Queues - Frequently Asked Questions
What are Queues on Zoho Social?
Queues are designated time-slots for your content pipelines. On Zoho Social, you can use 2 kinds of queues:
SmartQ - Auto-generated time slots:
These are intelligent time-slots generated by Zoho Social for each of your connected social channels. Based on your publishing history (upto 7 days minimum) on a specific channel, SmartQ displays a set of the next best time-slots for publishing content -- based on times when your audience engages with your content.
These time-slots are dynamic data and changes every week based on your engagement metrics. SmartQ slots are auto-generated for team members by Zoho Social. SmartQ data hence, varies for each and every connected social channel based on its own set of metrics. Choosing a common 'SmartQ' for multiple channels at once, would give you an average best-time to post.
CustomQ - Custom time-slots:
These are pre-defined time schedules that can be set up by you. Much like a content time-table, CustomQ shows the next open slot for scheduling a post. CustomQ slots give you more control over your Brand's publishing schedule, helping you maintain consistent publishing times and avoid overlaps.
CustomQ slots are static slots set-up by Admins for team members to ensure a publishing timetable. These time-slots can be used to publish posts for any connected social channel and are commonly applicable to all, since they are user-defined slots.
SmartQ | CustomQ |
Automated time-slots | Admin defined time-slots |
| Helps find optimized posting time & dates | Helps setup regularized publishing schedule |
Multiple posts can be scheduled under one SmartQ slot | Only 1 post can be scheduled under one CustomQ slot |
Team members with publishing permission can use SmartQ slot | Team members with publishing permission can use CustomQ slot |
| Auto-generated after a week of publishing via Zoho Social | Affixed by Brand or Portal Admins as per brand's publishing timetable |
| Multiple slots available at all times | Only the next available time-slot is displayed at all times |
Dynamic time-slots | Standard pre-determined slots |
Both these publishing features can be found in the publishing options available in the compose window.
All team members with publishing permission can use a SmartQ time-slot.
Can I set up publishing queues for all my social channels?
Yes, when you set up your CustomQ , it automatically applies to all connected social channels that are part of your Brand. You can set a maximum of 25 slots each day.
Queues slots are not network specific.
What is the difference between scheduling posts and adding them to publishing Queues?
Both the scheduler and queues feature, essentially help with the same thing - advance-scheduling posts to be automatically published at a later date and time.
A. Scheduling posts using the Scheduler feature on Zoho Social, lets team members decide their own time and date for the post to go live.
B. If you choose to publish it using a queue (SmartQ or CustomQ), the post will only be published through the time-slots displayed within the Queues tab.
In case of SmartQ, time-slots are auto-generated based on when your audience is likely to engage with your Brand. CustomQ slots are part of a schedule set up by the Admins of the Brand/Portal, in order to maintain a defined publishing routine for your Brand.
What is the CustomQ and how does it work?
CustomQ is a form of scheduling that helps your Brand maintain a consistent posting schedule and avoid overlaps. Your Brand's CustomQ can consist of unique publishing slots for every day of the week.
To get started with CustomQ, a Brand or Portal Admin can set it up for each Brand by following these steps:
- Go to Settings —> Publishing —> Queue Settings.
- Just create CustomQ slots by adding time slots for each day of the week.
- You can also choose to clone slots from any day to other days.
- Once you've set up CustomQ slots for a Brand, you and your team will be able to select the CustomQ option from the Queue tab in the New Post window to add posts to the CustomQ. Selecting this option will queue the post for the next available slot. At one point of time, only one post can be queued to a CustomQ slot. After you've added a post to the CustomQ, the next post that you want to add to the CustomQ will be queued for the next available slot and so on.
As long as you CustomQ posts, no two CustomQ'd posts can be scheduled for an overlapping time slot. However, you and your team can still use the Schedule tab to select the same time and date as a CustomQ'd post.
Who can set-up CustomQ publishing slots?
CustomQ slots can be set-up for multiple Brands that are managed under a portal.
While it can be used by any team member with publishing permissions, it cannot be set-up by them. CustomQ slots can be set-up and managed only by the Portal Admin or the Brand Admin. Team members view only the next CustomQ slot that's available on the publishing window, while the detailed view of organizing and setting-up CustomQ slots are only accessible by the Admins.
Team member can only use the CustomQ slots once the CustomQ schedule has been set up by an Admin.
How can I set up CustomQ slots?
On Zoho Social, Brand Admins and Portal Admins will be able to set up Custom Q slots.
To do this:
- Click on Brand Settings under Settings, and then click Publishing.
- You will see the CustomQ Settings on screen. Here you will see a list of days of the week. Click +Add Slot to add a new CustomQ slot to any of the days.
- Choose the desired time slot and click Add. A new slot will be added to that day.
You can add upto 25 queue slots for any day.
How do I schedule a post using CustomQ?
To schedule a post using CustomQ:
- Click on New Post button on your Zoho Social home screen.
