Publish social posts

Open Social in the main sidebar. It opens on the Calendar, where you write, schedule and follow every post. Connect the accounts you post to first — see Social accounts.

A post is written once and published to one or more accounts. Each account gets its own copy with its own status, so one platform refusing a post doesn't hold back the others.

Write a post

You can also start a post by clicking an empty posting time on the calendar, from an idea with Create post (see Social ideas), or with Duplicate on an existing post, which copies it into a new post without its time.

One caption, adjusted per account

The Shared tab holds the caption every account uses. To give one account different wording — for example, hashtags only on Instagram — open that account's tab and click Customize for followed by the account's name. That account then keeps its own caption, and later changes to the shared caption no longer reach it. Reset to shared drops the account's own caption and uses the shared one again.

Every account posts the same photos and video; only the caption and the account's options can differ.

Each account shows a counter against its platform's caption limit, measured the way that platform measures it: on TikTok an emoji usually counts as two, and on YouTube and Google Business Profile the limit is in bytes, so an accented letter counts as two and an emoji as four.

With the AI assistant add-on, Write with AI suggests three captions for the accounts you've chosen, based on the caption you've started. Choose one to use it, then edit it as you like, and review it before it's published. It shares the practice's AI allowance with AI assist in the Inbox.

Add photos and videos

A post takes up to 35 files: photos, or one video. No platform takes photos and a video in the same post.

Photos are converted to JPEG in your browser before they upload, and scaled down if needed to at most 1,440 pixels wide, 1,920 pixels tall and about 2 megapixels. One copy then suits every platform.

Videos upload as they are: MP4 or MOV files of up to 256 GB. Smileline doesn't convert or compress video, so export it in a form every platform accepts:

• MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio. LinkedIn takes MP4 only.
• The file's index (the "moov atom") at the start of the file. Video editors usually call this option "fast start" or "optimise for web". Instagram refuses a video without it.
• 1080p or smaller — 1,080 × 1,920 for vertical video. A 4K video is too wide for an Instagram reel.
• A fresh export rather than a clip trimmed on a phone. Trimming can leave "edit lists" in the file, which Instagram refuses.

Keep the composer open until every file has finished uploading.

A file belongs to the posts and ideas that use it. One that nothing uses is deleted 30 days after it was uploaded, and removing a file from the last post or idea using it deletes it within the hour.

Set each platform's options

Each account's options are on its tab.

Instagram

Choose how the post appears on Instagram:

• As a feed post: one photo, or 2 to 10 photos as a carousel. Photos must be between 4:5 (portrait) and 1.91:1 (landscape), so crop taller ones, such as full-screen phone photos, or post them as a story. A video can't be a feed post; post it as a reel.
• As a reel: one video, 3 seconds to 15 minutes long, up to 300 MB and 1,920 pixels wide. Sharing to the feed (on unless you turn it off) also shows the reel in the profile grid.
• As a story: one photo, or one video up to 60 seconds and 100 MB. Stories are posted without the caption.

An Instagram post always needs a photo or video. Captions take up to 2,200 characters, 30 hashtags and 20 @mentions.

TikTok

TikTok requires you to make these choices on every post and doesn't let apps like Smileline make them for you, so nothing is chosen in advance:

• Who can view the post, from the options your TikTok account offers.
• Whether people can comment, duet and stitch. A photo post offers comments only: duets and stitches are for videos. Each is off until you turn it on, and unavailable when the TikTok account has turned it off.
• Whether the post is commercial content: promoting your own practice, or a paid partnership (branded content). Branded content can't be private.
• Whether the post is AI-generated: tick This is AI-generated content when it is.
• Agreement to TikTok's Music Usage Confirmation, which every post needs.

The tab shows the TikTok account the post goes to and the longest video it can post. After publishing, TikTok can take a few minutes to process a post before it appears on the profile.

Smileline checks the TikTok account's settings again just before publishing. If they've changed so that your choices are no longer allowed — duets turned off, say, or a shorter maximum video length — the post stops with Needs attention. Open the post's details, click Edit on the TikTok account, update its options and click Save and publish again — or Duplicate the post with a shorter video.

A TikTok post needs photos or a video: up to 35 photos, or one video of up to 4 GB and 360 to 4,096 pixels on each side.

