Welcome to Vista Social! In this quick start guide, we will provide step-by-step instructions on how to get started with our platform fast and easily!
In this article:
- Creating a brand/entity
- Connecting your social profiles
- Connecting your review sites
- Adding team members
- Scheduling your first post
- Exploring advanced options
- Building reports
1. Create a brand/entity
1a. Go to Settings > Entities and Groups
1b. Select Add entity
1c. Choose an entity type and fill in the details as shown below (logo and description are optional).
1d. Click Save and you are done!
2. Connect your social profiles
2a. Log in to your Vista Social account and go to Profile Settings > Add Social Profile.
2b. Choose a brand/entity to add the profile to. You may create a new one if the entity is not on the list yet. Click Continue. 
2c. Select the network that you wish to connect.
2d. You will be redirected to the network to authenticate the profile. Follow the prompts and make sure not to modify any settings or edit the permissions list.
2e. You will now see the list of Facebook pages you own or administer, select the page that you want to connect, and click the Connect button at the bottom of the screen.
2f. Once the profile is successfully connected you will get a notification and the profile will appear under Profile Management.
3. Connect review sites
3a. Log in to your Vista Social account and go to Profile Settings > Add Social Profile.
3b. Choose a brand/entity to add the profile to. You may create a new one if the entity is not on the list yet. Click Continue. 3c. Select a review site from the list of social networks (we currently support TrustPilot, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and OpenTable).
4. You will now see a field to add in the review site link that you want to monitor. Paste the site URL in the blank field and click Connect review site.
5. Once the profile is successfully connected you will get a notification and the profile will appear under Profile Management.
4. Add team members
4a. Go to Settings > Team Members.
4b. Click to select Invite team members.
4c. Add the name, email address, and permissions and click Send Invitation. 
Note that user permissions are assigned per entity, so if you have multiple entities in your organization you can disable permissions for a particular entity and the user will not be able to see this entity when they login to their dashboard.
4d. The user receives an invitation via email that he needs to confirm to be able to complete the process. Advise the user to click the Accept Invitation in the email.
4e. The user will be asked to complete the process by creating a password. Click Save and Continue.
The user will then be redirected to the dashboard, and the features available to him are based on the permissions assigned to him! Learn more about adding users here.
5. Schedule your first post
5a. On your Vista Social account, go to Publish to open the publishing window.
5b. Click Select Profiles and select the Entity (Brand) that you want to post to. All networks for the entity you chose will be automatically selected. You may also deselect certain profiles if you want to post to certain networks only.
5c. Create your post. The post preview appears on the right side and you may toggle in between profiles to check how the post would look per network. More actions are available depending on the network which you can add as you schedule the post. For example, with Instagram, you can tag a user by simply clicking on the image:
5d. If you try to proceed to the next step without completing the posting requirements for certain networks, you will get a notification with a bell icon to the networks that need attention:
5e. Click on the network that has a bell icon to get more information on what actions need to be done.
5f. Choose the time when you want to publish. Click Next.
5g. Click Schedule (or Publish if you are publishing immediately) to add your scheduled post to the calendar.
6. Explore advanced options
Explore more ways to schedule content with Vista Social through bulk upload, blog import, finding content, and smart publishing.
Bulk publishing
To use bulk publish in Vista Social, head over to Calendar from the main menu.
2. On the right side of the page, click on the Publish drop-down then choose Bulk Publishing.
3 Types of Bulk Publishing
1. Import from CSV - this allows you to create posts in a spreadsheet and upload them together.
a. To import from CSV, click on Import from CSV on the Import content page.
b. Click on Download Sample to get a sample template to follow.
c. You will then receive a downloaded .csv file. Fill out all the required fields and then save the file as new.
d. Once done, click on Upload CSV File and then upload the CSV file.
e. Select the posts you want to add to your calendar. Note that you can click on each post to modify the content and posting time. Click Next.
f. Click Schedule or Publish Now to schedule the bulk post
8. You will receive a confirmation that the post has been scheduled.
2. Import from a Blog - this allows you to choose the latest articles from a blog or a website. This option is only available for websites providing an RSS feed.
a. To import from a blog, click on Import from RSS on the Import content page.
b. Insert the RSS link or a link to the blog then click on Import then click Next.
c. A list of recent posts from the RSS feed will appear. Select the posts you want to add to your calendar. Note that you can click on each post to modify the content and posting time. Click Next.
d. You will receive a prompt message, then select Schedule.
e. You will then receive a message that your post has been scheduled.
3. Find content - you can find articles based on the topics your audience might be interested in.
a. To search for content based on keywords, click Find content.
b. Enter a company, product, or any keyword in the search box (e.g. jewelry) and then click Submit to begin searching.
c. You will find a list of related articles. Choose the article that you want to schedule and click on Send to Compose.
d. You can either modify the post per network or leave it as is. Click Next.
e. Confirm by clicking Schedule or Publish Now.
f. You will then receive a notification that the post has been scheduled.
Smart publishing
1. To set up smart publishing in Vista Social, go to Publish.
2. On the right side of the page, click the Publish dropdown and then choose Smart publishing.
3. Click Add Smart Publisher.
4. Select a Smart publisher type. This could be Trending News or a Specific Blog. Trending News allows Vista Social to find related content for you, whereas Specific Blog asks for an RSS URL that Vista Social searches content in.
5. Select the Publishing Time.
6. Select Maximum posts a day. This will determine the number of times you would like your post to be published in a day. The maximum is 24 times per day.
7. (OPTIONAL) You may also filter the words included in the search results by specifying them under Filtering Keywords.
8. Assign a Review. You have the option to publish immediately without approval by clicking No Review. If you want all approvers to check the post, you may select All approvers. You may also select who will only approve a certain post by choosing a Specific approver.
9. Once you have filled out all the necessary fields, click Create and you are all set!
10. Note that smart publishing will start running on the day it was set up and will continue to do so unless you Pause or Remove it from the publisher list.
5. Run & build your report
Important note: You need to wait a few days before running a report since Vista Social needs time to download initial data. Also, note that historical data depends on the network and may not always be available.
5a. Go to Reports > Run Report > Report Builder.
5b. Click Add Template.
5c. In the Report Builder window, you now have the option to choose which metrics you want to be included in the template.
(Note: the up/down indicators marked in red or green indicate a comparison from the previous period)
5d. You may also add a cover page if you wish to add some text or image on the first page of the report.
5e. Customize the rest of the report by (1) adding additional text per section, (2) renaming the metrics, or (3) hiding sections you want to exclude in the report.
5f. Once you are finished creating the report, add a template name and click Save template.
5g. To run the report, go to Report Builder once again to find your list of templates and click Run report. 
You may also click Run report from the Reports dashboard:
5h. On the Report View, choose the date range you want to generate a report to (default is last 30 days). Once the date is selected, click the download right beside it.
5i. The system will then generate a PDF report that you can send to your client or team!
And you're all set! Congratulations on setting up your Vista Social account! Need assistance? Contact our support team at support@vistasocial.com.
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