Reference
Questions to ask your assistant
Example requests for an AI assistant connected to SemPost, from finding your best posts to drafts that wait for your approval, automation rules and RSS feeds, settings, media and videos, and requests you confirm.
Once an AI assistant such as Claude is connected to your workspace, you ask it in your own words, as you'd ask a colleague. The examples below work with what SemPost lets assistants do today: read the workspace, write posts that wait for your approval, write automation rules and RSS feeds that arrive switched off or paused, change settings, switch the workspace to test mode, work with your media library and Video Studio projects, and ask to approve, delete, start or remove things, which you confirm in SemPost. To connect one, see Connect an AI assistant.
Questions about your posts and results
| Ask | What the assistant looks at |
|---|---|
| "What's waiting for approval this week?" | The approval queue, with each post's proposed time |
| "Which five posts were saved most in the last 30 days?" | Each published post's statistics, sorted by saves |
| "How did our accounts do in the last 30 days?" | Followers, reach, engagement and posts per account and network |
| "What's planned for Instagram next week?" | The calendar, for one network |
| "Which posts failed this week, and why?" | The post history, with each failure's reason |
| "When are the next free times on our Pinterest account?" | The account's next free times, and why each was picked |
| "Which of our accounts haven't posted for a week?" | Posting consistency: the weeks with a post, and how many days each account has gone without one |
| "Do our AI posts do better than the team's, and what did each credit bring?" | The comparison by writer, with the credits charged and the engagement per credit |
| "Which products drew the most engagement this month, and which haven't we posted about lately?" | The product report, for the products SemPost knows |
| "How long did posts wait for approval last month?" | Approval health: the waits, the rejections and each approver's decisions, by role and without names |
Questions about your workspace
| Ask | What the assistant looks at |
|---|---|
| "How many credits do we have left, and when do they expire?" | The credit balance and its batches, with their end dates |
| "Which automation rules are paused?" | The automation rules and their states |
| "What did the Weekend rule prepare last week, and what did it skip?" | The rule's days: what it prepared or skipped, and why |
| "How did each automation rule do in the last 30 days?" | Each rule's published posts, their engagement and the credits charged for them |
| "Which products came back in stock or went on sale in the last two weeks?" | The opportunities your automation rules saw, and whether a post about each was made since |
| "Which special days are coming up next month?" | Special days, where they're open to your workspace |
| "How did our Mother's Day posts do compared with last year?" | Special day results: posts, engagement, the best post and the day's previous time |
| "Are we in test mode or live mode?" | The publishing mode |
| "Which Studio pictures are in our media library?" | The media library, by where each file came from |
Requests for drafts
These need a connection that may write content.
| Ask | What happens |
|---|---|
| "Write an Instagram post for tomorrow at 10:00 about our new linen cushion, with the cushion photo from the media library, and send it for approval." | The post waits in the Approval queue, marked Assistant, with tomorrow at 10:00 as its proposed time. |
"Write the same post for Facebook and LinkedIn with the link https://example.com/linen-cushion, and keep both as drafts." | Two drafts wait in Drafts. Their link carries SemPost's UTM tags. |
| "Write a Facebook post for Singles' Day on 11 November and link it to the day." | The post waits in the Approval queue, linked to the day: Special day results count it once it's published. |
| "Shorten the text of the Pinterest post that's waiting for approval." | The text changes, and the post keeps waiting for approval. |
| "Move Friday's Facebook post to Saturday at 18:00." | The post leaves the plan and waits for approval again, with its new time. |
| "Send my Instagram drafts for approval." | Each draft goes to the Approval queue. |
| "Reject the post about the old collection, with the note 'This product is sold out'." | The post moves to Rejected, with the note. |
| "Take Thursday's TikTok post off the plan." | The post goes back to Drafts; its time and its approval go. |
| "Follow Mother's Day." | The day joins the ones you follow. If your reminder emails are off, the assistant tells you that you can switch them on in Settings › Profile; its follow doesn't switch them on. |
Requests for automation
These need a connection that may change automation (the box Add, change and pause automation rules and RSS feeds).
| Ask | What happens |
|---|---|
| "Pause the Friday discount rule." | The assistant finds the rule and pauses it. Your other rules carry on. |
| "Pause all automation until Monday, and move the posts it already planned back to the drafts." | Every rule waits, and the automation posts waiting for approval or planned go back to Drafts. Resuming stays with you, on the Automation page. |
| "Write a rule that shares our three newest products on Instagram every Tuesday and Thursday, with a monthly cap of 300 credits." | The rule is saved switched off. Check it on the Automation page and switch it on yourself. |
"Add our blog's feed, https://example.com/feed, for our English accounts." | The feed is saved paused and isn't read yet. Start it yourself, or ask the assistant to, which you then confirm. |
| "No automation posts between 30 December and 2 January." | Those days are added as days without automation posts. |
Requests about settings
These need a connection that may change settings (the box that starts with Change the brand, workspace, social account and special day settings).
