A social post can be written, approved and still never reach its audience. The gap often appears at handoff: one person thinks the caption is final, another is waiting for an image, and the planned date is mistaken for a confirmed publishing time.
Shane’s Social Desk gives you a local workspace for organizing that preparation. Its current version saves posts in your browser, tracks four workflow statuses and exports a CSV. A clear review routine helps you use those features without confusing a planning record with a completed post.
Decide what each status means
The tool offers Draft, Needs review, Approved and Published. Agree on a practical meaning for each before working through a batch:
- Draft: The caption or supporting information still needs work.
- Needs review: The record is ready for someone to check, but should not be treated as cleared for publication.
- Approved: The designated reviewer has approved the exact copy and assets that will be used.
- Published: Someone has checked the actual post on the destination platform.
These are suggested working definitions. Social Desk stores the label you select; it does not check a platform, ask a reviewer for approval or send a notification. If another person needs to review a post, arrange that conversation through your usual channel.
The Next status button advances through the four labels and then loops from Published back to Draft. Click deliberately and check the resulting label. There is no separate confirmation step that proves a post has gone live.
Create a record that can survive handoff
Use the Campaign field to group related posts under a consistent name. Add a planned date and platform, then write the caption as you intend it to appear. The form also has fields for an asset URL, a post link after publication and notes.
Keep the asset URL specific enough that the publisher can identify the right image or video. Check access separately: putting a link into the planner does not grant a teammate permission to open that file.
Use Notes for a short instruction or review reference, such as “Use the approved square image” or “Review recorded in the campaign thread.” Avoid storing passwords, customer details or other information that does not belong in a planning export.
For a fictional workshop campaign, a useful record might say: Instagram, Friday’s planned date, Needs review, “November workshop,” the final caption, and a link to the approved artwork. That is clearer than a caption alone, because the next person can see what the post is for and what remains to be decided.
Review the complete post, not just the caption
Work through a short checklist before moving an item to Approved:
- Purpose: Does the post explain an offer, answer a question or invite a clear next step?
- Accuracy: Are names, dates, prices and claims correct for this specific post?
- Destination: Do any links lead to the intended page, and is that page ready?
- Assets: Is the linked image or video the right version, and can the publisher access it?
- Context: Does the wording make sense on the selected platform and alongside the other posts in the campaign?
The current calendar cards show the caption, campaign, date, status and notes. Asset and post URLs are included in the CSV export, so review that export when checking those fields.
There is no general edit control on an existing card in the current version. If a saved record needs correction, first export a copy for reference, then save a corrected replacement and carefully remove the obsolete record. Avoid leaving both versions in the working calendar where they could be mistaken for two separate posts.
Know what the export contains
Export posts CSV creates a file named social-calendar.csv with eight columns: date, platform, status, campaign, copy, asset, url and notes.
The platform filter changes the cards you see, but the export still includes all saved posts. If you filter the calendar to Instagram, do not assume the resulting CSV contains only Instagram records. Open the file and check its contents before sharing it.
For a focused handoff, make a copy of the export and remove unrelated rows in a spreadsheet. Keep the original intact for your own reference. Before sending the smaller file, check that it includes only the intended campaign and that notes or links do not expose information the recipient does not need.
Keep publishing confirmation separate
Social Desk does not publish or schedule posts to social networks. Carry out that step in the relevant platform or a publishing service you already use, and verify the result there.
Only then mark the planning record Published. Keep the live post URL in your publishing record or exported sheet so someone can verify it later. The tool has no platform analytics connection, so review reach, engagement or other results using the destination platform’s reporting.
Finish with a copy you control
Posts are saved locally in the browser where you entered them. Do not assume they will appear on another device or another person’s computer. Export at a useful checkpoint, such as after review or at the end of a publishing session, and store that file somewhere appropriate for your team.
The current interface does not offer CSV import, so an export is a readable reference rather than a one-click restore mechanism. That makes careful file handling worthwhile, especially before changing browsers or clearing stored site data.
Start with one campaign and a few posts. Make each status meaningful, review the full export, and confirm publication outside the planner. Open Shane’s Social Desk to organize the next handoff.