Later Platform Help
Helps the user with Later platform questions — from scheduling and visual content planning through Linkin.bio, analytics, Later Influence influencer campaigns, and the Reporting API.
Step 1 — Gather context
If
exists, read it first for accumulated knowledge.
Ask the user:
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Which Later product are you using?
- A) Later Social — scheduling, content calendar, Linkin.bio, analytics
- B) Later Influence — influencer discovery, campaigns, content review, reporting
- C) Both — integrated workflow
- D) Not sure yet — evaluating Later
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What do you need help with?
- A) Scheduling — publishing posts, queue, auto-publish
- B) Visual planner — grid preview, content calendar, drag-and-drop
- C) Linkin.bio — shoppable landing page, Shopify integration, click tracking
- D) Analytics — post performance, follower growth, best time to post
- E) Team — roles, permissions, approval workflows
- F) Later Influence — influencer discovery, campaigns, content review
- G) API — Later Influence Reporting API
- H) Integrations — Shopify, Canva, Unsplash, social platform connections
- I) Billing — plans, upgrades, social sets
- J) Something else — describe it
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Which social networks?
- A) Instagram (primary focus)
- B) TikTok
- C) Facebook + Instagram (Meta)
- D) LinkedIn
- E) Pinterest
- F) YouTube / Snapchat / Threads
- G) All supported networks
If the user's request already provides most of this context, skip directly to the relevant step. Lead with your best-effort answer using reasonable assumptions (stated explicitly), then ask only the most critical 1-2 clarifying questions at the end.
Step 2 — Route or answer directly
If the request maps to a specialized skill, route:
- Choosing between Later vs Buffer vs Hootsuite →
/sales-social-media-management
- Influencer marketing strategy (not Later-specific) →
/sales-influencer-marketing
- Sprout Social config →
- Social listening / brand monitoring →
- Email marketing →
- Paid social ads → or
Otherwise, answer directly from the platform knowledge below.
Step 3 — Later platform reference
Read references/platform-guide.md
for detailed module documentation, pricing, integrations, and data model.
You no longer need the platform guide details — focus on the user's specific situation.
Step 4 — Actionable guidance
Based on the user's specific question:
- Scheduling setup — connect accounts, configure auto-publish, set timezone, plan content calendar
- Visual planning — grid preview strategy, aesthetic feed planning, carousel sequencing
- Linkin.bio — page setup, Shopify product tagging, link button configuration, click tracking
- Analytics — interpreting metrics, best time to post, competitor benchmarking, reporting
- Team workflow — roles, approval process, collaboration best practices
- Later Influence — campaign setup, influencer discovery, content review workflow, API integration
Gotchas
Best-effort from research — review these, especially items about plan-gated features and pricing that may change.
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Post limits on lower plans. Starter gets 30 posts/profile/month — that's just 1/day. If you're posting across multiple networks, you'll hit the limit fast. Growth plan (150/profile/mo) is the practical minimum for active brands.
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No social inbox. Unlike Sprout Social, Hootsuite, or Agorapulse, Later has no unified inbox for managing DMs, comments, or mentions. You'll need to manage engagement natively on each platform.
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Analytics gated to Growth+ plans. Starter plan gets only basic post metrics. Best time to post, follower demographics, hashtag analytics, and story analytics all require Growth ($45/mo) or above.
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Approval workflows require Growth+ plan. If you need team content approval, Starter won't work. Teams that need approval should start on Growth at minimum.
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No content recycling. You can't reshare or automatically recycle old posts like some competitors (Buffer, SocialBee, MeetEdgar). Every post must be created fresh.
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Image resizing not built in. When scheduling to multiple networks simultaneously, Later doesn't resize images/videos to fit each platform's format. You'll need to crop/resize externally before uploading.
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Platform connections require periodic re-authentication. Social platform API tokens expire. You may need to reconnect accounts every few weeks, especially Instagram and TikTok. If posts start failing, check connection status first.
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Notification-based posting for some formats. Instagram Stories, certain carousel types, and some TikTok formats may require you to complete publishing manually via a push notification rather than auto-publishing.
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Later Influence is separately priced. It's an enterprise product — not included in Later Social plans. Contact sales for pricing.
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Billing complaints are common. Later has a 1.3/5 on Trustpilot driven by billing issues — unexpected renewals, charges after cancellation, strict no-refund policy. Review your subscription settings carefully and document any cancellation attempts.
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Self-improving: If you discover something not covered here, append it to
with today's date.
Related skills
/sales-social-media-management
/sales-influencer-marketing
- — Sprout Social platform help — Publishing, Smart Inbox, Analytics, Listening
- — Social listening strategy — brand monitoring, sentiment analysis
- — Employee advocacy programs
- — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install:
npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do
Examples
Example 1: Set up Instagram scheduling
User says: "I just signed up for Later and want to start scheduling Instagram posts for my ecommerce brand"
Skill does:
- Walks through connecting Instagram Business account
- Sets up Linkin.bio with Shopify integration for shoppable posts
- Configures content calendar with drag-and-drop scheduling
- Shows grid preview workflow to plan aesthetic feed
- Enables best time to post (Growth+ plan)
Result: Complete Instagram scheduling setup with shoppable Linkin.bio
Example 2: Fix posts not auto-publishing
User says: "My scheduled posts keep showing up as notifications instead of auto-publishing"
Skill does:
- Checks if account type is Business/Creator (required for auto-publish)
- Verifies platform connection is active and not expired
- Identifies post types that require notification-based publishing (Stories, certain carousels)
- Walks through re-authenticating the Instagram connection
Result: Auto-publishing restored or notification-based workflow explained
Example 3: Set up Later Influence campaign
User says: "I want to run an influencer campaign using Later Influence to promote our new product line"
Skill does:
- Walks through Influencer Index discovery with relevant filters
- Sets up campaign brief with deliverables and timeline
- Configures content review workflow (draft → stakeholder review → approval)
- Creates affiliate links per influencer for sales tracking
- Sets up Reporting API connection to BI dashboard
Result: End-to-end influencer campaign with tracking and analytics
Troubleshooting
Posts failing or freezing during scheduling
Symptom: Scheduled posts show as "failed" or never publish
Cause: Expired platform connection, unsupported post format, or network API issue
Solution: Check connection status in Settings → Social Accounts. Reconnect if expired. Verify the post format is supported for auto-publish on that network. Try scheduling a simple image post first to isolate the issue. Check Later's status page for outages.
Linkin.bio clicks not tracking correctly
Symptom: Linkin.bio shows fewer clicks than expected, or clicks don't match Google Analytics
Cause: UTM parameters not configured, ad blockers reducing tracking, or page not loading properly on mobile
Solution: Add UTM parameters to all Linkin.bio links (source=linkinbio, medium=social, campaign=your-campaign). Check that the page loads correctly on mobile. Compare Later's click data with GA4 link click events — Later counts page views while GA4 counts sessions, so some discrepancy is normal.
Can't resize content for different platforms
Symptom: Posting to Instagram + TikTok + Facebook simultaneously but images/videos look cropped or wrong aspect ratio
Cause: Later doesn't auto-resize media for different platform requirements
Solution: Create platform-specific versions of your content before uploading. Key dimensions: Instagram feed (1080×1080 or 4:5), Instagram Stories/Reels (1080×1920), TikTok (1080×1920), Facebook (1200×630 for link posts, 1080×1080 for feed). Use Canva (integrated in Later) to quickly resize one design for all formats.