Social operations glossary

Item and idea

An item is the core unit of production. It may start as an idea, become a draft, move through review, and connect to one or more platform targets.

An idea is earlier than an item. It can come from a Slack message, bot DM, link, campaign note, customer quote, or support theme. The team promotes it to an item when someone assigns an owner and a next step.

• Idea: source material with potential
• Item: planned work with owner and status
• Draft: an item with copy, creative, or both

Platform target

A platform target is the destination for an item: the social platform, account, caption variant, media requirement, publishing status, and recovery path.

One item can have several targets. A launch recap may become a LinkedIn post, an Instagram carousel, a Threads post, and a TikTok short. Each target can carry its own copy, media state, approval status, and publish result.

• Platform
• Account
• Caption variant
• Media requirement
• Publishing status

Brand scope

Brand scope keeps work tied to the client, business line, or owned brand that controls the audience and reporting. It affects roles, accounts, approval routes, inbox ownership, and analytics.

Teams with several brands need visible scope because Slack conversations can look similar across clients. The brand name should travel with the item from intake to report so reviewers know which voice, audience, and account rules apply.

• Brand timezone
• Connected accounts
• Approval routes
• Client access
• Reporting context

Route, approver, and reviewer

A route decides who receives a draft for a decision. An approver has authority to approve, request changes, hold, or reject. A reviewer can give input, but the route should show who owns the decision.

Use routes to reduce ambiguity. A founder post, regulated claim, client announcement, and routine evergreen post may need different approvers even when the same creator drafts the copy.

• Route: decision path
• Approver: person who can decide
• Reviewer: person who can comment
• Reason: label attached to a change request

Hold, failure, and recovery

A hold means the team paused work on purpose. Common holds include missing context, campaign timing, client questions, and legal review. The item should keep the hold reason so the owner knows what to resolve.

A failure means a job or connection needs attention. Recovery is the action that moves blocked work back toward publishing, such as reconnecting an account, retrying a job, replacing an asset, or changing the publish window.

• Hold: planned pause
• Failure: system or account problem
• Recovery: action that clears the block
• Retry: attempt the job again after the issue is fixed

Inbox item, saved reply, and report

An inbox item is a reply, mention, comment, or message that needs review or action. It may require a direct response, escalation to a teammate, or a new content idea based on what customers keep asking.

A saved reply gives the team a reusable starting point for common responses. A report turns completed work, inbox patterns, and campaign results into a weekly or monthly summary the team can read in Slack.

• Inbox item: inbound work that needs a decision
• Saved reply: approved response pattern
• Report: summary of work, performance, and next actions

Where this fits in Slash Social

See content planning in Slash Social. These resources describe operating practices you can adapt to your team. Review current product availability before choosing a rollout.