SocialCollab help

Getting started

Create your account

Click Create an account on the home page, enter your name, email and a password (at least 10 characters with upper and lower case letters and a number), then type the verification code we email you. Use Sign in next time. If you forget your password, choose Forgot your password? on the sign-in page.

Staying signed in: SocialCollab keeps you signed in on this device for 90 days from when you sign in, so you don't have to sign in every time you open it. Your browser's or password manager's Save password works on the sign-in page. On a shared computer, turn off Stay signed in on this device there, and use Sign out everywhere if you ever sign in somewhere you shouldn't have stayed signed in.

Signing in happens on SocialCollab's own sign-in page at login.socialcollab.app. When Continue with Google or Continue with Facebook buttons are shown there, you can use those instead of a password. If you already have an account and later sign in with Google using the same email address, it opens your existing account, so you keep your companies. Facebook doesn't confirm email addresses, so a Facebook sign-in is a separate account unless you've always used Facebook.

Create a company, or join one

• Starting fresh: under Create a company, type your company or brand name and click Create. You become its owner.
• Joining a team: ask an owner to invite your email address. When you sign in with that email, the invitation appears at the top of the home page. Click Join.

You can belong to several companies (handy for agencies). Switch between them with the drop-down at the top of the page.

The "Get set up" checklist

New companies see a checklist on the Campaigns page: connect Facebook & Instagram, connect TikTok, invite your team, and create your first campaign. Each item links to where you do it. The checklist disappears when everything's done, and owners can hide it sooner.

Team and roles

Owners manage the team on the Team tab. To add someone, enter their email, pick a role and click Invite. They get an email with a link to SocialCollab. They see the invitation after signing in or creating an account with that email. Invitations last 30 days.

Owners change someone's role with the drop-down next to their name. A company always keeps at least one owner. To make someone else the only owner, promote them first, then change your own role. Anyone can Leave a company from the Team tab.

Connecting social accounts

Posts are published to the accounts connected on the Connections tab: one Facebook Page (and the Instagram account linked to it), one TikTok account, one YouTube channel, one LinkedIn Page and one LinkedIn profile per company. Only owners can connect or change them.

Before you connect Facebook & Instagram

• You have full control of the Facebook Page (in Meta Business Suite: Settings › People). If a business portfolio owns the Page, you need access to it there too.
• The Instagram account is a Professional account (Business or Creator), linked to that Facebook Page. In the Instagram app: Settings › Account type and tools. Or in Meta Business Suite: Settings › Instagram accounts. Apps can't post to personal Instagram accounts.
• When Facebook asks what to share, choose the Page and its Instagram account and leave every permission switched on. If you click Edit access or Edit settings, check the right boxes are ticked.

Connecting

1. Open Connections and click Connect Facebook & Instagram (or Connect TikTok).
2. Sign in on Facebook or TikTok and allow access.
3. You come back to Connections. For Facebook, check Facebook Page to post to. If you manage several Pages, pick the one this company posts to. Its linked Instagram account is shown next to it.

Send a connect link (when someone else manages the accounts)

Often the person who controls the Page or TikTok account isn't using SocialCollab: a client, a business owner, a marketing manager. Click Send a connect link, optionally add their email and a message, then Copy the link or click Open in email.

• They open the link, read a short checklist, enter their name and connect. They don't need a SocialCollab account.
• Links work once and expire after 7 days. Waiting links are listed on Connections, where you can copy them again or Withdraw them.
• Afterwards, Connections shows who connected (marked "connect link"). They see what they shared and anything worth fixing.

Connection status and problems

SocialCollab checks every connection once a day, and you can click Check now any time. Each connection shows one of:

• Working: all good.
• Check: something needs a look but posts can still go out, for example TikTok access expiring soon, or a Page with no Instagram linked.
• Not working: posts to it will fail. A red banner appears on every page of the company, and new posts can't be scheduled to it until it's fixed.

Any problem is listed under the connection with a specific Fix, such as "Permission to post to Instagram wasn't granted: reconnect and leave every permission switched on". Most fixes end with Reconnect, which keeps your Page choice. TikTok access lasts a year and renews automatically. Reconnect before the date shown to keep it going.

