How to let clients approve posts before publishing
|Approval mode in MagicPost holds a scheduled post until someone approves it: a post marked Pending approval is not published. Approval mode is available in MagicPost organizations, on the Agency and Team plans. You send your client a link to their calendar or to one post, and the client reads, comments and approves in the browser, with no MagicPost account.
In a MagicPost agency organization, approval mode is on by default for each account you add. In a team organization, an administrator turns approval mode on member by member.
This article is written for the agency or the team that prepares the posts. To brief the person who receives the link, send them how to review and approve posts shared with you. For the agency use case, see MagicPost for agencies.
How to turn on approval mode for an account
In the MagicPost sidebar, click Admin view, then Accounts. In a team organization, the entry reads Members.
Open the three-dot menu at the end of the account's row.
Turn on Approval mode.
You can also turn on approval mode when you add the account to MagicPost, under Optional settings. To select several accounts and switch them together, tick their rows and use Approval in the toolbar.
An agency organization sets the default in MagicPost with Default approval mode, in the organization settings. See how to set up your organization.
MagicPost does not offer approval mode for an account on an Engagement seat: that seat has no posts to approve.
What approval mode changes on the calendar
When approval mode is on for a MagicPost account, the calendar of that account shows Approval mode on and a Share button at the top right. Each post carries a status:
Pending approval (grey): the post is scheduled and nobody has approved it. MagicPost does not publish it.
Approved (green): the post is published at its scheduled time.
Published post (blue): the post is live on LinkedIn.
While approval mode is on, the MagicPost calendar hides its Week and Month selector.
How to share a calendar with your client
Switch to the client's account in MagicPost, open its calendar and click Share.
In the Share the calendar window, find the links under Share links: Approval and Editing.
Click Copy next to the link you want, and send it to your client.
An administrator can open the same MagicPost window without switching account. In the member list, open the three-dot menu of the account and click Manage the shared calendar. This entry appears once approval mode is on for that account.
How to share a single post
Open the post in MagicPost.
Click Share at the top of the post window.
In the Share the post window, click Copy next to a link.
A MagicPost post that is not published yet, in an account with approval mode on, has a link for each level: Simple, Approval and Editing. A published post, or a post in an account without approval mode, only has the Simple link.
The Share button of a MagicPost post is not shown on a small screen. Open the post on a computer to share it.
What each MagicPost share link allows
Simple: the person can read one post. A Simple link has no approval and no discussion. It exists for a single post, not for a calendar.
Approval: the person can read the posts, comment on them, discuss them and approve them.
Editing: everything in Approval, plus editing. The person can change the text of a post, its media or its poll, change its scheduled date, or unschedule it.
Anyone who holds a MagicPost share link can use it, with no login. Send an Editing link only to a person you trust with the content and the dates.
A post that is already live on LinkedIn is read-only in a MagicPost shared view. The person sees its performance instead of the approval switch.
How a post gets approved
In the MagicPost shared view, the client opens a post and turns on Approve post. The post becomes Approved in your calendar, and MagicPost publishes it at its scheduled time. The client can turn the switch off again as long as the post is not published.
MagicPost only publishes a post that is approved before its scheduled time. A post approved after that time shows Approved but is not published: give the post a new scheduled date.
You can approve a post yourself in MagicPost. Open the post in the account and turn on Approve post in the Scheduling tab of the side panel.
A post scheduled for one or several accounts from the organization calendar of MagicPost has its own switch, Pending approval. When it is on, the post waits for an approval before it is published.
Comments and discussion on a shared post
MagicPost keeps two kinds of feedback on a shared post. Comments are attached to a passage: the client highlights a part of the text, clicks Comment and writes. Discussion is a message thread about the whole post.
You answer both from the Approval tab of the post in MagicPost. A comment thread can be marked as resolved with Resolve, and resolved threads move to Resolved. The client can delete their own messages, and you can delete any message of the discussion.
MagicPost shows a counter on the account selector of the sidebar when an account has comments or messages waiting.
Notifications for approvals and comments
MagicPost notifications are set in the Share the calendar window, under Notifications. Click Add a recipient to add a member of your organization, an external email or Slack.
Internal recipients are members of your organization, picked one by one. MagicPost notifies them when a post is approved or commented from a share link.
External recipients are email addresses, usually the client's. MagicPost notifies them when a post is scheduled and waits for their approval, and when you comment from MagicPost. The Pending approval email is sent once, the first time the post is scheduled.
Slack is connected with a webhook URL, shared by the whole organization. Slack receives the approvals and the comments made from a share link.
MagicPost groups the comment emails. One email leaves a few minutes after the first comment and lists the comments written since then. A discussion message that was already read, or a comment thread resolved in the meantime, is left out of the email. Slack receives each comment right away.
The Previews button of the MagicPost notifications shows the emails before you send anything. MagicPost notifies by email and by Slack. MagicPost has no in-app notification for approvals.
Reminders before the scheduled time
When a scheduled post is still Pending approval, MagicPost sends a reminder email the day before the scheduled time, and a second one shortly before it. The reminder goes to the owner of the MagicPost organization, not to the client.
What the client sees of your brand
The header of a MagicPost shared calendar shows the name and photo of the LinkedIn account, and the name of your organization. A MagicPost link to a single post has no header: a Simple link to a post that is not published yet shows Shared by followed by the name of your organization. MagicPost does not display the logo of your organization on a shared calendar or on a shared post.
MagicPost notification emails to external recipients are sent under the name of your organization, followed by "via MagicPost".
A MagicPost share link opens on the MagicPost domain, and the sender address of the notification emails is a MagicPost address.
FAQ
Does my client need to pay or create a MagicPost account?
No. The client opens the MagicPost share link in a browser, with no account, no password and no subscription.
Can I disable a share link or set an expiry date?
No. MagicPost has no button to disable a share link or to give it an expiry date: the Share the calendar and Share the post windows only let you copy a link. If a link must stop working, ask the MagicPost team through the in-app chat.
What happens if a post is not approved in time?
MagicPost does not publish it. A post that is still Pending approval at its scheduled time stays in the calendar, unpublished. Approving the post after its scheduled time does not publish it either. Give the post a new scheduled date: MagicPost then publishes the approved post at that date.
Can my client change my posts?
Only with an Editing link. With an Approval link, the client can approve and comment in MagicPost, but cannot change the text, the media or the date.
Why do I see only a Simple link when I share a post?
MagicPost adds the Approval and Editing links only when approval mode is on for the account and the post is not published. A MagicPost account outside an organization only gets the Simple link.
Does approval mode work in a Team organization?
Yes. In a Team organization, a MagicPost administrator turns on Approval mode for a member, and that member's posts then wait for an approval. Approval mode is only on by default in an agency organization.
Need help?
Reach out via the in-app chat, or book an onboarding call: https://cal.com/magicpost/book-a-call