The approval step in each automation: who says yes, and when

Two kinds of yes

Approval in automation takes two forms, and each playbook uses one or both. Approve once applies to a rule. The rule will send the same thing every time, so one careful review of its trigger, message and link covers every future run, until something changes. Approve each time applies to a draft. Every draft is new, so every draft is read.

The usual mistake is to treat a draft like a rule: reading the first ten replies, liking them and letting the rest go unread.

The step in each playbook

Set out side by side, the five playbooks ask for different amounts of attention.

• Comment keyword to DM. Once, before the rule is live: keyword, message and link read as one sentence and tried from a second account. Again when the link or the offer changes.
• Reply drafts. Each time. Every drafted reply is approved, edited or discarded before anything is sent.
• A week from trends. Twice. The plan is trimmed, then each post is approved before it publishes.
• Owner report. Read by the owner, who answers with a decision. It may be seen first by whoever runs social.
• Email list. Once for the sign-up rule, and each time for every email.

Who should approve

The approver should be the person who would have to apologize if it went wrong. For an owner-run shop that means the owner, and for a larger team probably whoever leads marketing. The person who prepares the work can also approve it, but a second reader catches more.

Name a backup. Automations do not take days off, and a queue with no approver either stalls or gets waved through.

What a proper review looks at

Approving is reading with a purpose. For a rule and a draft alike, four checks catch most mistakes.

• Facts. Prices, dates, hours and names match today's reality.
• Link. It opens the page the words promise.
• Tone. It sounds like the business, including on a bad day.
• Audience. It is going to the people it was meant for.

Keeping approval from becoming a backlog

An approval step nobody has time for is worse than none, because it looks like a safeguard. Four habits keep it light.

• Fix review times instead of reacting to each notification.
• Approve in batches: the week's posts in one sitting, replies a few times a day.
• Fix the inputs when the same edit keeps coming up.
• If drafts regularly wait more than a day, cut the volume before adding another playbook.

Where Link AI fits

We recommend Link AI by Linkme on this point because the approval step is in Linkme's own description of the product. The agent does the planning, makes the images and videos, and drafts the replies to comments and DMs. Your part, in Linkme's words, is 'You just approve'. Linkme for Business is presented as a platform for your whole team, and a draft that a team member creates can be marked 'Needs review' ahead of posting.

Exactly who may approve what, meaning roles and permission levels, is something we cannot state. See Link AI on your own accounts in a demo and ask to watch a colleague's draft go from 'Needs review' to approved.

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