Getting started with Ideas

If you've been searching for a way to brainstorm, collaborate, and perfect your social media posts, Ideas is just what you need! 💡

This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about this feature.  

What is Ideas?

"Ideas" is a creative hub inside Vista Social, designed to help you and your team brainstorm and collaborate on social media post concepts. It's a space where ideas can evolve, morph, and flourish without committing to scheduling a post or creating a draft. Think of it as your digital brainstorming room.

The Ideas page shows all your ideas and collections in one place. Use the search box at the top of the page (press / to jump to it) to find an idea quickly.

How can you use Ideas?

Here's what you can do with Ideas:

1. Brainstorm: Create a new idea, jot down your thoughts, and let your creativity flow.
2. Collaborate: Invite your team to view, comment, and add to your ideas. Watch your concepts grow from sparks into full-blown post ideas.
3. Internal Notes: Keep track of thoughts, changes, and suggestions with internal notes. You'll never lose track of an amazing idea again.
4. Schedule Posts: Create social posts from your ideas, when you're ready!

How to create an Idea

1. Go to Create → Ideas.
2. Type your idea into the box at the top of the page. Vista Social suggests a short headline as you type, and you can click Edit to write your own.
3. Use the options under the box to add Media, a Tag, Collaborators or a Collection.
4. Click Save idea, or press Cmd+Enter (Ctrl+Enter on Windows).

Need more room? Click Full editor to open the idea in a larger window. Your text carries over, and you can add collaborators with the + button.

You can also create an idea straight from the media library.

To create lots of ideas at once, click ⋯ next to the Ideas title and select Bulk create ideas. Learn more in How to create Ideas in bulk.

Wall and List views

Switch between the two views with Wall and List at the top right of the page.

• Wall shows each idea as a card with its tags, comment count, favorite star and how many posts used it.
• List shows your ideas as a table with the idea, tags, people, comments, usage and created date.

Use the sort menu above your ideas to show Newest first, Oldest first or Recently updated.

Act on several ideas at once

Select ideas with their checkboxes. A bar appears at the bottom of the page where you can add Tags, Share, Move, Favorite, Export, Delete or Create task.

Organize your ideas

• Click the star on a card to mark an idea as a favorite.
• Group ideas into collections, which appear above your ideas. Learn more in How to organize Ideas with collections.

Each card's menu also lets you Create a post, Create task, Move to collection, Duplicate, Share or Delete idea.

Generate Ideas with AI

Need help getting started? Our built-in AI assistant can help you generate relevant and creative social media post ideas in seconds.

Here’s how to use it:

1. Click Generate with AI in the box at the top of the page.

2. Fill out the prompt form:

• What is your business about?

  • Tell us what space you’re in (e.g., real estate, fitness, SaaS).

• What is your target audience?:

  • Who are you trying to reach? (e.g., small business owners, dog lovers, new parents).

• Include image

  • Choose whether you want the assistant to suggest ideas that incorporate images from our stock photo integrations.

Click Generate an idea.

The AI will instantly generate a batch of relevant and creative post ideas tailored to your business and audience. You can edit, comment on, or organize these ideas just like any other.

Giving your team members access to Ideas

1. You can choose whether to give your team members manage, view, or no access to Ideas. To do that, simply go to Settings → Team Members.

2. Add or find the team member you'd like to give specific access to. Click the three-dot action button, then click Edit.

3. Confirm the user's account role, then click Continue. Scroll down to Ideas and click on the dropdown. Select your desired team member access.

Comment & collaborate on Ideas

1. To comment, simply type your thoughts in the comment box to the right of the Idea and hit send.

And there you have it! Ideas is a fantastic way to brainstorm and collaborate on post ideas before committing to the post-creation process. It's like having a digital whiteboard for all your social media post ideas. So, gather your team, log into Vista Social, and let the brainstorming begin!

Need help?

Reach out to our support team, and we are happy to help.

Related Reading:

How to organize Ideas with collections

How to create Ideas in bulk

Adding users and setting up permissions

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