Draft.

Saving a changed version sends it back to the first approval stage, and the reviewers are notified again.

Changes after approval

Approval applies to one exact version of the post. If you change the post's title, text, post type, linked content or target accounts after it's approved, the new version needs sign-off again, even if the post is already scheduled. Changing only Publish At doesn't. A scheduled post whose current version isn't approved isn't published.

If a reviewer's decision is made while the post is being edited, you may see The content version changed during review. The latest sign-off state has been refreshed and older decisions cannot be applied. Review the latest version and decide again.

Set up approval rules

Subscription administrators can add approval rules for other social posts from Configure a publishing sign-off rule, at the bottom of the Publishing Sign-off panel on any post. A rule has a Name, Conditions that decide which posts it covers, and Ordered approval stages, each with its reviewers and whether All reviewers or Any reviewer must approve. Choose reviewers who are subscription administrators, as only administrators can record a decision.

Writing a rule's conditions currently needs technical details about how posts are described, so contact support if you'd like a rule set up. Existing rules are listed below the form, where you can Edit or Disable them. See also Social settings.