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Planable is the best client-facing social media tool we've ever used and we've used a lot.
A social media scheduler is a powerful time-saving tool that helps marketing teams stay consistent, organized, and efficient. By automating post scheduling, teams free up time to focus on what truly matters: crafting creative strategies that engage and grow their...
Nov 11, 2025
I’ve been in social marketing for 5+ years now. I started Grad Girl Marketing back in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and grew it to 400K+ members. I partnered with 70+ brands, including Adobe, Kate Spades, Bright Network, and others.
And if there’s one thing that slows social projects down, I know it’s not the creative process.
It’s communication.
Every campaign starts with good intentions, excitement, and enthusiasm. But somewhere between drafts, reviews, and approvals, things start to break down.
Comments get lost, feedback conflicts, deadlines drift. You waste hours trying to piece everything together. Clients start to lose trust because the process feels disorganized. This turns into lost margins and opportunities.
The problem usually comes down to poorly communicated processes, roles, and boundaries.
I’ve been there, and that’s exactly why I built the social media client communication kit. These tips, scripts, and templates helped me organize how I communicate with clients, and they’ll help you do the same. Grab the kit for free and make your client communication more productive. 👇
As for the tech side of collecting feedback in one place and keeping everyone aligned, the solution is already here, thanks to Planable’s guest view links. Clients can see posts, leave comments, and approve content, all in one place, no login required. This makes communication so much easier.
Before we dive into my tips for agencies and in-house teams, let’s talk about why I believe using guest view links can truly change your client communication for good.
Without a centralized content collaboration, client communication is chaotic. Feedback is scattered in email threads. Approvals hide in Slack messages. Everything is everywhere, except for where it needs to be.
And it always gets messiest at the start. When you’re trying to impress during onboarding, and your client is still deciding if you’re worth the trust.
So, asking them to create an account in a tool they’ve never used before? You can feel the hesitation through the screen. And no, that’s not because clients are trying to be difficult; they’re just overwhelmed.
That’s why I love that Planable solved this with something so simple: A link. That’s it.
With guest view links, I can:
✅ Share content, campaigns, or calendars without forcing logins.
✅ Collect feedback in one place, not in email threads.
✅ Keep control of my workflow, without juggling five file versions.
No logins. Clients just click → see → comment → approve. Done.
Hassle-free client feedback in one place. Review, comment, and approve content without logins or friction.
It works so well because I can shape it around every project:
But features will only take you halfway. The successful client relationship is all about your communication approach, from day 1. Here’s mine (straight from my agency days):
When I first started managing clients, I’d jump straight into explaining tools, timelines, and dashboards. Everything at once.
But clients didn’t care about tools. They cared about clarity. They wanted to know how we’d work together, not where to click.
Once I shifted my focus to preparation and communication, everything changed.
Before the kickoff call, I send a tiny homework checklist. Just the essentials, to get organized and avoid 12 follow-up emails.
I ask for:
Client onboarding prep and what to ask before you begin
Make it short and simple. The less homework feels like homework, the better.
Nothing loses a client faster than a 10-minute tour of buttons. When you lead with tools, clients feel like they need to learn software just to review posts.
Start with how collaboration will work. Explain the process, not platforms. And once they see how easy it is to collaborate, the tool will become a bonus, not a barrier.
Here are my 5 rules for kick-off that I always follow:
Map how content moves from brief → draft → approval → live
Skip the feature tour and focus on what happens next and what you need from them
“You’ll get a guest view link” sounds better than “You’ll receive access to the workspace”
I recommend 24–48 hours for feedback. It keeps things moving without pressure.
Tell clients the system’s designed to save their time, not steal it, and keep feedback visual and centralized.
Keep it simple. Your goal is calm confidence, not feature overwhelm.
My experience shows that fifteen minutes is enough to align on expectations, explain how you’ll share content, discuss feedback, and clarify next steps.