Analytics and ads. Post stats and Promote use extra permissions. If one wasn't granted, Connections shows a warning (posting still works); reconnect and leave every permission on. Under Facebook & Instagram, Ads ready means you can promote posts, with the date it works until: Facebook's sign-in for ads lasts 60 days, and Connections reminds you 14 days before. Reconnecting renews it. Ads off means the ads permissions weren't granted.

Disconnect removes the connection. Scheduled posts to that network will fail until something is connected again.

YouTube

Click Connect YouTube and sign in with the Google account that owns or manages the channel (if it's a Brand account, pick it when Google asks). Tick every box Google shows, then choose the channel to post to. YouTube takes one video per post (no photo posts). Vertical videos up to 3 minutes go out as Shorts. In the post's YouTube options, add a title, choose who can watch (Public, Unlisted or Private — there's no default) and answer Made for kids? (YouTube requires it). The caption becomes the description, the video's cover becomes its thumbnail, and its captions are added as a caption track viewers can turn on.

Until Google approves SocialCollab, videos it uploads stay Private, and YouTube allows only a few uploads a day across all companies; extra posts wait until the next day instead of failing.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn Page: an admin (or content admin) of the company's LinkedIn Page clicks Connect LinkedIn Page and chooses the Page. LinkedIn profile: connects a person's own profile, so posts go out as them (for example the owner). Both take text, one or several photos (up to 20), or one video (3 seconds to 30 minutes). Links in the text are clickable and #hashtags work. Page posts get stats (impressions, clicks, reactions, comments, shares); LinkedIn doesn't share stats for personal-profile posts. LinkedIn access lasts 60 days to a year depending on LinkedIn's settings; the Connections page warns two weeks before it ends.

Campaigns

A campaign groups related posts: a launch, a season, a client project. Click New campaign and give it a name, plus optionally a goal ("200 intro sign-ups"), start and end dates, and a brief (audience, tone, key messages, links). The brief is shown at the top of the campaign for everyone working on it.

The campaign page lists its posts with their status, networks, open comments and scheduled time. Use the status chips at the top to filter. Archive a finished campaign to move it out of the way (you can unarchive it). Owners can Delete a campaign, which deletes its posts, media and comments. Anything already published stays on the networks.

Library

The Library tab keeps the company's photos and videos for its campaigns and posts. Owners, managers and editors add them with + Upload (several at once; photos up to 30 MB, videos up to 1 GB), and everyone can browse and filter by photos/videos, tag, campaign, uploaded or emailed, or search. Click an item to play it, rename it, change its tags, campaign or note, download it, see which posts use it, or delete it (posts that use it keep their copy).

Folders

The folder list on the left (across the top on phones) shows All items, each folder with how many items it holds, and No folder. Owners, managers and editors click + New folder to make one, and Rename or Delete folder while it's open. Deleting a folder never deletes photos or videos: they move to No folder. To move items, click Select, pick them, and choose a folder under Move to… (or change Folder on one item). Uploading while a folder is open puts the files in it.

Zip files

Upload a .zip (up to 2 GB) with + Upload, or attach one to an email to your content address. SocialCollab unpacks it into a folder named after the zip without “.zip”: Fall Shoot.zip becomes the folder Fall Shoot, or adds to it if it already exists. The Library shows “Unpacking…” while it works (you can leave the page) and then what was added.

• Folders inside the zip become tags (Fall Shoot/Reformer/IMG_1.jpg is tagged #reformer), all in the one folder.
• Only photos and videos are added, with the usual size limits. Other files (PDFs, documents), Mac “__MACOSX” files, zips inside the zip and password-protected zips are skipped and listed.
• Up to 500 files and 5 GB unpacked per zip.

Using it in a post: in the post, click + From library and pick items; they're copied into the post, so changing or deleting them in the library never changes the post. Optimizing (shape, trim, sound) still happens in the post. Save to library on a post's photo or video keeps a copy (the optimized version when there is one) for reuse.

