getting started · tutorial
Approve and publish your first post
Set up approve and publish your first post during your first Slash Social workspace run.
Goal
Move your first draft through review and publishing so the team confirms approval routing, account health, and schedule behavior. When this tutorial succeeds, the post leaves pending approval, is approved or sent back for edits with a clear reason, and is either scheduled or published.
Before you begin
You need a post already waiting for review. Complete Create your first post if you do not have a draft in pending approval yet.
Also confirm:
- Approval routing is configured for the brand (who receives review requests and in which channels).
- Cadence and approval notification channels are set so approvers see new requests.
- Connected platform accounts are healthy for the brand you are reviewing.
Workspaces on the Team plan or Scale plan can use multi-step approvals and structured review reasons. Workspaces without those paid features still follow the same approve, request changes, and reject actions from the approval thread.
Set it up
Open the review
- Open the approval notification in Slack, or type
/social-approve. - Confirm the active brand matches the post you intend to review.
- Open the pending post from the approval card or list.
Approval cards keep review actions and publishing context in the Slack thread. Check copy, media, platform account, and scheduled time before you decide.
Review the post
- Read the caption and confirm it matches brand voice and platform limits.
- Open the content preview when you need to see media or formatting details.
- Confirm the target platform account and any scheduled slot shown in local time for the brand.
If you need more context, open the preview or history actions available on the review surface before you approve.
Approve, request changes, or reject
- Choose Approve when the post is ready to schedule or publish.
- Choose Request changes when the creator must edit copy, media, or targeting. Add a clear reason so they know what to fix.
- Choose Reject when the post should not move forward. Add a reason from the list when your workspace uses structured review reasons on Team or Scale plans.
On Team and Scale plans, multi-step approval workflows may require additional approvers before the post reaches an approved state. Each step uses the same review actions in the approval thread.
Publish or schedule
After approval:
- Schedule the post inside a posting window for the brand timezone, or publish immediately if your role allows it.
- Confirm account health before the slot so disconnected or expired accounts do not block publishing.
- Reschedule from the item preview if the proposed time falls outside cadence windows.
After approval, Slash Social handles scheduling, queue placement, and handoff to connected platforms.
Confirm it works
Check that the post reached the outcome you expect:
| Outcome | What you should see |
|---|---|
| Approved | Status moves out of pending approval. The post is ready to schedule or publish. |
| Changes requested | Status shows changes requested. The creator receives the reason and can edit and resubmit. |
| Rejected | Status shows rejected. The post does not publish until someone creates a new draft or restores it. |
| Published | The post appears in Plan after the platform accepts it. Insights update once platform data arrives. |
Scheduled posts should show the correct local time for the brand. Published posts should leave the approval queue and appear on the calendar you use in Plan work center.
Recovery paths
Post stays in pending approval
An approver may still owe a decision, or a multi-step workflow may be waiting on the next step. Open /social-approve again or check Workflow for other pending rows. See Recover a post stuck in review for ordered checks.
Approver cannot act
Confirm the teammate has approver permissions for the brand and that approval routing points to the right channel or user.
Publishing fails after approval
Check account connection status for the target platform. Reconnect the account if it shows disconnected or expired, then retry scheduling or publishing from Plan.
Next step
For governance details on roles, reasons, and multi-step flows, read Approvals and review governance. If a post stays in review after these steps, use Recover a post stuck in review.
