What does Bernard do about my social posts?
Posting well means writing three different versions of the same idea, one for Instagram, one for LinkedIn and one for Facebook, and then remembering to post them. Bernard carries the drafting and the remembering. You do the posting, in your own app, the way you do now.
The prompt
“Look at the Share entries on my calendar for the next two weeks and tell me which ones would make good posts for [Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook].”
Signed in, Get my prompt fills in your site for you. Otherwise press Copy and fill in the [bracketed] parts. First time? Connect your AI to bernard once: Use your own AI (opens in a new tab).
Making the posts
Posts start from a Share entry on your calendar (What is Bernard’s calendar of work?). Open the entry, tick the networks you want, and press Make the posts. Bernard drafts a separate post for each network from the idea, in your voice, and picks photos from your media library. He only uses photos that are already there.
- Instagram gets a caption and a photo. Instagram needs a photo, so when there is no photo that fits, Bernard leaves Instagram out and says so.
- LinkedIn and Facebook get their own words, with a link to your site on the last line. The link carries tracking tags, so your visitor numbers can show which network sent people.
The calendar is part of Nautilus Medium, so making posts is too.
Scheduling them
Read each post. The card shows every network, the photos, the exact words, and the day and time with your time zone. Pick the day and time, then press Schedule. Schedule is your approval: nothing leaves Bernard.
Bernard keeps to a limit on how many posts go on one network in a day (one, to start with). If the day you pick is already full for a network, he asks you to pick another day.
If a post changes after you schedule it, it needs Schedule again.
When a post is due
At the time you chose, Bernard emails you once and your calendar shows the entry as Ready to post. That is the only reminder. The post stays on your calendar until you post it, skip it or move it.
Open the entry and follow the card for each network:
- Copy the words. The button changes to Copied. If your browser will not copy, select the words and copy them yourself.
- Share the photo on a phone, and pick the network on the share sheet. On a laptop, or where a phone cannot pass the photo on, the photo opens for you to save. Or press Open to go to the network’s own page.
- Paste the words, check the post, and press the network’s own Post button.
Then tell Bernard what happened:
- It’s live, with the link to the post if you have it;
- Not yet, and the post stays ready for another try;
- Reschedule, to move it to a new time (which is a fresh approval);
- Skip, and nothing is posted on that network.
When every post is live, the entry says posted. When some are live and others were skipped, it says partly posted.
Who can do this
Account owners can make, schedule and confirm posts. If you named someone to approve Social for your site, that person does it instead. Anyone who manages the site can see the posts and use the copy and share buttons.
What never happens
Bernard never uses your password, never logs in as you, and never posts on his own, at any setting. What will Bernard never do without asking me first? lists what stays with you, and How Bernard looks after things for me explains the settings.
Questions people ask
- Does Bernard post to Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook for me?
- No. You post each one yourself, in the network’s own app, as you do today. Bernard drafts the posts, reminds you when they are due, and hands you the words and the photo so posting takes a minute. Nothing goes out without your own tap on the network’s Post button.
- Does Bernard log in to my social accounts?
- No, never, at any setting. Bernard does not ask for your password, does not keep a login and does not drive the website for you. The post leaves from your own phone or laptop.
- What does pressing Schedule do?
- Schedule is your approval of those exact posts at that time. At that time Bernard emails you once and marks the posts Ready to post on your calendar. If you change the words, the photo, the network or the time afterwards, the post needs Schedule again, so an old approval never covers new words.
- How does Bernard know a post is live?
- Because you tell him. After you post, tap It’s live, and paste the link to the post if you like. Opening the share sheet or the network is not proof that anything was posted, so Bernard never marks a post live on his own.
- Will Bernard post the same words everywhere?
- No. He drafts a separate post for each network you pick, because what reads well on Instagram rarely fits LinkedIn.
- Does my setting for Bernard change any of this?
- Not yet. Whatever your setting, Bernard prepares the posts and you approve and post them yourself. Posting on his own would need an approved connection to each network, and that does not exist yet.