Emailing photos and videos in

Each company has its own address, shown on the Library tab and in Settings, for example content@pilatesretreat.socialcollab.app. Owners, managers, editors and reviewers can email photos and videos there from the address they use for SocialCollab; they land in the library and the sender gets a reply saying what was added.

• Put #hashtags in the subject to tag them, and a campaign name to link them to that campaign ("Fall launch studio shots #studio").
• Attach the files themselves. An email carries about 25 MB; upload longer videos in the app. iPhone Mail Drop links can't be picked up.
• Emails from anyone else, or that don't really come from the address they claim, aren't added. Owners can change the address name or turn email intake off in Settings.
• iPhone HEIC photos are kept but marked Needs JPEG: Instagram and Facebook need JPEG, so export them as JPEG to use them in posts. (Emailing from the Photos app usually sends JPEG already.)

Creating a post

1. In a campaign, click New post, give it a working title (only your team sees it) and tick the networks.
2. Add media: click + Add or drag files onto the viewer. Photos: JPEG, PNG, WebP or GIF up to 30 MB. Videos: MP4, MOV or WebM up to 1 GB. A post holds up to 10 items. Several photos become a carousel (Instagram) or a multi-photo post (Facebook).
3. Order: select an item and use ◀ ▶ to move it. The first item is the cover.
4. Caption: write it once. The counters show how long it is against each network's limit. To word it differently somewhere, open Different caption per network and fill in only the ones you want to change.
5. Click Save. The post page checks each network's requirements and lists anything to fix, or shows ✓ Ready for the selected networks.

If someone else saves the same post while you're editing, you'll see "Someone else changed this post". Copy anything you typed, reload, and apply it again. Nobody's work is silently overwritten.

What each network accepts

Not sure a video will be accepted? Optimize it. The optimized MP4 meets all three networks' requirements, including turning a WebM into something Instagram accepts.

Reels, Stories, feed posts and TikTok photo posts

Under Format in a post, choose what kind of post each network gets. Automatic picks from the media.

Also share to Story (Instagram and Facebook) publishes a Story copy of a feed post or Reel at the same time, using the first photo or the video. Stories don't show captions, links or stickers, disappear after 24 hours, and can't be promoted. Instagram Story stats (views, reach, replies) are read while the Story is live.

Editing photos and video covers

Photos: select a photo in a post and click ✏️ Edit photo (or ✏️ Edit on a photo in the Library). SocialCollab's editor opens full screen; the tools are along the bottom (on a computer, on the right):

• Crop: shapes for each network (Square, 4:5 Instagram, 9:16 Story/Reel, 1.91:1, 16:9) or free; drag the corners or edges, drag inside to move, pinch or scroll to zoom. Rotate, flip, and Straighten by degrees (the photo grows so no empty corners show).
• Adjust: brightness, contrast, exposure, saturation, warmth, gamma, clarity and vignette. Filters: looks like Vivid, Warm, Mono or Film, with a strength slider.
• Text: tap the photo (or + Add text), type, then pick the font, size, colour, a background box or an outline. Drag to move; the round handles resize and turn it.
• Draw, Shapes (rectangle, circle, line, arrow), Stickers (your brand kit's logos, your own pictures from the Library or uploaded from your phone or computer, a QR code for a link, emoji; each with an opacity slider for subtle watermarks), Frame (line, border, polaroid, rounded, or a brand-kit frame) and Redact (blur or pixelate faces, names or numbers).
• Size: full size or 2048 / 1440 / 1080 px, JPEG or WebP, and quality. Undo and redo are at the top (Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y); Delete removes the selected item.

Click Done. In a post, the edited photo replaces it and the original is kept: Revert to original brings it back, and Edit again reopens your text, stickers and other changes so you can still change them. In the Library you choose Save as a copy or Replace. Posts that already use a library photo keep their copy.

Video covers: select a video and click 🖼 Pick cover. Drag the slider (or step 0.1 s) to the frame you want and click Use this frame. Then choose Add text or a logo to open the editor on that frame, or Just use the frame. Instagram Reels and Facebook get the cover with your text; TikTok gets the plain frame (TikTok only lets apps choose the frame). If the video is optimized again later, you'll see Pick the cover again.

