Social media client onboarding checklist: access, setup and the first two weeks

The contract is signed and the client asks what you need from them. The answer should not be a list of passwords. Onboarding a client comes down to a short list of what they prepare for each network, one call where their accounts get connected without anyone sharing a login, a workspace set up for them alone, and a review routine agreed before the first post. The checklist at the end fits on one page.

Why not ask for passwords

Shared passwords cause trouble from the first day. The client's two-factor prompt lands on their phone while you try to sign in. Five people using one login means nobody can tell who posted what. When a freelancer leaves or the contract ends, every password they saw has to be changed.

You don't need them anyway. A scheduling tool connects through each network's own sign-in screen: the account holder signs in there and approves access, and the tool receives permission to publish, never the password. Publedia works this way on every network it supports.

What to ask the client to have ready

Send this before the call. Two items can take the client a while: finding someone who manages the Facebook Page, and switching a personal Instagram account to a professional one.

Ask for the two-factor phone or authenticator app to be at hand during the call. The guide to connecting accounts has the details for each network.

Run the connection call

Book 30 minutes. There are two ways to connect: the first works on every network, the second only where the network lets the client grant access to someone else.

The client connects from their own browser

Only workspace admins can connect channels, so the client joins the workspace as an admin for the call. That needs a free seat. Basic and Pro include one seat, which you already fill, so the client can join a workspace on Ultra (3 seats) or on the Business and Agency plans (see pricing). An invitation nobody has accepted yet already holds a seat.

1. A day or two before, open Settings, choose Members and select Invite member. Enter the client's email and choose the admin role. Invitations expire after 14 days, so don't send it weeks early.
2. The client accepts the invitation and signs in to Publedia as themselves.
3. On the call, the client opens Channels, selects Connect channel, picks a network and signs in on that network's own screen. They repeat this for each account while you watch the list fill with Connected.
4. When everything is connected, open Members, select Manage beside the client and lower their role to viewer, or remove them. The channels belong to the workspace, so they stay connected either way.

The workspaces and roles guide covers invitations and roles in full.

LinkedIn needs one extra agreement. LinkedIn access lasts 60 days, and renewing it takes a new sign-in by the same person. Reconnecting is also an admin step, so agree now that the founder will be made an admin again for a few minutes every two months.

Your team connects with access the client grants

Some networks let the client give someone on your team a role on the account. Facebook is the one this guide is sure about: Meta lets a Page owner give another person access from the Page's settings, and that person accepts by email. Your team member, as a workspace admin, then connects the Page with their own Facebook login. The client never joins Publedia and can take the access back on Facebook at any time. If the Page does not appear while connecting, check on Facebook that your team member's access lets them manage it.

Don't use this route for YouTube. YouTube's help says people added through channel permissions cannot use the YouTube APIs, which scheduling tools publish through, so the channel's owner signs in instead. On X, TikTok, Threads, Bluesky and LinkedIn, the account is one person's login, so the client connects it themselves.

Set up the client's workspace

Give every client a workspace of their own, named after them. It holds their channels, posts, files and members, so nothing of theirs shows up next to another client's, and each workspace has its own plan. Then:

1. Check the time zone. The time picker in the composer names the zone it schedules in. Look at it before the first post. If it is not the zone where the client's audience lives, convert the times you pick into that zone, so 9 a.m. in your plan is 9 a.m. for them.
2. Put accounts in channel groups if the client has several brands or regions. A whole group can then be picked in one click when you create a post.
3. Upload logos, approved photos and templates to Files.
4. Invite your team with the lowest role that works: editors for the people who write and schedule, viewers for anyone who only needs to look, admins only where someone has to manage channels or members.

Agree the review routine in the kickoff

Decide who does what before the first draft exists. Writers save posts as drafts. One named reviewer opens each draft and checks the preview for every network, since the X and LinkedIn versions can differ. Then agree who selects Schedule: the writer after approval, or the reviewer.

Be clear with the client about what the software enforces. In Publedia, a post written by hand has no approval state, and editors can schedule, so the review step is an agreement between people, backed by roles. A client with viewer access can read posts and the calendar but cannot change or schedule anything. Automated drafts are different: an automation can include an approval step, and the run waits under Waiting for approval in Automations until someone approves it.

The first two weeks

Start with a small batch, a week of posts or less, to test drafts, review, scheduling and publishing before a campaign depends on them.

After the first posts go out, check that every account on Channels still shows Connected, and open a post or two to see each channel's status. A failed post says which channel failed and why.

Note the date of every LinkedIn connection and set a reminder for eight weeks later. Publedia shows the channel as Expiring soon in the week before access ends, but that status on Channels is the only warning.

Agree what the monthly report will contain. Analytics (beta) shows engagement, top posts and the metrics each network reports for the workspace's channels. LinkedIn reports no metrics yet. Totals, the comparison between channels and CSV export are included from the Pro plan.

Onboarding checklist

• Pre-call list sent to the client.
• Workspace created and named after the client.
• Time zone in the time picker checked.
• Client invited as admin a day or two before the call, with a free seat.
• Every account showing Connected after the call.
• Client lowered to viewer or removed.
• Channel groups and brand assets in place.
• Team invited with the lowest role that works.
• Review routine agreed: drafts, a named reviewer, who schedules.
• First week's posts checked after publishing.
• LinkedIn renewal reminders set.
• Monthly report contents agreed.

When the contract ends, the same setup makes the handover short. The steps are in how agencies keep client accounts separate. To start the first workspace, see Publedia for agencies.