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How to create a social post

A step-by-step guide on how to create a social post

Victor De Blander avatar
Written by Victor De Blander
Updated over a month ago

This article walks you through the process of writing and publishing a post for social media. The intended use is that the master post serves as a base for all your social posts. These posts can then be further tailored to their respective audiences.

Watch our Academy video πŸ“Ή for a step-by-step guide.

Before you get started

You'll need to have fulfilled the following to create your social post.

In this article:


1. Create your social post

Step 1a. In your dashboard, click on the green "+" button and then click on "Create Social post". Alternatively, you can create a social post from the Social post overview.

Create a sequence of social posts from context

When clicking on Create social post with AI or creating a social post from withing the AI hub, it's easy to create a new article based on an external URL.

Check our our Academy Video that shows this flow πŸ‘‰ Quick link.

Fill in all the information to create the social posts, a working title, context (text, URL or article), an audience, a post purpose and a tone.

Select the ideas that should be converted into social posts, optionally choose a scheduling datetime and click 'Save social posts'. After they're saved, click 'View social posts' to open the editor.


2. Master post

The master post set is the post window in the image below. This is the default message for your post. That way, one standard message forms the base to further tailor per channel. Otherwise, you would need multiple posts to convey the same message.

Step 2. Create your master post

(1) Write your post message manually or use the AI.

(2) You can create a social post from your blog article, image link or video.

  • Article - Link an article created in StoryChief. A sidebar will open so that you can select the article to use.

  • Link - Link external content (URL), such as other websites, product pages, ... (more info)

  • Media - Want to include an image or video in your social post? Add multiple and combine media types. (more info)

  • Document - LinkedIn allows PDF's to be sent as carousel in your post.

❌ When a link which returns "An error occurred while fetching the link. Make sure the URL is properly formatted and accessible to anyone without authentication."

-> Add an exception to your firewall for "Story Chief".

(3) Set a schedule date for your post or leave it at 'Publish now'. This can also be tailored per channel.
​

Step 4. Select your channels by toggling them on and off.

You can learn more about connecting your channels in our help center.

πŸ’‘ Tip: Add UTM codes to your social post. You can do this for the master message or for individual posts in the Tailor by channel section. Learn more.


3. Tailor the post per channel

Why tailor your post?

Tailoring your post per channel provides you with a unique way to engage with the types of audiences you have per platform.

For example:

  • Your Facebook audience might want something more lighthearted compared to your LinkedIn audience who need more of a business angle.

  • Add hashtags or tag businesses per social media channel to make your post more personalized. (more info)

  • Add an emoji depending on the social media platform.

❌ Limitations: Be aware that per platform there are different rules. For example, Twitter has a limit of 140 characters.

a. Tailored message

Once you've created your default message in the master post, scroll down to start tailoring your post per channel. Learn more.

When a channel has an adjusted message, it will have a subtle blue background. To change the message back to the default, click the three dots and select 'Revert all changes'.

b. Tailored image / link preview

To make sure every post resonates with your audience, you can choose a different on every channel. Click on 'Replace' and choose an image from your media library.

That way, your tailored text is accompanied by a tailored image. The same message, reshaped for its unique audience.

For link previews, select 'Modify preview'. This opens a sidebar where you can choose another image.

Upload an image from your computer, select from your media library or insert a picture from a connected DAM system.

c. UTM tags

Add UTM tags to your posts, by either pasting your existing UTM tag or by using our built in UTM builder. More specific details can be found in the help article (more info).

With the builder, the following options are available by default:

  • Campaign Source: This specifies where your traffic is coming from (e.g. facebook).

  • Campaign Medium: This field specifies how the traffic is being delivered (e.g. social).

  • Campaign Name: This allows you to add a description that you and your team can use for Google Analytics campaign tracking (e.g. case_studies).

Dynamic parameters are used for each type by using the channel name, destination name, article title, and language.

d. Audience restriction/Target audience

Below the UTM parameters, you'll see the audience restrictions (when available for the channel and when an article or link is used).

πŸ”” Note: This is called post gating and it will limit the visibility of your post everywhere on Facebook. For example, if you use post-gating to people in Belgium. Then, only people living in Belgium will see your post.

Set any combination of countries/languages in the sidebar and press save.

Examples:

  • If you use post-gating to people in Belgium. Then, only people living in Belgium will see your post.

  • If you've chosen English, then only people with English as one of their set languages will see your post.

  • For LinkedIn, filtering on Industries is also possible.

Schedule or publish your post according to the correct time zone of your targeted audience. This way, you can target your audience at the best possible time for their own timezone.

πŸ’‘ Tip: Duplicate your social post to publish the exact same post but this time add audience restrictions for a different location/Country.

e. Tailor images

Sometimes, your images are too big for a specific social channel, so StoryChief will let you know that the image isn't conform these requirements. To easily solve this, click

'Fix issue' so the platform resizes or crops your image.


4. Scheduling and publishing

Step 6. Once you have finished creating your social posts, you can click on Publish now or Schedule to publish the post on a different date and time.

You can schedule the publishing time for each social media channel separately.

Step 7. Once you've tailored the scheduling time, click on Schedule or Publish.

This opens a window with the post overview for your scheduled content. Click Confirm to go ahead.

πŸ’‘ Tip: To post to multiple time zones, duplicate the social post and schedule accordingly for the time zone.


5. Social post settings

To find extra options, click on the three dots. This allows to:

  • Manage campaigns of the social post

  • Change properties, so fill in the custom fields

  • Duplicate the social post

  • Duplicate the postset to another campaign or workspace

  • Delete the post

  • Check the updates (approval, comments, publishing, ..)

πŸ”” Note: As an administrator, you might see "Published by StoryChief" on LinkedIn or Facebook, since the post is pushed from the app.

Your audience does not see this.


πŸ“š Next steps

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