Once a post is finished and approved, you can send it to your connected platforms straight from maebe. So you no longer have to copy the image, video and caption into each app by hand.
Note: Publishing directly requires a connected social account and Social Connect, which is included in your plan from Solo upwards. To learn how to connect accounts, see Connecting social accounts.
Post it myself or Direct Publishing?
Once a post is approved, you choose between two tabs in step 3 Publish in the context column:
- Post it myself – you publish the post by hand in the relevant app and then tick it off in maebe with I have posted it. This route works always, even without Social Connect. Handy detail: right above it you'll find Save to Photos, Post as ZIP and Copy text – so media and text are exactly where you need them when posting.
- Automatic (Direct Publishing) – maebe sends the post straight to your connected platform. This tab is ready once your plan includes Social Connect and you've connected an account.
The Post it myself tab is selected by default on purpose – nobody gets pushed into automatic publishing. But if everything is ready on a post that hasn't been approved yet (all health points green, account connected), the editor shows the shortcut "Approve & post/schedule with Direct Publishing" below the approve button – it grants the approval and opens the Automatic tab straight away.
The send icon for platform & format
You can already see while choosing where automatic publishing would be possible: a small send icon in your brand color marks every platform, format and target-format combination that maebe can publish directly – in the post editor, when creating new posts and in the AI suggestions. That way you can pick a suitable format right from the start. In the post health block, the "Fix for direct publishing" section additionally shows whether the post stays within the platform limits for direct publishing – it only lists what's actually relevant (green = fine, red = fix it). If everything is already covered by the regular post health, it simply says "Nothing extra to fix right now".
The Post it myself tab is deliberately preselected – nobody is pushed towards automatic publishing. If a post isn't approved yet but everything is ready to go (all health checks green, account connected), the editor offers the shortcut "Approve & post/schedule with Direct Publishing" below the approve button – it grants the approval and opens the Automatic tab right away.
How to publish automatically
- Open the finished, approved post in the editor. To learn how it's laid out, read The post editor.
- In step 3 Publish, switch to the Automatic tab.
- Pick the target account or platform the post should go to.
- Confirm – maebe prepares the media and hands the post over to the platform.
During the handover you'll see the progress, for example "Preparing" and then "Handed over to platform". As soon as the post is live, a checkmark appears along with a link to the published post.
Scheduled, but you don't want to wait after all? For a scheduled publication the status card shows "Publish now instead" next to "Cancel publication": the scheduled time is discarded and the post goes out right away. Media that has already been prepared is reused.
Platform options
In the Automatic tab you'll find the collapsible Platform options section. This is where you set platform-specific details that are sent along when publishing:
- First comment (Instagram, Facebook) – posted as a comment right after publishing. Handy for links or hashtags you don't want in the caption.
- Collaborators (Instagram) – invite up to 3 profiles as co-authors. maebe checks every handle automatically and shows you the profile it found, with picture, name and follower count – so you can see right away whether the spelling is correct and who the invite will actually reach.
- Cover (Reels, Shorts) – upload a custom cover image (cropped to 9:16) or pick a still frame straight from your video: just scrub to the spot you want and confirm. Exactly this image becomes the cover.
- Visibility & interaction (TikTok) – who can see the video and whether comments, duets and stitches are allowed.
- Disclosures (TikTok, YouTube) – correctly label AI-generated content, self-promotion or paid partnerships.
- Video details (YouTube) – tags, category and visibility. You enter the title right below the caption (see Cross-posting).
- Trial reel (Instagram reels) – publish a reel as a test first: Instagram initially shows it to non-followers only. Publishing to everyone then happens automatically (if it performs well) or manually by you in the Instagram app.
Everything is saved automatically – no extra confirmation needed.
Tip for teams: As an owner or admin you can restrict a member to "trial reels only" (team page → manage member). That person then only publishes Instagram reels as trial reels – publishing to everyone is decided later in the Instagram app. Everything else (drafts, approvals, other platforms) stays fully available to them.
Facebook: Posts always go to a Facebook page. Pick the target page right in the publishing card or set a default target in the Social Connect management.
Story series
If a story post contains several media files, maebe publishes them as a story series: each file becomes its own story, in exactly the order you see in the media area. A note above the media reminds you – the order is your storytelling order.
Daily limit
Each team has a limited number of publications per day. This protects you against accidental mass posting and keeps the connection to the platforms stable. In the editor you can see how many publications you've already used today. Once the limit is reached, you can continue the next day. If you publish a post to several platforms at once via cross-posting, each platform counts individually.
During the trial you can publish up to three posts per channel per day. With a plan, the normal daily limit applies.
If something goes wrong
If a platform rejects the post, maebe shows you a clear message with a hint on what to do – for example reconnecting the account or shortening the caption. Try again restarts the publication right away; media that was already prepared is reused. If the platform only reports a temporary error, maebe retries automatically – no action needed.
As soon as your post is live (or something fails), you'll get a notification – even if you triggered the publication yourself. Especially with scheduled posts, this way you know for sure everything worked.
Tip: You don't have to use maebe for publishing. You can also use the platform purely for planning and reviewing and post by hand at the end via the Post it myself tab – whatever fits your workflow.