- On the left side of your publishing window, you'll see the Queues tab.
- Under CustomQ, the next available time-slot will be displayed if a custom publishing queue has been set up by the Admin.
- If its not available, CustomQ can be set up by a Portal or Brand Admin by clicking on the "Set up your custom publishing queue".
- In the New Post window, select the CustomQ option and hit the "Add to CustomQ" button to schedule the post for the next available CustomQ slot.
Portal/Brand Admins can create multiple CustomQ slots. Team members who try to schedule a post, will see only the next available time-slot within the CustomQ option.
Can I customize/make changes to a CustomQ schedule?
If you are a Portal Admin or Brand Admin, you can customize your CustomQ time-slots for a Brand by adding new queue slots or deleting existing queue slots. You can do this by accessing the Publishing tab underneath Brand Settings within the Settings.
Any changes that you make to your publishing queue will not affect posts that have already been queued. The new CustomQ slots will only apply to new posts that you or a member of your team will schedule.
Can I schedule a post using the Scheduler and CustomQ for the same time-slot?
The CustomQ feature is designed to help you avoid overlaps. Whenever post authors select the CustomQ option, their post will automatically be scheduled for the next available time slot. As long as your team uses CustomQ to schedule content, two or more posts will not go live at the same time.
However, if they select the "Schedule" option instead of the CustomQ option under "Queue", post authors can schedule posts to go out on a date and time of their choice. Scheduled posts can therefore overlap with CustomQ'd posts.
What happens when I delete a CustomQ time-slot?
If you delete a CustomQ slot, that time slot will no longer appear within the CustomQ option for post authors to schedule a post to it. However, any posts that were already scheduled for this time slot prior to deleting it would go out as per their schedule, unless you delete or reschedule them.
How does SmartQ work?
SmartQ suggests best times for you to schedule your content, based on how your audience has engaged with you across different social networks.
When you open the New Post window to create a new post, you will see scheduling options on the right. To use SmartQ suggestions, click the SmartQ tab in the scheduling area. When you're in the SmartQ tab, you'll see a list of best times to schedule along with a percentage that indicates the percentage of your top engagers that the post is likely to reach if you schedule it for that time.
These times will vary depending on the channels selected by you for publishing. For instance, if you select only your X Profile, SmartQ will suggest the best times for you to schedule the post to reach your top engagers on X. However, if you select your Facebook Page and X Profile, SmartQ will suggest common scheduling times for your post to reach your top engagers across both these channels.
SmartQ suggestions are available for the following social channels:
- Facebook Page
- X Profile
- Instagram Profile
Additional Notes about SmartQ
SmartQ suggestions are based on your audience' interactions with your Brand over a period of time. For this reason, SmartQ may not be immediately available when you set up a new Brand. Over a period of time, as SmartQ gathers inputs about how your audience engages with your Brand, you'll start seeing SmartQ suggestions in the New Post window.
SmartQ suggestions are currently unavailable for the other following social channels due to API limitations that prevent us from accessing the data that powers SmartQ:
If you select one or more of the channels other than Facebook, X, or Instagram while creating a new post, SmartQ times will not show up. For example, if you select your X Profile and Instagram Profile, you'll see suggestions for the best time to reach your top engagers on X and Instagram. However, if you were to select your X Profile, Instagram Profile, and LinkedIn Profile, you'll still see SmartQ suggestions but these will only apply to your X and Instagram audience since SmartQ data is not available for the other channels you selected.
Can I get SmartQ suggestions for all of my social channels?
Currently, SmartQ suggests the best time to post for the following social channels if you've linked them to your Brand on Zoho Social
- Facebook Page
- Instagram Profile
- X Profile
Whenever you select the SmartQ tab, you'll see suggestions that apply to any of these 3 channels. If you enable additional channels while selecting the SmartQ tab, you'll still suggestion for best times to post. However, these suggestions will only be based on the supported channels listed above.
Why is the CustomQ feature not showing up on my publishing window?
On Zoho Social, CustomQ is only available in the Professional, Premium and Agency Plans. Currently, it's not available in the Standard Plan or Free Plan.
If you have Admin access to a Brand, you can set-up CustomQ using these following steps:
1. Click on Brand Settings under Settings, and then click Publishing. 2. You will see the CustomQ Settings on screen. Here you will see a list of days of the week. Click +Add Slot to add a new CustomQ slot to any of the days.
3. Choose the desired time slot and click Add. A new slot will be added to that day.
You can add upto 25 queue slots for any day.
What happens when I select more than 1 social channel for SmartQ publishing?
SmartQ publishing helps curate the best time for publishing content on a specific social channel. The next best time generated for your X Profile for instance, may not be the same as for Facebook Page. However if you decide to schedule a post for the same time on more than 1 social channel and want to use the feature, SmartQ will suggest common scheduling times for your post to reach your top engagers across both these channels.
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