Social media handover: covering the accounts when you are away

The single point of failure

When one person runs the accounts beside another job, the accounts stop when that person does. A week of leave becomes a week of unanswered DMs. A sick day lands on the morning a post needed pulling. Nobody planned it that way. It is what happens when a role lives in one head and on one phone.

The fix is modest: a named cover, a short note and work prepared in advance.

Before planned leave

In the week before you go, run the weekly sitting twice over: once for the coming week and once for the week you are away.

• Plan, approve and queue every post for the days you are away, plus the first two days back.
• Take out anything risky: time-sensitive offers, and posts that depend on stock or the weather.
• Tell the owner what is going out and when.
• Walk your cover through the inbox using real messages.
• Make sure your cover has access of their own. Do not hand over a personal password.

The one-page handover note

Write it once and update it a few times a year. It should fit on one page and answer the questions your cover would otherwise text you on the beach.

• The accounts, and where the daily checklist is kept.
• The five most common questions, with the approved answers.
• Who handles complaints, refunds and press.
• What to do if a queued post becomes wrong: who can pause it, and how.
• What can wait until you are back.

The unplanned day off

Sickness does not wait for a handover. Agree on a standing rule with the owner now: if you are out without notice, who looks at the inbox, and do queued posts run or pause? A sensible default is that queued posts run, the cover answers questions only, and everything else waits.

This is the strongest argument for keeping the work somewhere shared. Posts saved in the drafts folder of your own phone are invisible to everyone else.

When you come back

Give the first daily round twice its usual time. Read what your cover sent, thank them, and pick up anything that was parked. Then add one line to the handover note about whatever was unclear. After two absences the note will be good.

How Link AI helps a cover step in

We recommend Link AI by Linkme here because Linkme describes its platform as built for the whole team. The week's posts are planned, approved and sent through a Publishing Queue, and drafts created by a team member can be marked 'Needs review'. Replies to comments and DMs arrive as drafts in a Social Inbox, so a cover who does not know the accounts well has an answer to check and not an empty box.

How far ahead posts can be queued, how colleagues are added and what each person may do are not stated in this reference. Ask about all three when you book a demo to try Link AI.

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