Create and manage content briefs

Goal

Capture structured content briefs from App Home, Slack messages, and idea flows, then refresh, pin, or promote them into drafts for the active brand. Briefs keep planning context together so creators, approvers, and admins can reopen the same brief later without rebuilding the ask from scratch.

A brief is more durable than a one-off create modal. It can hold source text, version history for knowledge pinning, and handoff into draft generation. Use this workflow when the team needs a shared planning record before posts are fully written.

When to use this

Use briefs when you need a longer-lived brief or idea record than a disposable create modal — for example planning today’s angles, pinning a knowledge version, or turning a Slack thread into a reusable brief that multiple people can reopen.

Choose the Ideas list when you only need a lightweight spark without brief versioning or knowledge pinning. Choose Import and Repurpose when the source is an external URL or published post you want to expand into multiple drafts. Choose Create and schedule a post when you already know the caption, accounts, and timing and do not need a brief object first.

Briefs are a good fit for campaign kickoffs, client asks pasted into Slack, and recurring “plan today” routines where the same brief may be refreshed across a week.

Before you begin

Confirm you have:

• Access to the Create work center in App Home.
• An active brand selected in App Home. Briefs are scoped to the brand you are currently working in.
• Permission to create or edit briefs for that brand.
• At least one connected social account when you plan to generate a draft from a brief.

If your workspace uses Slack Lists for ideas or pipeline rows, make sure Lists are enabled for the brand so related rows stay in sync after you save or promote a brief.

Steps

Open briefs from Create

1. Open App Home and go to Create.
2. Open the briefs or ideas entry that matches your plan (list, detail, plan today, analytics, or calendar).
3. Select a brief to review source text, analytics context, calendar context, or to generate a draft.
4. Use list filters and pagination when you have many briefs so you reopen the same brand-scoped set next time.

The Create cards and Command Palette both route into the same brief surfaces. Prefer App Home when you want brand context visible; prefer /social search when you already know the brief action name.

Capture from a Slack message or thread

1. Use a message shortcut or capture action that adds a brief.
2. Choose brand or workspace scope when prompted. Brand scope is the common path for day-to-day content; workspace-wide scope is only for shared planning that should not sit under a single brand.
3. Confirm the prefilled text, edit if needed, and submit. Slash Social stores the brief for the selected brand.
4. If capture offers multiple intake actions (idea, brief, library), choose the brief path so versioning and pin actions remain available later.

Message capture preserves thread or channel context when the action starts from a thread. That context helps teammates understand where the ask came from when they reopen the brief.

Refresh, pin, and generate

1. Open a brief detail modal from the list or from a Create card.
2. Choose Refresh to reload the latest version after someone else edited the brief.
3. Pin or unpin a knowledge version when you want Create and search to prefer that brief for generation. Pinning is optional; leave briefs unpinned when they are still draft planning notes.
4. Choose generate-from-brief to start a draft. You need at least one connected account for the brand.
5. Watch Create for draft saved, pending approval, queued, or generation failed outcomes. Retry from Failed Jobs when generation does not complete.

You can also open briefing analytics or calendar views from Create when you want performance or scheduling context before you promote the brief into a draft.

Success criteria

You have finished the relevant branch when:

• New briefs appear in the Create brief or ideas surfaces for the active brand.
• Refreshing a brief updates the detail modal without losing brand context.
• Pinned knowledge versions stay available for Create and search until you unpin them.
• Drafts generated from briefs appear under Posts and Create with the brief linked as source context.
• Failed generations show a recoverable path from Create or Failed Jobs instead of a silent no-op.

Troubleshooting

Brief save rejects your text

You may be saving a duplicate or empty text. Edit the text or open the existing brief from the list.

Generate from brief does nothing

Confirm at least one social account is connected for the active brand. Reselect the brand in App Home and retry.

Refresh shows not found

The brief or version may have been deleted. Return to the list, reopen a current row, and avoid stale message shortcuts that point at old brief IDs.

Pin or unpin fails

Confirm you have permission to manage knowledge for the brand. Retry after Refresh so you are acting on the latest version.

Generation fails after promoting a brief

Check Create home for failed jobs and retry when offered. See Retry a failed generation.

List shows the wrong brand

Switch the active brand in App Home before opening briefs. Lists and modals always reflect the current brand context.

Related docs

• Capture and use ideas
• Create your first post
• Retry a failed generation
• Content lifecycle