Social media approval workflow: clients approve posts from a link

A social media approval workflow rarely breaks on judgment. It breaks in the handoffs: the caption goes by email, the video in a text thread, and the “looks good” arrives in a message nobody can find on scheduling day. In HeyMark the post gets approved where it lives. You send the approval link to your client, or to whoever signs off at your company, and they approve from there, without you creating a user for them. Team comments, versions and the log of who did what stay on the same post. The link comes on every plan, Creator included.

How clients approve posts without an account

There are two ways to show the work to whoever approves it, and both come on every plan:

• The approval link. You send it and they sign off from there. You don’t create a user for them or teach them another tool.
• The calendar link. If they’d rather see the whole month, you create a link with the dates, time zone and permissions you choose. The time zone setting helps when your client is in another country.

You stay in control of the calendar link: when the relationship ends, you revoke it, and if it spread too far, you regenerate it and the old URL stops working.

Where changes live: comments, versions and history

Every post has a status, a date and an owner, and keeps the idea, the script and the caption together. The team comments and uploads versions on the post itself, so nobody asks which video is the final one. Team comments are private: they’re for discussing a change before the client sees it. The activity log shows who did what, and you see the month as a calendar or as a board by status.

If there are several of you, Company gives access by area: content, inbox or analytics. Your designer works on content and doesn’t need to read the client’s messages. Platform adds advanced roles.

A social media approval workflow for each team size

At any size, the workflow has three roles: someone prepares, someone reviews and someone approves before anything is scheduled. What changes is how many people fill each role and which plan you need.

If you freelance for three clients, Company fits too: it includes 3 brands, and Creator includes 1.

Here’s a typical week with any of those teams:

1. Every post starts with an owner and a date

   Create the post with the idea, script and caption, and assign an owner and a date. If you still plan in a spreadsheet, our content calendar template has Status and Approved by columns.

2. Internal review before anyone outside sees it

   The reviewer comments on the post and the owner uploads the new version. The client sees one version, not three.

3. The link goes to the client, with a deadline

   Send the approval link with a specific deadline, say 48 hours before the post goes out. Agree up front on what happens if the client doesn’t answer: the date moves or the post goes out as is.

4. Changes happen on the post

   If they ask for a change, it’s made on the post: a new version, and the history records who uploaded it. Nothing gets lost in a chat.

5. Schedule only what's approved

   With sign-off, you schedule from the same post to Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook or YouTube. Each network’s options are in schedule social media posts.

Check what’s pending from Claude or ChatGPT

HeyMark’s MCP server is free on every plan. Connected to Claude or ChatGPT, your assistant reads the calendar, the activity log and team comments, moves statuses, assigns people and creates calendar links, with your permissions. A Tuesday review can start like this:

Use HeyMark with the brand [brand name].

1. List the posts for the next [14] days that are still waiting for approval, with date, network, status and owner.
2. For each one, tell me the latest change and who made it, based on the activity log.
3. Prepare a calendar link for those dates for the client, in [Eastern] time. Before you create it, show me the dates, the time zone and the permissions.
Don't schedule or publish anything.

Creating the calendar link asks for your confirmation with a preview. Scheduling, on the other hand, runs directly, which is why the prompt leaves it out. In ChatGPT, actions like creating the link require developer mode. How to connect it: HeyMark in Claude.

Approvals in HeyMark, Metricool and per-seat suites

As of September 2026, the main difference is which plan approvals start on.

In HeyMark, the approval link comes on every plan. Creator costs $12 USD a month ($10 billed yearly) and Company $30 USD a month with 5 people included; each extra person is $10 a month.

In Metricool, team members and approvals start on Advanced, from $53 USD a month billed yearly ($67 month to month), with 15 brands. Starter includes neither. Its system lives inside the planner: you choose who reviews, that person approves or suggests edits, and once approved, posts go out on their own at the time you picked, according to its approval page.

For a small business with 1 brand and 3 people, that’s Advanced 15 on Metricool ($53 USD a month billed yearly or $67 month to month) against Company on HeyMark ($30 USD a month, or $25 billed yearly). With 12 brands and 4 people the math changes: Metricool Advanced is cheaper at list price, and we break it down in HeyMark for agencies. Hootsuite and Sprout Social charge per user: every person adds a license.

When another tool fits better

• Your approvals run through several stages in order. If a post goes to a team lead, then legal, then the client, and can’t go out without all three, a tool built for approvals goes deeper. Planable, for example, lets you require at least one approval before publishing from its Pro plan and chains multi-level approvals on Enterprise, with text annotations and suggested edits, according to its pricing page as of September 2026. It also handles approvals for content beyond social, like newsletters and blog posts.
• You need networks HeyMark doesn’t cover, or deeper analytics. HeyMark doesn’t publish to X, Pinterest, Threads, Bluesky or Google Business Profile; Metricool does. If your team already pays for Advanced for that, its approvals come included.

How to get started

1. Start the 14-day trial and connect your accounts. HeyMark pulls in what you’ve already published.
2. If there are several of you, open Company and invite the team with access by area.
3. Create the first post with an owner and a date, and let the team comment there.
4. Send your client the approval link, or the link to the month’s calendar.
5. Schedule only what has sign-off.