Every piece of content you create—whether it's a blog post, a social media update, or an SEO page—moves through a structured lifecycle. This workflow ensures that your team can collaborate effectively, track what needs attention, and guarantee that nothing goes live before it's fully approved.

Here is a look at how content transitions from a simple idea to a published piece, and how you can manage it along the way.

The Content Lifecycle

The content pipeline is designed to be flexible but secure. You can move content forward when it's ready, loop it back if it needs more work, and schedule it for the perfect time.

stateDiagram-v2
    Planning --> Draft: Start Draft
    Draft --> Ready_for_Approval: Submit
    Ready_for_Approval --> Approved: Approve
    Ready_for_Approval --> Revision_Requested: Request Revisions
    Revision_Requested --> Ready_for_Approval: Resubmit
    Approved --> Scheduled: Schedule
    Approved --> Published: Publish
    Scheduled --> Published: Auto-Publish

Content States Explained

As your content moves through the system, it will always be in one of these primary states:

Moving Content Through the Pipeline

While you can sometimes skip steps depending on your permissions, a standard approval workflow looks like this:

1. 1

   Start your draft

   When you're ready to begin writing, open a planned item and start drafting. The system automatically updates the state from Planning to Draft and begins tracking your version history.

2. 2

   Submit for approval

   Once the content is polished, click Submit for Approval. This notifies the assigned approvers (like an editor or client) that the piece is ready for their review.

3. 3

   Review and approve

   Approvers can leave feedback and request revisions. If revisions are requested, the schedule is temporarily paused. Once everything looks good, clicking Approve locks the content and logs the approval time and user.

4. 4

   Schedule or publish

   Approved content can be published immediately or scheduled for the future. If you schedule it, the system will automatically handle the publishing process at the exact date and time you selected.

Scheduling and Timezones

When you schedule content, you can specify an exact date, time, and timezone.

If you ever need to Unschedule a post, the system is smart enough to remember where it came from. For example, if you scheduled a draft without approving it first, unscheduling it will revert it back to Draft. If it was already approved, it will revert to Approved.

Behind the Scenes: What Happens When You Publish?

Moving content to Published (or Approved) triggers several helpful automations in the background to save you time.