Approval: editing a photo or changing a cover changes what people see, so an approved or scheduled post goes back to draft for approval again (when your company requires approval).

Optimizing videos

Select a video in a post and click Optimize video. SocialCollab makes a new MP4 that every network accepts, in the shape you choose. The original is kept. Once the optimized copy is ready, it's the version that gets published.

Downloading: owners, managers, editors and reviewers can save any photo or video from the post: Download optimized video or Download original under the selected video (files save with the post's title, e.g. "Meet our instructors - optimized.mp4"). On a computer it goes to your Downloads folder. On a phone the button says Save … to Photos: tap it, wait for Tap to save, tap again, and choose Save Video (iPhone) or Photos (Android). Very large originals (over 200 MB) download instead. Review emails also have a Download video link that keeps working until the email expires, even after it's approved. Downloads show in the post's History.

While it's working the video shows Optimizing…. It usually takes a few minutes, and you can keep working. When it's done you'll see Optimized with the new size and dimensions. Show original / Show optimized switches the preview. Optimize again replaces the copy with new settings, and Use original deletes the copy and publishes the original.

Approval: a plain re-encode (black bars, no trim, sound kept or just evened out) keeps the post's approval. Cropping, trimming, muting, replacing or mixing the sound changes what people see or hear (and so do burned-in captions, text and frames), so the post goes back to draft for approval again. The dialog warns you before you start.

If the optimized video comes out much shorter than the original, SocialCollab marks it failed rather than letting a clipped video go out. This happens with some screen or browser recordings. Export the video as MP4 and upload it again.

Sound, music and voiceovers

Music & voiceover library

Each post has a Music & voiceover section. Click + Add audio to upload MP3, WAV, M4A or AAC files (up to 300 MB). You can preview them there. Audio isn't posted on its own; you use it when optimizing a video.

Sound options when optimizing

• Keep the video's sound (default).
• Mix music under the video's sound: choose a track, when it starts, and how loud it is (−12 dB is a good background level). Lower the music while people talk (on by default) dips the music whenever the video's own audio is active and brings it back up in the gaps. The mix is made in your browser before the video is optimized, so keep the page open until the dialog closes. It works on videos up to 10 minutes.
• Replace the sound with music or a voiceover: the video's own audio is removed and your file plays from the second you choose.
• Mute: no sound at all.
• Even out the volume (on by default): sets the overall loudness to the level social apps play at (−14 LUFS), so your video isn't much quieter or louder than the ones around it.

Music rights: only use music you're licensed to use. Instagram and TikTok can mute, limit or remove posts with copyrighted audio. Trending sounds from TikTok's or Instagram's own libraries can't be added by apps. For TikTok, use Send to TikTok inbox and add the sound in the TikTok app.

Comments and review

Everyone on the team can comment, viewers included. The Comments panel is under the media.

• On the whole post: just type and click Comment.
• On a photo or video: with it selected, leave About Photo 2 (or Video 1) ticked.
• Pin a spot on a photo: click the photo where you mean. A numbered pin appears there and on your comment. Click a pin to jump to its comment.
• At a moment in a video: pause where you mean and tick At the video's current time. Clicking the comment's tag jumps the video to that second.
• Reply to keep a discussion together. Resolve a comment once it's handled (resolved pins turn grey). Reopen brings it back.
• Filter comments by Open or This photo/video. The campaign page shows the number of open comments on each post.

You can delete your own comments. Owners and managers can delete any comment. The History panel records who did what to the post and when.

Approval workflow

By default, posts are approved by an owner, manager or reviewer before they can be scheduled. Owners can turn this off in Settings.

• An editor clicks Send for review when the post is ready, optionally with a note and a proposed publish time. Owners and reviewers get an email (see Approving from email).
• An owner, manager or reviewer clicks Approve, or Request changes with a note. That moves it to Changes requested and adds the note to the comments. The editor fixes it and sends it for review again.
• Changing an in-review, approved or scheduled post's content (caption, networks, media, options, or a crop/trim/sound change when optimizing) sends it back to draft for approval again. Changing only the working title doesn't. The post page warns you before you save.
• Without approval required, editors schedule drafts directly.

