The Approval Workflow in StretchSocial

Overview

The Approvals tab is StretchSocial's governed review queue. Because live publishing is centrally controlled and human approval is always required, this is the step where a manager, client, or compliance reviewer signs off on content before it's scheduled or delivered. It's the difference between a plan and a green light.

What the Approvals tab shows

At the top, a stat strip summarizes the review workload:

• Waiting — posts needing review (pending, needs-approval, or in-review).
• Approved — posts ready for schedule or queue.
• Rejected — posts blocked from publishing.
• Scheduled — approvals that already have a date.

Below the strip, the Approval queue lists each post with its title, body preview, campaign, scheduled time, target networks, and two status chips — its approval status and its publish status. Rejected posts sort to the bottom; posts most urgently needing review sort to the top.

Review, approve, or reject

Each post in the queue has three actions:

1. Review — sends the post to in review, signalling that someone is actively evaluating it. Use this to claim a post before you dig into it.
2. Approve — marks the post approved. If it already has a scheduled time, approving also moves its publish status to scheduled, so an approved-and-dated post is ready to go.
3. Reject — you'll be asked to confirm; rejecting marks the post blocked and keeps it out of publishing until it's revised and re-approved.

Each action updates the post record immediately and the queue refreshes so the counts stay accurate.

How approval fits the lifecycle

Approval status and workflow status move together:

• Review → approval in_review, workflow in_review.
• Approve → approval approved, workflow approved (publish becomes scheduled if a date is set).
• Reject → approval rejected, workflow blocked.

Posts that are already published don't appear in the approval queue — this view is for content still on its way out.

Concrete example

Your agency needs client sign-off before anything posts for Brand A:

1. A writer creates three drafts in Compose and they land in Approvals as pending.
2. The account manager clicks Review on each to claim them, checks the captions and asset notes, and clicks Approve on two.
3. The third caption is off-brand, so the manager clicks Reject, confirms, and adds a note back to the writer via your normal channel.
4. The two approved posts, already dated for next week, now show scheduled and appear in the Calendar and Queue.

Tips

• Approve the day before you intend to schedule, so there's time to fix rejects.
• Use Review to avoid two reviewers working the same post at once.
• Reviewers should read the Asset notes — they carry the creative and client-approval context the caption alone doesn't.
• Keep the Waiting count low; a growing backlog delays your whole calendar.

Troubleshooting

• A post won't move out of Waiting. Make sure you clicked Approve (not just Review); Review only sets in review.
• An approved post isn't scheduled. Approval only sets scheduled if the post already has a date — add a schedule in the composer or Calendar.
• "You do not have access to this StretchSocial view yet." Approving and rejecting are write actions; ask your administrator for StretchSocial write access.

FAQ

Can I un-reject a post? Yes — open it in Compose, revise it, and send it back through review and approval.

Does approval publish the post? No. Approval clears it for scheduling and the queue; live delivery is still governed centrally.