concept · explanation
Approvals and review governance
Understand how approvals and review governance works in Slash Social.
Every post that leaves draft should pass through a review path you can explain to stakeholders. Approvals and review governance define who decides, what they can do, and what gets recorded before content schedules or publishes.
Overview
Slash Social treats review as a first-class state in the content lifecycle. When a post needs a human decision, it moves to pending approval and stays there until an authorized reviewer acts. Reviewers can approve, request changes, or reject. Each path leads to a clear outcome: approved, changes requested, rejected, or eventually published once review is complete.
Governance also covers how review surfaces in Slack, how you label rejections, who can see audit history, and when client or partner sign-off is required outside your core team.
How it works
Where review happens
Approvers open review from /social-approve, approval notifications, workflow cards in channels, or the approval thread attached to a post. The approval thread is the primary surface for reviewing copy, media, and schedule details before you approve or send the post back for edits.
Single-step review works on any plan that allows publishing: one approver can clear a post in a single decision. On the Team plan and above, you can chain multi-step approval workflows so ordered reviewer steps must complete before the post leaves review.
Decisions and review results
From pending approval, a reviewer typically chooses one of three actions:
- Approve: The post can move toward scheduling or publishing, or advance to the next workflow step when multi-step review is active.
- Request changes: The post returns to the creator with feedback. The item stays in a changes-requested state until edits are resubmitted.
- Reject: The post stops on that path. Reasons you attach help the creator understand what to fix or abandon.
When review finishes successfully, the post reaches approved or published depending on your publishing setup.
Review reasons and routing
On the Team plan and above, review reasons give structured labels when someone rejects a post or sends it back for edits. Reasons appear in the review modal and in Slack threads when your workspace uses thread-based review, so feedback stays tied to the content.
Routing settings control which Slack channels receive approval handoffs and related alerts. Cadence and approval channel setup during onboarding sets default visibility. Admins can adjust routing later from Settings so the right channel sees new review work.
Multi-step workflows and defaults
Multi-step workflows let you define ordered steps, activate or deactivate a workflow, and set a default workflow for the brand. When several workflows are active, Slash Social can prompt for the right default before review starts. Admins manage these workflows from App Home or Settings; see the linked workflow article for create, edit, and delete steps.
Audit history
Audit history is available on the Team and Scale plans. It records settings changes, role edits, and many content actions with actor and timestamp. Admins can browse the audit log from Settings. Scale organizations can export audit data, including SIEM delivery options, for security and compliance workflows.
Client and external sign-off
When your process requires sign-off outside the core creator group, client approval packs let external reviewers approve, request changes, or reject items from a dedicated review surface. Channel authorization must be valid before client approval actions run. Pack and item menus support reminders and detail views so agency workflows stay inside Slack.
Pipeline visibility
Approval state also appears on workflow cards in channels and in Slack Lists that track your social pipeline, so reviewers and creators see the same status without opening every thread.
Examples
Single approver on a small team. A creator submits a post. The brand owner opens /social-approve, reviews the approval thread, and approves. The post schedules without a configured workflow.
Ordered legal and brand review. An agency configures a multi-step workflow: brand manager first, then client contact. Each step must approve before the post advances. If the client requests changes, the post returns to the creator with labeled reasons.
Client pack for a campaign. An admin sends a batch of posts to a client approval pack. The client approves three items, requests changes on one, and rejects one. Internal reviewers see matching review results on each item.
Why it matters
Clear governance prevents posts from publishing without the right eyes on them. Structured reasons and routing reduce Slack noise and keep feedback findable. Audit history gives admins a trail when roles, settings, or content change. Multi-step and client paths scale review beyond a single approver without losing accountability.