Approving from email

When a post is sent for review, every owner, manager and reviewer (except the person who sent it) gets an email with a preview: the photos (or a link to watch the video), the caption for each network, the TikTok settings, the proposed publish time and any note. The buttons let you act without signing in:

• Approve (owners, managers and reviewers).
• Approve & publish now and Approve & schedule for the proposed time (owners and managers).
• Request changes, with a note that goes to the editor and into the comments.

Each button opens a page showing the post again, where you confirm. Nothing happens just from opening the email or the link, so email security scanners can't approve anything by themselves.

Keep these emails to yourself. The buttons are yours alone, work once, and expire after 7 days. They stop working when someone else acts first, when the post is edited, or if you lose your review role. Anyone who can read the email can use them until then, so don't forward it. Owners can turn the buttons off for the company in Settings; the emails then only link to SocialCollab. Anyone can stop review emails for themselves under Settings › Your account.

If a post can't be published yet (for example Instagram needs a JPEG), Approve & publish tells you why and changes nothing; you can still Approve it. Actions from email show in the post's history as "(from email)".

Scheduling and publishing

In the Publishing panel of an approved post:

• Schedule: pick a date and time (in your own time zone, shown under the box) and click Schedule. It must be at least a minute ahead and within a year.
• Publish now: it goes out within about a minute.
• Reschedule or Unschedule any time before it starts publishing.

Scheduling checks everything first. If a network isn't connected or working, or the post doesn't meet a network's rules, it tells you what to fix instead of failing later. Save any changes before scheduling.

What happens at publish time

• Publishing: each network is posted in turn. Instagram and TikTok videos take a few minutes to process on their side. The page refreshes itself.
• Published: every network worked. Each has a view link to the live post.
• Partly published / Failed: the failed networks show why. Fix the cause, then click Retry failed networks. Networks that already worked aren't posted twice.

Temporary problems on the networks' side (rate limits, outages) are retried automatically for a while before a network is marked failed. If a video is still being optimized when its time comes, publishing waits for it (for up to 2 hours).

Once a post is published, deleting it in SocialCollab doesn't remove it from Instagram, Facebook or TikTok. Delete it there if needed.

TikTok options

When TikTok is ticked, the post has a TikTok options section. It shows the TikTok account you're posting to, and the rest follows TikTok's rules for apps that post for you.

• How to post: Post directly publishes to the profile. Send to TikTok inbox as a draft puts the video in the creator's TikTok inbox to finish in the TikTok app: add the caption, sounds and effects there, then post.
• Who can watch this video (required for direct posts): Everyone, Followers, Friends or Only me. The choices come from the TikTok account's own settings, and there's deliberately no default.
• Let viewers comment, duet or stitch. These are greyed out if they're turned off in the account's TikTok settings.
• This video promotes a brand, product or service: switch it on for promotional posts and choose Your brand (labeled "Promotional content") and/or Branded content for a paid partnership (labeled "Paid partnership"; it can't be private).
• If the video is longer than the account allows, you'll see a warning. Trim it with Optimize video.

By posting you agree to TikTok's Music Usage Confirmation (and Branded Content Policy for branded content). Videos can take a few minutes to appear on the profile.

While SocialCollab's TikTok app is waiting for TikTok's approval (the "Direct Post audit"), TikTok only accepts direct posts that are set to Only me, to an account that is itself private (TikTok: Profile › ☰ › Settings and privacy › Privacy › Private account; Business accounts can't be private). Other choices are refused. To post publicly in the meantime, use Send to TikTok inbox and post from the TikTok app. In the TikTok phone app, private videos are under the 🔒 tab on your profile, not in the main grid.

Analytics

Once a post is published, its page shows an Analytics card with the numbers each network reports: views, reach, likes, comments, shares, saves and clicks (each network reports a different set; Instagram Reels also show average watch time). The first numbers arrive about 10 minutes after publishing, then they update every hour for two days and every day until the post is 30 days old. Refresh gets the latest right away.

Each campaign has a Results table with every published post and the campaign totals. Download CSV gives the breakdown by post and network for a spreadsheet.