Here’s the preview of the framework I always use:
Minutes 1–3: Set context
Minutes 4-8: Workflow walkthrough
Minutes 9-12: Feedback ground rules
Minutes 13–15: Confirm next steps
Download the free communication kit to get the expanded version of the kick-off call framework and follow-up email template.
One of the biggest lessons I learned after working with 70+ brands is this:
You can’t change a client’s personality, but you can change how you collaborate with them.
Every client has a collaboration mindset. Spotting it early saves hours of emotional labor and prevents you from rewriting the same caption several times because “it doesn’t feel like us yet.”
I pay attention to patterns during the first 2-3 reviews. And once I know their type, I adjust my approach.
The Overthinker
The Micromanager
The Ghoster
The Committee
The Optimizer
This applies to in-house stakeholders too. They are your internal ‘clients’ and often fit these types.
Common client personalities I’ve met in my social media journey
Once I understand who I’m working with, the next step is to understand how ready they are to collaborate smoothly. That’s where my red-yellow-green flag system comes in.
I always take 10 minutes to score every new client.
Green flags (smooth sailing): clear goals, single approver, respects deadlines, open to process.
Yellow flags (potential turbulence): lots of questions, chaotic comms, but the intentions are good.
Red flags (brace yourself): vague briefs, too many approvers, scattered and unclear feedback.
Want to know which type you’re working with? Grab the client communication kit with my quick test for client personalities and a scorecard to rate your clients from red to green.
Here’s how I adjust my workflow based on the flags:
I once worked with a brand in the beauty space. Great product. Great mission. Intense feedback energy. Every version of a post led to one more idea, two more captions, and going back to the first version at the end. And the problem was that all that feedback came through email, Instagram DMs, and a random Google Doc.
I was spending more time tracking those than creating content. One night, I realized I’d spent three hours chasing “final comments.” That’s when I knew something had to change.
So, I decided to start using guest view links with this client, and guess what? Life changed.
Here’s the approach I have used ever since to convert my clients into my workflow with Planable:
Step 1: Start with visibility, not complexity
I start small: one post view link. No login or “create account.” They just clicked the link, saw the post exactly as it would look live, and left their thoughts right there.
It’s fast, frictionless, and makes me look organized from day one.
Step 2: Expand visibility gradually
Once they feel comfortable with single posts, I step it up:
They get the big picture without having to learn a new tool. Moreover, when clients see everything in one place, the overthinking slows down.
Step 3: Maintain control
This is my favorite part. Clients only see what I choose to show.
I decide:
We keep everything transparent while keeping boundaries.
Once my client experienced that clarity and control, they started asking for more. That’s when I knew they were ready to step inside the tool.
Here’s my zero-pressure transition plan:
Phase 1: Guest-only mode
During the first 2–3 weeks, use guest view links only. Let clients experience the workflow with zero friction.
Phase 2: Light participation
When they start saying, “This is actually really easy,” that’s your cue. Invite one person (usually the key decision-maker) into Planable to track content directly, give fast one-click approvals, and start getting automatic email reminders.
Phase 3: Full collaboration
Once they naturally start saying, “Can I also see next week’s content?” or “Can you invite my marketing manager as well?”, that’s your moment of full transition. Now they’re asking for more access because they’ve already experienced the value and visibility without friction.
Client collaboration key phases
The goal isn’t to force clients into your process. It’s to make your process so effortless that they want to stay in it.
All this still lives by how you communicate it. That’s why I always keep a few go-to email scripts ready. I’ve packed five practical email templates inside the free client communication kit for you:
Asking the right questions can prevent misalignment three months in, reveal blind spots, and set expectations before they turn into problems. My experience in marketing shows that these five questions and must-ask:
I once had a client who was obsessed with comments. Another? Only cared about link clicks. Another? Tracked shares. Everyone says they want “engagement,” but no one means the same thing.
Until you ask this question, you might be serving the wrong goal without even knowing it. Define it early.
