Using Publlish as an Agency
Learn how to manage multiple clients efficiently in Publlish — organise client accounts, manage team access, handle approvals, use channel groups, and scale your agency's social media operations.
Running social media for multiple clients requires a different setup than managing a single brand's channels. Publlish's agency-focused features — channel groups, granular permissions, approval workflows, and multi-client organisation — are built exactly for this. This guide covers the structures and workflows that make agency operations run smoothly.
Core Agency Setup Principles
Separation: Each client's channels should be completely separated from others. A team member working on Client A should never see Client B's content, channels, or analytics.
Control: You need to control who can see, edit, approve, and publish for each client — without rebuilding permissions from scratch every time.
Scale: As you add clients, your workflow should scale without adding proportional overhead.
Publlish's channel groups, role-based permissions, and approval workflows are the three tools that make this work.
Organising Clients with Channel Groups
Channel groups are the foundation of agency organisation in Publlish. Create one channel group per client containing all their social channels.
Example structure:
Organisation: Acme Agency ├── Channel Group: Client A — Fashion Brand │ ├── Client A Instagram │ ├── Client A TikTok │ └── Client A Facebook Page ├── Channel Group: Client B — B2B SaaS │ ├── Client B LinkedIn │ └── Client B X └── Channel Group: Client C — Restaurant Chain ├── Client C Instagram ├── Client C Facebook Page └── Client C Facebook Group
Team Structure for Agencies
A typical agency team structure in Publlish:
| Person | Role | Channel access |
|---|---|---|
| Agency owner / Director | Admin | All channel groups |
| Account manager | Manager | Assigned client groups |
| Social media executive | Contributor | Assigned client groups |
| Junior executive | Contributor | Assigned client groups |
| Client (optional) | Viewer | Their own group only |
Key principle: No team member should have access to more channels than they need. Restrict Contributor access to their specific client groups.
Adding users and permissions →
Content Workflow for Agencies
A clean agency content workflow in Publlish:
Week before:
- Account manager plans the next week's content in the Ideas library or drafts
- Brief the social media executive on what to create
Content creation (3–4 days before publishing):
- Social media executive creates draft posts — one per post, per channel
- Executive submits drafts for review via the approval workflow
Internal review (2–3 days before publishing):
- Account manager reviews all pending drafts
- Approves, rejects with Notes, or edits directly
- Approved posts move to the scheduled queue
Client review (optional, 1–2 days before publishing):
- Client (with Viewer/Approver access) reviews the upcoming week in their calendar view
- Client approves or requests changes via Notes
- Final approved posts are locked in the queue
Publishing:
- Publlish publishes automatically at scheduled times
- Account manager monitors for any failed posts
Giving Clients Access
Most agencies use one of two models for client access:
Model A — Full transparency (Viewer access) Give clients read-only access to see everything scheduled, including analytics. Clients can see but not change anything. This eliminates "what's going out this week?" emails.
Model B — Active approval (Approver access) Clients review and approve all content before it publishes. More client involvement — use this for clients with strong opinions about their content or in regulated industries.
Both are supported in Publlish. Restrict clients strictly to their own channel group — they should never see other clients' content.
Reporting and Analytics for Clients
Use Publlish's analytics to prepare client reports:
- Filter analytics by channel group to see only a specific client's data
- Use content tags to show campaign-level performance
- Export analytics data for client-facing reports
For consistent monthly reporting, establish a standard report format and pull the same metrics from Publlish each month.
Scaling Your Agency in Publlish
As you add clients, the work of adding them to Publlish becomes routine. For each new client:
- Create their channel group
- Connect their social channels
- Assign the relevant team members with correct permissions
- Set posting goals
- Load initial content
Full new client onboarding guide →
The Agency plan is designed for this scale — if you're regularly managing 10+ clients, review whether your current plan's channel and seat limits match your growth trajectory.
Frequently Asked Questions
What plan do I need for agency use? The Agency plan is recommended — it offers the highest channel and seat limits and is designed for managing multiple clients. See plans →
Can clients connect their own social channels to my Publlish organisation? Yes — you can invite clients to your organisation with limited permissions and they can connect their own channels. Alternatively, you connect the channels on their behalf using admin credentials they provide.
How do I prevent a team member from accidentally posting to the wrong client's account? Restrict each team member's channel access to only their assigned client groups. They literally won't see other clients' channels in the composer.
Can I manage client billing separately? All channels within your Publlish organisation are billed under your account. Client billing is managed separately in your agency invoicing — Publlish bills you, you bill your clients.
What's the best way to handle a client leaving? Disconnect their channels, remove their user access, export their analytics data, and delete their channel group. Offboarding steps →