Step 1

Preflight the store data

Inspect catalog fields, product status, price formatting, inventory behavior, image rights, and destination URLs before connecting any automation.

Create a promotion allowlist rather than assuming every active product belongs in social campaigns. Exclude regulated, region-specific, wholesale, and incomplete listings.

A live product is not automatically a suitable social asset. Missing context becomes public confusion once scheduled.

Working checklist

  • Approve the promotion catalog
  • Verify prices and variants
  • Confirm image rights
  • Test mobile landing pages
Step 2

Set editorial guardrails

Document the review owner, response deadline, brand language, prohibited claims, accessibility standard, and escalation path.

Require manual review for discounts, collaborations, sensitive calendar moments, and generated customer-facing facts.

If nobody owns the final approval, scheduled content will either stall or publish without accountability.

Working checklist

  • Assign an approver
  • Set a review SLA
  • Maintain a prohibited-claims list
  • Create an emergency pause procedure
Step 3

Validate the publishing path

Run a private or low-risk test through generation, preview, approval, publishing, link checking, and analytics collection.

Confirm timezone, daylight-saving behavior, duplicate-post protection, failed-post notifications, and the procedure for expired authorization tokens.

A successful draft does not prove that tags, links, video processing, or analytics will work after publication.

Working checklist

  • Test every content format
  • Check timezone
  • Trigger a failed-post alert
  • Document reconnection steps
Step 4

Review the system every month

Audit a sample of published posts against their source records. Note corrected claims, repetitive language, broken links, poor crops, and unused features.

Update templates based on measured performance and operational friction. Remove automations that create more review work than they save.

Do not let old pricing, seasonal language, or discontinued products remain in evergreen queues.

Working checklist

  • Audit ten posts
  • Refresh evergreen queues
  • Review access permissions
  • Recalculate time saved