Prepared with AI assistance and reviewed against our product and the sources below. Examples are illustrative, not customer results.
Audit readiness, not whether the client will like it
Before asking a client to approve social posts, check whether each draft is complete, fits the brief and has a defensible factual basis. The client should be making decisions, not discovering missing links or guessing which offer a caption describes. A short readiness audit separates internal fixes from questions only the client can answer.
The scorecard below is an original editorial worksheet. Its thresholds are a suggested operating rule, not a validated industry standard or a prediction of approval rates. Use it consistently, then adjust it based on the types of mistakes your own batches contain.
Score three areas and keep a separate blocker flag
Give each draft zero, one or two points in each area. A total helps you find unfinished work, but cannot override a serious blocker. For example, a persuasive caption with an unconfirmed sale price is still not ready for final approval.
- Completeness: 0 means essential copy or a destination is missing; 1 means the draft is readable but a required detail is unresolved; 2 means every field required by this brief is complete.
- Brief fit: 0 means the draft conflicts with the goal or audience; 1 means the connection is plausible but vague; 2 means you can identify its purpose and explain the choice.
- Factual readiness: 0 means a material claim has no source; 1 means a source exists but confirmation is still needed; 2 means factual statements match the client-approved source, or the draft contains no factual claims needing confirmation.
- Blocker: mark yes for any unresolved detail that would make approval misleading, including the wrong destination, an unknown price or missing permission for a named quotation.
Copy the ten-draft preflight sheet
Use stable draft labels rather than row positions that change when you sort a spreadsheet. Add a source reference that someone else can locate, such as a dated client brief or the approved offer document. Do not paste confidential source material into public examples.
Worksheet or example — select and copy
BATCH: __________ REVIEWER: __________ CHECKED: __________ Scores: C = completeness / B = brief fit / F = factual readiness, each 0-2 ID | C | B | F | Blocker? | Evidence or open question | Next owner D01 | | | | | | D02 | | | | | | D03 | | | | | | D04 | | | | | | D05 | | | | | | D06 | | | | | | D07 | | | | | | D08 | | | | | | D09 | | | | | | D10 | | | | | | Suggested gate: 6/6 and no blocker = ready for final review. Anything else = fix internally or ask a clearly labelled factual question. Do not describe a provisional factual question as a request for final approval.
A fictional audit with two different failure types
Imagine a fictional batch for Willow Workshop. D01-D06 and D09-D10 each score 2/2/2 with no blockers. D07 says “Book a Saturday workshop” but leads to a general homepage with no booking instructions. It scores 1/2/2: the intended action is incomplete. Rowan, the manager, owns the fix.
D08 describes “our first-ever evening session.” The brief confirms the session but says nothing about whether it is the first. It scores 2/2/0 and has a blocker. Mira, the client, must confirm the statement or Rowan must remove it. An attractive sentence is not a source.
The batch has eight ready drafts and two needing work. Its numerical total is 57 out of 60, but that high total does not make D08 publishable. Review readiness belongs to individual drafts. Send the eight ready items if that helps the client, clearly identify the two outstanding items and avoid calling the entire batch finished.
Finish with a batch-level check
A draft can pass individually while the batch still fails as a whole. Read the first sentence and call to action of every draft in order. Look for repeated promises, conflicting dates, inconsistent product names and ten posts asking for the same thing when the brief calls for a mix.
Check that references to images or videos make sense with the separate asset plan. This worksheet does not prove that a visual is approved or that a link remains correct forever. Record when you checked destinations and repeat the important checks at handoff if the campaign details can change.
Send the client decisions, not your unfinished housekeeping
Once a draft clears the preflight, state the specific client decision still required. If you need a factual answer first, ask that question directly and keep final approval pending. Preserve the question next to the draft rather than burying it in an unrelated chat.
Keep this internal scorecard outside the client review if it adds noise. PostRoom can hold the ready text and its review decision; the scorecard is a separate preparation tool. After a few batches, review which internal issues escaped the audit and improve one criterion at a time.