A social media client onboarding checklist

Everything to settle with a new client before the first post goes out: what you post, who approves, how you get access, what the client sounds like, and how you will report. It works with any tool, and three emails at the end do most of the asking for you.

Before the first post

1. The scope, in writing. Which platforms, how many posts a week on each, and what is included: captions, images, video edits, replies to comments, reports. Say what is not included, too.
2. One approver, and a deadline. One named person approves for the client, by a set day and time. Write down what happens when they are silent: the post moves to the next slot. The approval workflow has the rest.
3. Access without passwords. Use each platform's own team or partner access where it has one, such as a partner in Meta Business Suite for Facebook and Instagram or an admin role on a LinkedIn page. Where a platform has none, the client keeps the password in a password manager they control. Never by email or chat.
4. The brand kit. Logo files, colours, fonts, the photos you may use, and who owns the rights to them.
5. The voice. Three posts the client loved, three they didn't, and a never-say list of words, emoji and topics. It does more than a page of tone notes.
6. The dates. Launches, sales, events and closures for the next three months, and the days they never post.
7. The goal, and one number. What the client wants from social this quarter, and the one number you will report each month.
8. The rules. Anything legal or industry-specific about what they can say, such as prices, claims or testimonials, and who checks it.
9. Same-day contacts. Who to call when a post needs pulling or a comment needs a fast answer, and the hours you reply.
10. The first month, dated. The day the first drafts arrive, the first approval deadline, the first post and the first report.

The kickoff call, in thirty minutes

• Five minutes: what the client wants from social this quarter, and the one number you will report.
• Ten minutes: the voice. Read their three favourite posts aloud together, then the never-say list.
• Five minutes: who approves, by when, and what silence means.
• Five minutes: access, platform by platform, and who on their side grants it.
• Five minutes: the dates for the first month, read back and agreed.

Three emails to copy

Replace the parts in braces. Each one is short on purpose: a client answers a short email the same day.

Hi {name},

Welcome aboard. Before the first posts go out, eight answers will save us both a round of changes:

1. Who approves posts on your side, and by when each week?
2. Three posts of yours you loved, and three you didn't.
3. Words, emoji or topics you never want to see in a post.
4. Your logo files, colours, fonts and the photos we may use.
5. Dates that matter in the next three months: launches, sales, events, closures.
6. What you want from social this quarter: enquiries, bookings, sales, or reach.
7. Anything legal or industry-specific about what you can say.
8. Who to call if something needs an answer the same day.

A short reply is perfect. I'll turn it into our first month's plan.

{your name}

Hi {name},

To post for you, I need access to {platforms}. Please don't send passwords by email or chat. Instead:

- Facebook and Instagram: add me as a partner in your Meta Business Suite, using {your business name or ID}.
- LinkedIn: add me as an admin of your company page.
- {other platform}: {how that platform shares access}.

If a platform has no way to share access, keep the password in a password manager you control and share the entry from there, so you can take it back at any time.

Thanks,
{your name}

Hi {name},

Here's how the first month runs:

- {date}: the first drafts arrive, each one as it will look on its platform.
- {date, time and time zone}: the deadline to approve them or ask for changes.
- {date}: the first posts go out.
- {date}: your first monthly report, with {the one number we agreed}.

If a deadline passes without an answer, that post moves to the next slot rather than going out unapproved.

{your name}

Where PostSiete fits

On Siete, each client gets a workspace with its own voice, learned from posts that client has already published, and every draft you keep, edit or send back teaches it. You write one idea and get a draft for each platform the client uses. Then you send one link per idea: the client opens it with no account and no login, reads each platform's draft on its own card, and presses Approve or Request changes, with room for a note. After an edit, Ask for re-approval sends the same link back for a new answer.

What it does not do yet: one answer covers the whole link, the client cannot edit the drafts, and the page they see is PostSiete's, not yours. How the approval link works, or open the live sample.