Social Media Checklist

Align themes to the editorial calendar and active campaigns in HubSpot or Asana. Note any product launches, earned-media pushes, or executive-amplification posts that require coordination with PR or PMM.

Specify format per platform: LinkedIn (carousel, single image, document), Instagram (reel, carousel, story), TikTok (vertical video), X (thread, single post). Don't cross-post the same 1:1 asset to every channel — each platform has its own aspect ratio and copy length.

Flag any influencer collaboration, affiliate post, or boosted creator content. FTC Endorsement Guides require disclosure (#ad at the top of post, or the platform's native Paid Partnership tag) — buried in 30 hashtags doesn't count.

Build the slots in Sprout Social, Hootsuite, Buffer, or Later. Confirm posting times match audience-active windows from last quarter's analytics — don't default to 9am EST for every channel.

Reference the messaging house and brand voice guide. Respect character limits: LinkedIn 3,000 chars (truncates at ~210), X 280, Instagram caption 2,200, TikTok 2,200. Run drafts through the house style guide before sending to design.

Use approved imagery from Bynder, Brandfolder, or Frontify. Confirm stock licenses cover social use; AI-generated imagery follows the current FTC guidance on disclosure where material.

WCAG 2.1 AA: descriptive alt text on every image, captions burned into video for sound-off viewing, sufficient color contrast on any text overlay. LinkedIn and X both support alt text natively — use it.

Capture approvals with a timestamped record — not a Slack DM. Any post that makes a material product claim, comparative claim, or quotes a customer testimonial needs substantiation on file per FTC and Lanham Act requirements.

Address each reviewer comment in writing before resubmitting. Reference the original approval thread so brand and legal can see what changed since the previous pass.

Source / medium / campaign must match the team's documented UTM standard so GA4 reports stay comparable. Use the shared link-builder; ad-hoc UTMs drift and break attribution within a quarter.

Confirm #ad or #sponsored appears at the top of the caption, and the platform-native Paid Partnership label is enabled where supported (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube). Affiliate links also require disclosure under FTC Endorsement Guides.

For boosted or programmatic placements, check the blocklist in DoubleVerify or IAS. News events that occurred since the calendar was locked may shift brand-suitability for adjacent content — review before any paid amplification goes live.

Check rendering on mobile and desktop preview. Watch for caption truncation, link unfurl images, and aspect-ratio crops on Instagram and LinkedIn. Confirm scheduled time matches the audience timezone, not the scheduler's default.

Watch the first 30 minutes after each post goes live to confirm rendering, link clicks, and pixel fires. Catch broken UTMs or wrong-image issues before the post accumulates impressions.

Hit the team's response SLA — typically under 2 hours during business hours for branded mentions. Route service questions to support via the Sprout or Khoros inbox; flag any potential PR issues to comms immediately.

Watch listening dashboards for sentiment shifts, viral negative threads, or coordinated trolling. The on-call comms lead owns the decision to pause scheduled posts during an active incident.

In the scheduler, pause the queue across all channels — don't just unpublish one post. Note the cancelled placements in the run log so the recovery plan can repost or revise after the incident clears.

Export reach, impressions, engagement rate, link clicks, and saves from each channel's native analytics. Pull conversions from GA4 by source/medium and reconcile with the UTM sheet — a 5x discrepancy usually means a mis-mapped event.

Flag posts that fell more than 30% below the trailing-90-day median for that format. Don't react to a single underperformer — look for patterns across format, theme, or posting time.