YouTube

Give each YouTube video:

• a title — required, up to 100 characters;
• its privacy — public, unlisted or private;
• whether it's made for kids, which YouTube requires you to state.

The caption becomes the video's description. YouTube doesn't accept < or > in the title or the description. A YouTube post is exactly one video.

Google Business Profile

A Google post is an update on the location's Business Profile. It can have one photo; Google doesn't accept video posts from apps. The caption is required.

You can add a call-to-action button, such as book, learn more or call. Every button except call needs an https:// link; call uses the phone number on the Business Profile.

Google reviews posts before showing them. The account shows Publishing until Google approves the post, or Failed with Google's reason if Google rejects it.

Facebook and LinkedIn

Facebook and LinkedIn have no options. Both take text on its own. Facebook also takes up to 10 photos or one video; LinkedIn posts to the company page and takes up to 20 photos or one MP4 video.

Publish, schedule or save

When you edit a post that already has a time, Save keeps that time. Move to drafts takes the post off the schedule until you give it a time again.

Scheduling, queueing or publishing checks every chosen account against its platform's rules (Platform limits). If an account can't publish the post as it stands, nothing is scheduled and the composer lists what to fix under Before it can go out, just above the buttons — a missing photo for Instagram or a missing YouTube title, for example. Click a line to open that account's tab. Each account must also be connected and allowed to publish: an account showing Reconnect needed, or Reconnect to enable on Publish, can't be scheduled until it's fixed — see When an account needs reconnecting.

Pick a time

Click Schedule… to pick the time; the timezone is shown under it. Times are in the Practice timezone set under Settings → Practice details, not your device's clock. Pick any time that hasn't passed; there's no limit on how far ahead. On the day the clocks go forward, a time that doesn't exist is refused. When the clocks go back, a time that happens twice means the first one.

Publishing starts within a minute of the post's time.

Posting times and the queue

Posting times are the practice's regular weekly times for posts, such as Tuesday at 09:00 and Friday at 17:30. Owners and managers set them with Posting times at the top of the calendar.

Add to queue schedules the post at the earliest future posting time that no other post has. The queue only avoids times that are taken: a post you schedule yourself can still share a time with another. Without posting times, Add to queue is unavailable; hover over it to see why.

• Changing the posting times doesn't move posts that are already scheduled.
• Changing the practice timezone keeps scheduled posts at the same moment; later queue picks use the new timezone.
• On the day the clocks go forward, a posting time that doesn't exist is skipped. When the clocks go back, a posting time that happens twice is used once, at the first.

Plan on the calendar

• The bar at the top shows the month or week you're looking at, with arrows to move back and forward and Today to jump back. On the right are Month, Week and List, the account filter, Drafts (with the number of drafts), Posting times and New post. Phones show the list.
• Filter the calendar to one account with the filter next to the view buttons to see only its posts.
• Each card shows its post's first photo or video (with a play mark), so you can tell posts apart at a glance. Posts published directly on a platform show a copy of their preview image, which Smileline saves shortly after it imports the post, so it keeps showing even after the platform's own link expires. Until it's saved — or if the post has no image — the card shows a mark for what the post contains (photo, video, album or link). If a preview can't be copied, hovering over the mark says so, and Smileline tries again every day. Once a platform confirms a post was deleted, Smileline deletes its copy too.
• Empty posting times that are still ahead show as dashed slots. Click one to write a post for that time.
• Drag a scheduled post to another day in Month to move it there at the same time of day, or onto another hour in Week to change the hour too (the minutes stay). All its accounts move together. A post that has started publishing can't be moved, and a move into the past, or onto a time the clocks skip, is refused. If a teammate changed the post first, your move isn't applied and the calendar reloads with their version.
• Drafts lists the posts that have no time yet, most recently edited first. Drag a draft onto a day to schedule it at 09:00 (or the next full hour, today), or onto an hour in Week to schedule it at that hour.
• Without dragging — from the keyboard, for example — press Enter on a post or a draft to open it, choose Edit and change its time. Screen readers announce this on each card.
• Posts published directly on a platform, not from Smileline, appear on the calendar too once Insights has imported them. They're shown for reference: you can't edit, move or delete them from Smileline. One the platform confirms was deleted shows Removed.
• New posts, moves and status changes, including your teammates', appear without reloading the page.