Politics, religion, and controversial social issues. Every brand has boundaries. I document them and make sure these aren’t touched.
Some brands want safe visuals + safe copy + zero surprises.
Others want bold hooks + unapologetic personality + strong POV.
Risk tolerance determines tone, visuals, humor, and trend participation. If you don’t ask this early, you end up stuck in the “I love it… but my boss won’t approve it” loop.
Clients say words like: fun, authentic, playful, etc. Yet everyone defines those differently. One brand’s “playful” is sparkle GIFs. Another’s “playful” is humor.
Ask for examples because they turn vague adjectives into actual creative direction.
Some clients want to see every draft. Others just want to sign off on the final. Either way, I tailor the workflow: if they want light visibility, I share posts through guest view links. If they want deep collaboration, I invite them into the Planable workspace.
Everything I’ve shared so far is based on my experience working with agency clients. But here’s the thing: those lessons apply just as much in-house.
Because if you think about it, your stakeholders are your internal clients. They have opinions, deadlines, and feedback cycles too. So, the same principles of clarity, visibility, and boundaries still win.
Combine them with the following strategies and habits to make collaboration even smoother inside your company walls.
When your content involves multiple departments, keeping everyone updated can quickly turn into full-time chaos management. That’s why I love using guest view links.
I know I repeat myself, but there’s nothing I can do about this. When it works, it works. They let you share exactly what each person needs to see, and nothing else.
Here’s how I recommend sharing your content with different stakeholders:
This way, every group gets clarity, while you stay in control.
There’s a fine line between keeping stakeholders informed and inviting them to redesign your social calendar.
Early in my marketing career, I was giving everyone full visibility. Guess what happened? Too many opinions. Conflicting feedback. Six versions of the final.
Now I know that visibility doesn’t always equal effective collaboration.
Here’s how I keep the balance now:
✅ Do’s
🚫 Don’ts
There’s one particular don’t that I want to dive deeper into: over-onboarding. It’s a real thing. If your marketing director has to sit through a tool walkthrough just to glance at a calendar, you’ve already lost them. They want visibility, not training.
Another thing is too much visibility. When every idea is pre-approved by ten people, teams stop creative experimenting and start second-guessing.
You can prevent that with structure and transparency:
This way, stakeholders stay informed without being intrusive. And your content team keeps ownership of the creative process without feeling micromanaged.
Every workflow needs etiquette. Because when multiple teams, departments, and stakeholders get involved, the smallest process cracks can turn into major slowdowns. A simple etiquette system keeps everything moving.
Here’s my checklist for every campaign:
Clear roles
Expected response times
Mutual accountability
Version control
Tone and clarity in feedback
Feedback boundaries
I’ve put together a full etiquette playbook for you. Find it in the free kit.
Everything in this free kit is designed for agencies and in-house teams to remove friction, speed up approvals, and help keep things organized:
Use them as-is or tweak to match your tone, clients, and situation.
The strongest agencies and brand teams win because they collaborate better, not because they post more often. And every smooth campaign, every on-time launch, every happy client comes down to one thing: clarity.
But the problem is that most social management tools are built for features rather than clarity and collaboration with clients or teams. Planable is different. They built a simple solution that solves the complex problem: guest view links.
They strip away the noise and make collaboration feel organized without endless email threads, logins, or barriers. Now me and my clients have a clean, simple way to see content, comment on it, and move forward together.
So if you’re ready to make client collaboration smoother, share your next campaign with a guest view link and use the tips and templates I’ve packed in the client communication kit. Try Planable for free and see how guest view links work in your workflow.
I started Grad Girl Marketing in 2020 to build the go-to global community for marketers who love what they do. Every Monday I drop my top 5 campaigns, host buzzing London networking events, collaborate with brands on killer content, and share daily career + marketing insights across socials. Let’s make marketing more human (and a lot more fun).
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