In this article, learn how to create, schedule, and publish social posts through LocationHQ, use merge codes, and fine-tuning for posting to some specific providers.

Use this article for instructions on posting to Apple Showcase, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. For posting to Google, use the instructions in the article Publishing to Google. 

Before you can create, schedule, and publish posts from LocationHQ, you must have associated:

• Your social provider account credentials with your Chatmeter account. See Managing Third-party Credentials in the Settings section of the Chatmeter Support Center.
• Your users’ roles with the settings they need for the part they play in creating, approving, and publishing social posts. See Managing LocationHQ Users and Managing LocationHQ Roles (User Types) in the Settings section of the Chatmeter Support Center.

Creating a post

To create a post, follow the steps in these sections.

• Select the provider and page for your post
• Create the content for your post
• Add images and video to your post
• Schedule your post

Select the provider and page for your post

Follow these steps to select the provider and page for your post.

1. Login to your Chatmeter account in LocationHQ.
2. Select Social > Publish to display the Publish page.
3. Select Create Post and select the provider your post is to appear on.
   
4. On the Create Post page, in the Pages field, select the account pages you’d like to post to.
   

Create the content for your post

Once you’ve selected the provider and page for posting, you can either use AI Generator, which uses artificial intelligence to create your post, or cut and paste your content into the Message text field. You can also use merge codes to simplify managing the content in your post.  Find instructions in the following sections.

• Using AI Generator to create content for a post
• Creating a post with cut and paste
• Using merge codes in your posts

Note that on Twitter, your tweet (post) text is limited to 280 characters and on Instagram, you must have at least two characters of text.

Using AI Generator to create content for a post

Follow these instructions to use AI Generator. You can use AI Generator on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google What’s New.

1. In the Message pane, select AI Generator to display the Generate a Message dialog.
   
2. Select the Message Type you’d like to use. Options are:
   • Simple Post—Create a simple Social Media post
   • Product/Service—Create a message about your products and services
   • Event—Create a message that includes a date and time
3. Select the Message Style you’d like to use. Options are:
   • • None (simple)
     • Formal
     • Casual
     • Funny
4. Fill in some information about the post message. In this example, we selected an Event message type, so date and time are needed, in addition to a bit of information on what you want the post to be about.
   
5. Select Generate.
   
   

   If you don’t like the post that is generated, you can either edit it to your liking or select Generate again (as many times as you like) to find one that suits you. If you believe that the post is unacceptable or inappropriate, you can report it to us by selecting Report.
   
   In this case, we decided to add some hashtags and emojis before we’re done.

6. When you’re satisfied, select Add to see your post in the Preview field.
   
   

Continue to the section Add images and video to your post.

Creating a post with cut and paste

You can type or cut and paste the content of your post into the Message text field in the Message pane if you don’t want to use AI Generator or you’re posting to a provider for which AI Generator isn’t supported. Enter the content to see your text in the Preview pane.

If you’re creating an Apple Showcase post, you can create your post content in the form of a headline (to 1 to 38 characters), a message (to 1 to 58 characters), and a button.

You’ll see your copy appear in the Preview pane as you enter it.

Using merge codes in your posts

You can use merge codes in your posts to simplify and enforce consistency in the use of your business name, address, phone number, and website. The codes map to the names your company has provided to Chatmeter. 

Follow these steps when creating your post content:

1. Prepare to publish your post as described in Creating a post.
2. In the post content, select the merge codes button and select one of the merge codes. Alternatively, you can type in a merge code between the double curly brackets. The available merge codes are:

• {{business_name}}—Business name
• {{business_address}}—Business address
• {{business_phone_number}}—Business phone number
• {{business_website}}—Website listed in Chatmeter. If you haven’t listed one with Chatmeter, the post will fail.

Here’s an example. We typed the following into the Message text field for a Facebook post, having selected the provider and page in previous steps.

Add images and video to your post

In Images & Video, select Add images and video to search to find an existing image from the Gallery or follow the instructions to Upload New Media. You can add two images or one video with your textual content. If you add a video, you can’t add a second video or images. Apple only permits one photo. For Facebook, you can add as many as 10 images per post.

On Apple Showcase posts, images must be:

• Aspect ratio of 1:1
• Greater than 492px by 492px and less than 4864px by 4864px
• JPEG, PNG, or HEIC
• No transparency

Schedule your post

1. Select Add Schedule in the Schedule pane to select the Date, Time, and TIme Zone for publication, then select OK. If you want to publish immediately after you finish providing the details, don’t schedule the post.
   
   Note: On Apple Showcase posts, you must create and schedule your post at least 3 days before the publication date. The end date is by default 30 days after the start date.
2. Select Schedule Post. You’ll receive a success notification and the post will be listed on the Publish page as Scheduled.
   
   

   If you haven’t selected a publication date, you can select Publish Now to publish your post immediately.