| Ask | What happens |
|---|---|
| "Add 'friendly' to the brand voice." | The assistant reads the brand voice, adds "friendly" and saves it. The brand name, the words never to use, the hashtag sets and the defaults stay as they are. |
| "Add 'free' to the words never to use." | The word joins the list; the other words stay. |
| "Stop putting the logo on posts." | The Put the logo on posts switch turns off; pictures published from now on carry no logo. |
| "Make our Instagram account's post language English." | The AI writes that account's posts in English from now on. |
| "Follow Germany's special days too." | Germany's special days join the list; your categories and hidden days stay as they are. |
| "Something's wrong, stop publishing now." | The workspace switches to test mode: posts whose time comes are only checked from then on. Going back to live publishing stays with you. |
| "Switch to live publishing." or "Set the approval rule to None." | The assistant can't do these; it shows you the Posts page. |
| "Require two-factor authentication for the team." | The assistant can't do this; it shows you Settings › Workspace. |
Requests about media and videos
These need a connection that may write content.
| Ask | What happens |
|---|---|
| "Put this week's serum pictures in a folder called Autumn." | The assistant makes the folder and moves the pictures into it. A file put in a folder is saved to the library. |
| "Move the old summer photos to the trash." | They wait in Trash for 30 days; until then you can restore them. |
| "Make a square picture of the blue mug with the price 249.90 and the code AUTUMN10." | A Studio picture is drawn from the mug's photo and saved to your library. It costs no credits. |
| "Make a Video Studio project of the table lamp with its three photos, using the feature tour at a calm pace." | The project is set up with the tour's shots. Check it in the Video Studio, watch a free draft and make the final yourself. |
| "Put the price and Shop now on the lamp video's closing card." | The closing card is kept for the final. Nothing is made or paid for until you make the final. |
| "Stop the generation job that's still running." | Its products that haven't started are cancelled, and their credits come back. |
| "Make a scene of the lamp in a living room." | The assistant can't do this: scenes and other AI work stay with you in the Studio and the Video Studio. |
Requests you confirm
These need a connection that may write content, change automation or change settings, as each row says; approving posts and starting a feed also need the box that starts with Approve posts and plan them to publish. Nothing happens until you confirm on SemPost's page.
| Ask | What happens |
|---|---|
| "Approve the three posts waiting for Friday." | SemPost's confirmation page opens, or the assistant gives you its link, with the three posts and their times. Once you press Approve and plan, they're planned. |
| "Delete the drafts about the old collection." | The page lists the drafts. Once you press Delete, they're deleted for good. |
| "Cancel Saturday's planned Instagram post." | The page shows the post. Once you press Cancel the post, it's cancelled and doesn't go back onto the plan. |
| "Start the blog feed." | The page shows the feed, its accounts and what your approval rule means for its posts, and lets you try it. Once you press Start the feed, it's read every 15 minutes; the posts already in it aren't shared. |
| "Delete the old summer rule." (automation) | The page shows the rule and its posts waiting or planned, which stay. Once you press Delete the rule, it's deleted for good. |
| "Stop measuring sales for our second store." (automation) | The page shows how many order records go. Once you press Stop measuring, they're deleted. |
| "Remove the logo." (settings) | The page shows the logo, its size and whether it goes on the pictures. Once you press Remove the logo, it's removed; to use it again, upload its file in Settings › Brand. |
| "Delete the summer photo in the trash for good." | The page shows the file and when it went to the trash. Once you press Delete for good, it's deleted with its thumbnail and its space in the library is freed. |
| "Delete the old lamp video project." | The page shows the project, the finals that stay in your library and the clips paid for that go with it. Once you press Delete the project, it's deleted. |
Good to know
- Nothing the assistant writes or changes goes out before a person approves it in SemPost, even when your approval rule is None.
- The assistant looks up your accounts, pictures and posts before it writes: name the account and describe the picture.
- Pictures come only from your media library: upload a new photo in Media first. A post for a network that needs a picture or a video, such as Instagram or Pinterest, waits in the queue under To fix first: until it has one.
- The assistant doesn't look up products in your store: to add a product's link, give it the page's address.
- Statistics go back only as far as your plan shows.
- Nothing the assistant does spends credits. Approving, deleting and cancelling posts, deleting rules and feeds, starting a feed, removing the logo and deleting files, folders and video projects wait for your confirmation on SemPost's page; Generate from products, the AI writer, scenes, the final video, switching rules on and live publishing stay with you in SemPost.
If something goes wrong
- The assistant says it can't write or change posts. Its connection can only read: connect it again and keep the content-writing box ticked. The new connection replaces the old one; for an assistant on your own computer, such as Claude Code, end the old one in Settings › Connected assistants.
- The assistant says it can't change automation. Its connection doesn't allow it: connect it again and tick Add, change and pause automation rules and RSS feeds.
- The assistant says it can't change settings. Its connection doesn't allow it: connect it again and tick the box that starts with Change the brand, workspace, social account and special day settings.
- The assistant says the plan shows a shorter period. Ask about fewer days.
- The assistant says it can't post to an account. Reconnect the account in Settings › Social accounts.
- The assistant can't find a picture. Check that it's in Media, not in the trash.