What not to automate on social media: the never-unattended list

The rule behind the list

One test decides it. If the worst plausible outcome would need a personal apology, a refund or a call from a lawyer, the work stays with a person. Software can still prepare a draft. What it should not do is press send.

'Unattended' is the important word. This is not a list of things software may never touch. It is a list of things a person must read before they go out.

Seven things to keep attended

The list is short on purpose. Print it and keep it where the team can see it.

• Complaints. An upset customer wants to be heard by someone. A stock answer makes it worse.
• Refunds and disputes. These commit the business to something. A person with authority should answer.
• Health, safety and legal questions. Allergens, injuries, age limits, contract terms. A wrong answer can hurt someone.
• Apologies and condolences. Words that only mean something when a person chose them.
• Spending. Any ad or promotion that costs money needs a named person's yes.
• Cold messages. DMs to people who did not ask to hear from you.
• Bulk engagement. Following, liking or commenting at volume by software. Platform rules often restrict it, and it is not your own work in any case.

Days when everything moves to 'attended'

Some days change the rating of every automation. A local tragedy, a product fault, a staff incident or an outage of your own service all make ordinary scheduled content read badly. On those days even the low-risk queue should be held until someone has read what is waiting. Decide in advance who makes that call, and make sure they know how. The pause entry covers the mechanics.

Signs that something has slipped onto autopilot

Any one of these means a control has failed or was never there. Find the automation and switch it off.

• A customer quotes a reply nobody on the team remembers writing.
• The same sentence appears under several unrelated comments.
• A reply answers a question the customer did not ask.
• A promotion is still being sent for an offer that ended.
• Nobody can say who approved the last ten replies.

Write the list into how you work

A list on a wall is not a control. Turn each line into an instruction a new team member could follow: 'complaints are answered by the manager on duty', 'no ad launches without the owner's approval', 'we do not use tools that follow or like on our behalf'. Then ask any vendor how their product supports each instruction.

Where Link AI fits on the never list

We recommend Link AI by Linkme because its published design keeps the items it touches attended. Linkme's page says Link AI drafts replies to comments and DMs and you approve. On that description, an answer to a complaint would reach the Social Inbox as a draft and wait for a person. Ad drafts are marked 'Needs review', get approved and then launch on Meta. The one message automation Linkme describes is a link sent to someone who commented a keyword, which is a request, not a cold message.

Nothing in Linkme's description involves bulk following or liking. What is and is not sent without review is the first thing to ask when you book a demo to try Link AI.

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