Click a post to open its details: each account's status, the platform's reason when something went wrong, a link to the live post, and the actions described below.

Follow each account's status

Each card on the calendar is one account's copy of a post, with that account's status. In Month and Week the status is a coloured dot — hover over it to see the word; List view spells it out. A post's details show its overall status and every account's own: a post that went live on some accounts but not others shows as partly published.

A published account's copy shows Removed once the platform confirms the post was deleted there — see Removed posts.

Why a post is still publishing

A post that is publishing is always waiting for something, and continues on its own:

Retry a failed or paused account

Retry publishes that account's copy again within a minute. If an earlier attempt may have reached the platform, Smileline checks the platform first, so a retry never posts twice.

Before retrying, you can edit that account's caption and options — to shorten a caption the platform refused, for example. The post's shared caption and files can't change once any account has started publishing; to post different files, Duplicate the post. An account can't be edited while its post may already be on the platform — its last attempt may have reached it, or the platform is still processing the post — until a retry has checked the platform.

An account stops with Needs attention when:

• it needs reconnecting, or its connection doesn't allow publishing — see Paused posts after a reconnect;
• the practice's subscription doesn't allow publishing right now;
• publishing made no progress after repeated tries, or stopped after five attempts;
• the platform was still processing the post after about 30 hours;
• the TikTok account's settings changed (see TikTok).

A post whose time came while the practice's subscription was paused isn't published late on its own: it shows Failed, and Retry publishes it now. See What happens after renewal.

Resolve an unknown outcome

Now and then Smileline sends a post but can't confirm that the platform published it. Smileline never sends it again on its own, so it can't appear twice; the account shows Check the platform instead. Look for the post on the platform, then click Resolve:

• If the post is there, mark it as published, adding its link if you like.
• If it isn't, dismiss it. That account's copy is closed; to post it after all, Duplicate the post.

Paused posts after a reconnect

While an account needs reconnecting, or after it's been removed, its posts don't publish when their time comes: they pause and show Needs attention. A post that was publishing when its account was reconnected pauses too.

Reconnecting never publishes paused posts by itself, however long ago they were due, so an old post never goes out unexpectedly. Once the account is connected again, the Accounts page and the calendar show how many of its posts are paused, for example "3 posts to Smile Dental were paused while it was disconnected", with two choices:

• Publish now publishes all of that account's paused posts straight away.
• Review shows them so you can publish, edit or delete each one.

Edit, duplicate and delete posts

• Edit a draft or scheduled post until publishing starts on any of its accounts. If a teammate saved a change after you opened the post, yours isn't saved: check their version and try again.
• Duplicate copies a post into a new post without its time. On the copy you make TikTok's choices again: who can see it, what people can do, and the Music Usage Confirmation.
• Delete removes a draft, a scheduled post, or a post whose accounts all failed or paused. A post can't be deleted while any account is publishing, is published or shows Check the platform (resolve that account first), or while an account's post may already be on the platform (Retry it first so Smileline can check). Deleting a post lets go of its files.

Platform limits

Smileline checks these limits when you schedule or publish. The platform has the final say: a post it still refuses shows Failed with its reason.

A post has at most 35 files, and never photos and a video together. Where a limit is in bytes, most letters count as one, accented letters as two and emoji as four.

TikTok and YouTube before approval

Until TikTok and YouTube each approve Smileline, their posts are private whatever you choose: TikTok posts are visible only to the account itself, and YouTube videos are uploaded as private. A TikTok paid partnership can't be private, so it can't be posted until TikTok approves Smileline, and TikTok may refuse posts to a public TikTok account in the meantime. The Accounts page says when this applies — see Social accounts.

YouTube's daily upload quota

YouTube limits how many videos Smileline can upload each day, for all practices together, and each channel has its own daily upload limit too. When a limit is reached, videos wait and continue automatically after midnight Pacific time — 03:00 US Eastern time, and 08:00 UK time for most of the year. They don't fail, and you don't need to do anything.

Who can publish

• Owners, managers and front desk write, schedule, publish, retry, resolve and delete posts, and publish paused posts.
• Owners and managers set the posting times.
• Analysts see the calendar and every post's status but can't change anything.

See Who can do what. Creating, changing, publishing, retrying, resolving and deleting posts is recorded in the Activity log.