No numbers? The account may have been connected before Analytics existed, or a stats permission was switched off. Connections shows a warning; Reconnect and leave every permission on. TikTok doesn't report stats for private ("Only me") videos or for drafts sent to the inbox.

Promoting a post (ads)

A published Facebook or Instagram post can become an ad in your company's Meta ad account. On the post, click Promote on Facebook / Instagram and choose:

• Where: Facebook, Instagram, or one ad that runs on both.
• Ad account: the account it's billed to (accounts with a payment problem can't be used).
• Goal: Reach, Engagement, Video views (video posts), or Website visits (Facebook posts with a link in the caption).
• Budget and dates: an amount a day or in total, for 1 to 90 days. The form shows the most it can spend.
• Audience: Advantage+ (Meta finds people in the locations you pick), custom (locations, ages, interests), a saved audience, or your custom and lookalike audiences from Ads Manager.
• Special category: Meta requires you to say whether the ad is about housing, jobs or credit (these can't target by age or ZIP code). Ads about social issues or politics must be made in Meta Ads Manager.

Approval: a company owner approves the spend before anything is created. Owners see waiting requests on the Campaigns page. (In Settings, owners can let their own requests start straight away, and set a spending limit per promotion.)

After it starts: Meta reviews the ad first ("In review by Meta"), then it runs. You can pause, resume, change the budget or end it. Raising the budget above what was approved needs an owner. The post shows the spend and results, and the campaign's Results table adds Ad spend.

Can't promote? Connections shows "Ads ready" when the Facebook sign-in includes the ads permissions. If it says "Ads off", reconnect and allow every permission. The ad sign-in lasts 60 days; Connections reminds you to reconnect before it runs out. For TikTok, use the links to TikTok's own tools on the post.

Promoting on LinkedIn, TikTok and YouTube

First an owner connects the network's ad account under Connections › Ads (Promote): LinkedIn ads, TikTok ads or Google Ads (YouTube ads). Then a published post shows Promote on LinkedIn / TikTok / YouTube. Choose the ad account, goal, budget and dates, whether it's a housing, job or credit ad, and the audience (automatic, or custom ages) with at least one location. An owner approves the spend, the company's spending limit applies, and you can pause, resume, change the budget or end it, just like Meta.

• LinkedIn: sponsors a LinkedIn Page post (personal-profile posts can't be sponsored). Goals: brand awareness, engagement, video views, website visits. LinkedIn's minimum is about $10 a day.
• TikTok: runs the post itself as a Spark Ad (it keeps its likes and comments). The post must be public, and the TikTok account must be linked to the ad account in TikTok Business Center. Goals: reach or video views. TikTok's minimum is $20 a day.
• YouTube: runs the video through your Google Ads account on YouTube (feeds, Shorts and before other videos). Google needs a website link in the video's description and a square logo in the brand kit; the company name is used as the business name. A total budget is spread evenly per day, and SocialCollab stops the ad at the end date. The video must be public or unlisted.

Ads about social issues, elections or politics need each network's own verification, so create those in the network's ad tool. LinkedIn prohibits using targeting to discriminate based on protected characteristics.

Calendar

The Calendar tab shows a month of scheduled and published posts, colored by status. Click one to open it. Use ◀ ▶ to change months and Today to come back. Drafts without a time don't appear on it.

Company settings

Owners can rename the company and turn Posts must be approved… on or off on the Settings tab. Under Promote (ads) they can set the most one promotion can spend (requests above it are refused; empty means no limit) and let owners' own promotion requests start without a second approval. Review emails include buttons… turns approving from email on or off.

Your account (at the bottom of Settings, for you only): review emails on or off, Stay signed in on this device, and Sign out everywhere.

Brand kit (owners): add your logos and frames once with + Add logo or frame. Everyone can then drop them onto photos and covers in the editor, and lay frames over videos in Optimize video. PNGs with a see-through background work best; mark full-size images with a see-through middle as Frame.

Troubleshooting

Your data

Your team's posts, media and comments are visible only to members of that company. Social account access tokens are encrypted and never shown to anyone. See the Privacy policy for what's stored and how to delete it, and the Terms.