Content Approval Workflow

Use this workflow when posts cannot safely move from draft to schedule without a second person reviewing brand voice, destination, media, claims, or client requirements.

The goal is not to slow the team down. The goal is to make the correct next step obvious: who reviews, what they check, what happens when they reject, and when an owner can override.

Tier 1 checks grammar, brand voice, creative fit, platform formatting, links, hashtags, and media. This is the daily review layer for most posts.

Tier 2 checks campaign context, client requirements, legal sensitivity, regulated claims, crisis risk, and final readiness. Use it for client-sensitive or high-stakes posts.

Tier 3 is reserved for sensitive posts: legal, refunds, public incidents, security, executive statements, politics, medical claims, financial claims, or anything that could become public evidence.

Every rejection needs a reason, owner, and next step. Vague feedback slows the queue and creates repeated mistakes.

A useful rejection says what must change, whether a new approval is required, and whether the original schedule still applies. Keep the rejected version visible so the team can compare what changed.

Allow trusted owners to override when the business requires speed, but require a reason and keep the override in the audit log.

Emergency publish should be rare. The override record should include who approved the override, why speed mattered, what checks were skipped, and whether follow-up review is required.

Set a review SLA for each brand. For example: standard posts need review within 24 hours, campaign posts within 8 hours, and urgent operational updates within 60 minutes.

Assign backup approvers before launch week. If one person is unavailable, the queue should not stall or silently auto-approve content without a visible rule.

The approval trail should show draft creation, edits, comments, rejection reasons, approval decision, override reason, schedule time, publish attempt, final status, and proof record.

If approvals happen outside the publishing system, copy the final decision into the post history before scheduling. Otherwise the team will lose context when a client asks what changed.

Keep internal notes separate from client-visible notes. Internal notes can discuss risk, pricing, staffing, or operational concerns. Client-visible notes should stay focused on content, timing, campaign fit, and requested changes.

Use one decision source. A post should not be approved in email, rejected in Slack, and revised in a spreadsheet without one final recorded state in the publishing workflow.