Step 1 — Gather context
If references/learnings.md exists, read it first for accumulated platform knowledge.
- What do you need help with?
- A) Publishing & scheduling posts
- B) Unified inbox (comments, DMs, reviews, mentions)
- C) Analytics & reporting
- D) Social listening setup
- E) Review management
- F) DM automations / lead collection
- G) Employee advocacy
- H) API or Zapier/Make integration
- I) Vista Page (link-in-bio)
- J) Something else — describe it
-
Which plan are you on?
- A) Professional ($79/mo — 15 profiles, 3 users)
- B) Advanced ($149/mo — 30 profiles, 6 users, Zapier/Make/n8n)
- C) Scale ($349/mo — 70 profiles, 10 users, white-label)
- D) Enterprise (custom)
- E) Not sure / evaluating
-
Which social networks?
- A) Instagram + Facebook
- B) LinkedIn + X/Twitter
- C) TikTok + YouTube
- D) All major + niche (Reddit, Threads, Bluesky)
- E) Specific — name them
Skip-ahead rule: if the user's prompt already contains enough context, skip to Step 2.
Step 2 — Route or answer directly
If the request maps to a strategy skill, route:
- Social media management strategy or tool comparison →
/sales-social-media-management [question] - Social listening strategy or tool comparison →
/sales-social-listening [question] - Employee advocacy strategy →
/sales-employee-advocacy [question] - Review management strategy →
/sales-customer-reviews [question] - Online reputation management →
/sales-online-reputation [question] - Influencer marketing →
/sales-influencer-marketing [question]
Otherwise, answer directly using the platform reference below.
Step 3 — Vista Social platform reference
Read references/platform-guide.md for the full platform reference — capabilities, pricing, data model, integration recipes, code examples.
Answer the user's question using only the relevant section. Don't dump the full reference.
Step 4 — Actionable guidance
- Publishing — optimize posting workflow, content calendar, scheduling strategy
- Engagement — inbox triage, response priorities, automation rules
- Analytics — key metrics, custom reports, white-label setup
- Integrations — Zapier/Make setup, API usage, CRM sync patterns
- Listening — keyword setup, sentiment filters, alert configuration
If you discover a gotcha, workaround, or tip not covered in references/learnings.md, append it there.
Gotchas
Best-effort from research — review these, especially items about plan-gated features and integration gotchas that may be outdated.
- Zapier/Make/n8n require Advanced ($149/mo) or higher. Professional plan has no automation integrations. The API is a separate paid add-on on top of your plan.
- Social listening is a $75/mo add-on per listener. The basic listening included in plans is limited to your own social profiles. Full web + news + social monitoring requires the paid add-on.
- Employee advocacy is $199/mo add-on. Only 3 advocates are included free. 25 employees cost $199/mo extra.
- Instagram is limited to 10 images per post. This is a Meta API restriction, not Vista Social's fault. Native Instagram allows 20.
- X/Twitter is a separate add-on. Available across all tiers but costs extra due to X API pricing.
- Listener results refresh every 4-6 hours. Not real-time — expect delays in mention capture for both internal and external listeners.
- Premium Zapier actions cost more. Reply, Get Daily Metrics, Get Inbox, Get Post Metrics, Create/Edit Profile Group are all premium Zapier endpoints.
- Sentiment detection on messages is Enterprise-only. Lower tiers get sentiment in listening but not in the inbox.
Related skills
/sales-social-media-management— Social media management strategy — publishing, scheduling, engagement, analytics, tool comparison/sales-social-listening— Social listening strategy — brand monitoring, sentiment analysis, competitive intelligence, crisis detection/sales-employee-advocacy— Employee advocacy strategy — content curation, gamification, compliance/sales-customer-reviews— Product review collection and management strategy/sales-online-reputation— Online reputation management strategy/sales-do— 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 Zapier integration to push leads to CRM
User says: "I want to send DM automation leads from Vista Social to HubSpot automatically" Skill does:
- Confirms user is on Advanced plan or higher (required for Zapier)
- Walks through Zapier trigger selection (Watch Scheduled Posts or use Make's Watch module)
- Notes that Get Inbox is a premium Zapier action
- Shows how to map Vista Social fields to HubSpot contact properties Result: Working Zapier automation pushing DM leads to CRM
Example 2: Fix posts failing to publish
User says: "Some of my scheduled posts aren't going live and I don't know why" Skill does:
- Checks common causes: expired profile connections, platform API changes, content policy violations
- Recommends reconnecting affected social profiles
- Sets up "Post Failed to Publish" Zapier trigger for alerts (if on Advanced+)
- Suggests checking Vista Social's activity log for specific error messages Result: Diagnosed publishing failures with monitoring in place
Example 3: Compare Vista Social to current tool
User says: "I'm on Hootsuite and it's too expensive. Is Vista Social a good alternative?" Skill does:
- Compares pricing: Hootsuite $249-499/user vs Vista Social $79-349/mo bundled
- Highlights what Vista Social adds: review management, DM automations, Vista Page
- Notes what to watch: listening is a $75/mo add-on, X/Twitter is extra
- Recommends starting with a free trial to test publishing workflow Result: Clear migration assessment with cost savings and feature tradeoffs
Troubleshooting
Posts failing to publish silently
Symptom: Scheduled posts don't go live but no error notification appears Cause: Profile connection expired, content violates platform policy, or video quality rejected Solution: Reconnect the affected social profile in Settings. Check the activity log for specific errors. For video issues, ensure the file meets platform requirements (resolution, duration, format). Set up the "Post Failed to Publish" Zapier trigger on Advanced+ for real-time alerts.
Profile connection errors during setup
Symptom: Connecting social accounts throws errors or requires repeated attempts Cause: Browser permissions, cached sessions, or platform-side OAuth issues Solution: Clear browser cache and cookies for the social network. Log into the social network directly first, then connect in Vista Social. Use a private/incognito window if issues persist. For Facebook Pages, ensure you're granting access to all Pages you manage during the permissions flow.
AI Assistant suggesting irrelevant content
Symptom: AI-generated hashtags or captions don't match your brand or industry Cause: AI doesn't have enough context about your brand, or your business is niche (events, artists, B2B) Solution: On Advanced+ plans, use the AI Training & Knowledge feature to teach the AI your brand voice, industry terms, and preferred hashtags. On Professional, manually curate a hashtag library and saved captions instead of relying on AI suggestions.