Metricool playbook: rules, features, flows and replies (RME-168)

Metricool playbook

Your job here.

• Look at: two new sections, about 5 minutes. "Competitors to track", just above "Reports" (who has

YouTube or X, and the steps for later). And "Tool replies", inside "LinkedIn comment replies" (offering a real check with our free tools).

• Skip: the rest. It is unchanged since you approved the last round of comments.
• Choice: approve both, or comment on any line to change it.

This is the one place for how we use Metricool: the rules, the brands, the features we use and want next, the draft Flows, how YT replies to LinkedIn comments, and the reports. YT asked for it on 2026-09-28 ("a Metricool page for all our rules, features used, that we want to use, etc, all in one place"). The research behind each part is linked in its section.

Nothing on this page is switched on in Metricool. Every Flow, report and reply here is a draft until YT says yes to it.

What changed after your comments (2026-09-29)

Rules

1. Claude saves drafts only. YT schedules. Our plan has no approval step (the review call returns

403), so anything scheduled goes out on time unless YT stops it. Claude never schedules, publishes or switches anything on. YT's click to schedule is the approval.

1. The review page comes first. A post goes on its playground review page (rme-review.vercel.app)

and is approved there before it goes into Metricool as a draft. No post goes into Metricool straight from a chat.

1. Tracked links (UTMs) on posts only, named by category plus post name (YT, 2 Oct 2026, RME-216,

"whatever is best long term"). The pattern is utm_source=<network>&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=<category>-<post-name>, for example utm_campaign=clean-step-one.

• <network> is linkedin, youtube, instagram or facebook.
• <category> is the first word, and it is what the post sells, the same word as its rung in the

content library: clean, referral, collaborate, resell or sos. Adding posts up by offer still works: group the codes by the word before the first dash.

• <post-name> is a short slug of the post, for example step-one or nobody-answers-a-category.

It lets the website side (the SEO brief) see which post sent a visit, which a category alone cannot. A post built on an Almanac answer follows the same pattern (clean-how-often-clean), the Almanac topic already shows in the landing page's address.

• One post, one name, on every network. A Facebook or YouTube version of a LinkedIn post keeps

the LinkedIn post's code and only changes utm_source, so the same story adds up across networks. A different post gets a different name.

• No day number. The code is written into the post in the content library, and Metricool's UTM

builder is set per post to that same campaign, never to a shared default.

• Codes already posted stay as they were (day2-in-marketing, day2-domain-exists). The record of

what went out is never rewritten.

• UTMs are for posts, never for personal messages. A link in a DM, a Flow message or a comment

reply is the plain URL.

• No UTMs in the first comment either. A link in a comment does not get LinkedIn's tracking

short link, only a link in the caption does, so a UTM belongs in the caption and nowhere else (YT, 2026-09-29). The first comment carries the plain URL.

1. The link shortener stays off. YT asked if LinkedIn changes the URL anyway. It does: LinkedIn's

help says a link longer than 26 characters is shortened "once you click Post" (Short URLs in shared posts). So on LinkedIn readers see LinkedIn's short link whatever we do, and Metricool's shortener would add nothing. What LinkedIn's page does not say is whether the UTMs survive its short link, or whether a link in a comment is shortened too. Some link-tool vendors' blogs say the tags can be lost, but that is not a LinkedIn or Metricool source. So the shortener stays off (the safe default), and the first tracked post is checked by hand (open item below).

1. On LinkedIn the link goes in the post AND in the first comment (YT, 2026-09-30, replacing the

2026-09-29 "picked per post" rule). The tracked link closes the post body, on its last line with nothing after it, and the first comment carries the same page again as the plain URL, with no tracking code (Rule 3, YT 30 Sep "no utm in comments"). Where an address fits, the post names it too: sos@ on SOS posts, ahoy@ for general questions, support@ for the app. Never YT's own address. Every LinkedIn draft in the content library now ends this way.

1. Time zones: always pass Europe/Amsterdam. Both brands are set to Europe/Amsterdam in Metricool

(YT changed them herself, checked 2026-10-02). Every draft still names Europe/Amsterdam explicitly, so a later change to the brand setting can never shift a post's time.

1. One post per channel. Each draft goes to one network on one brand. The same idea on two channels

is two drafts, each written for its channel.

1. Video goes in by its public URL, with a cover frame picked. Never upload a local file.
2. Email facts come only from the Almanac snapshot (01-library/email-almanac/). A reply may only

quote an existing answer or point to it by its question number. Nobody edits, rewrites, drafts or "fixes" an Almanac answer without YT's explicit yes. A gap is flagged to YT, never filled.

1. Anything that replies as YT is red zone. Flows, auto-replies and DMs speak in her name, so each

one needs her yes to its trigger words, every line of its wording and its link. One yes per Flow, never a blanket yes.

1. Direct messages are out of Metricool's scope. LinkedIn messaging stays manual, with Ulinc for the

sequences (YT, 2026-09-29). Metricool's Inbox cannot read LinkedIn DMs anyway (its help page says private messages are not supported). This page covers posts and the public comments under them.

1. Someone else posts the first comment, never the account that posted. YT was told a post does

better when another person comments on it than when the posting account comments on itself. So the first comment is not scheduled in Metricool on the same account. "We help each other with the comment part" (YT, 2026-09-30):

• YT's profile posts: Vy writes the first comment, from Vy's own profile.
• Review My Emails page posts: YT (or Vy) writes it, from their own profile, never the page.

Each post in the content library says who, in first_comment_by, next to posted_from. The comment goes up soon after the post goes out (YT, 2026-09-29, first used on the day 2 posts, and extended to the page's posts on 2026-09-30).

Brands and channels

Brand 7129975 was renamed from "yannatorry" to "Review My Emails", read from Metricool on 2026-09-29. The labels now match what each brand holds. A LinkedIn profile and a company page cannot share one brand, which is why there are two.

Paused: Meta has restricted Facebook and Instagram for security reasons. Nothing goes to either until the restriction lifts. No TikTok and no X are connected.

Website tracking, one hash per site

What YT settled via the Super-PM on 2026-09-28:

Open item, reconfirm both before either tag goes live. Metricool's own brand data (read 2026-09-29) puts 3d8fa6… on brand 7129975, the one with the Review My Emails company page, and 682eb2… on brand 7131242, YT's brand. That is the other way round from the table. Each brand's hash is the site its Web connection tracks, so the check is: open each brand's Web connection in Metricool, read which site it names, and match the hash to that site. Until then, neither tag goes on a live page.

Detail and the ready tags: website tracking codes and 00-inbox/handoffs/2026-09-28-yannatorry-metricool-tag.md.

Use now: the Inbox for LinkedIn comments

YT asked "why not now?", and there is no reason to wait. It only reads comments, and it sends nothing unless a person types a reply.

What it covers, from Metricool's Inbox help: comments and mentions on both the company page and YT's profile. No LinkedIn DMs (Rule 11).

Setup steps. Nothing to switch on. It works once LinkedIn is connected, which both brands are.

1. In Metricool on the web, open Inbox in the top menu.
2. Pick the brand (Review My Emails or YT), then filter to LinkedIn with the network selector.
3. Open a comment. Opening it moves it from Unread to All, so it can be read without replying.
4. Replying stays YT's own words. Claude does not reply from the Inbox and has no Inbox tool in the

connection. If a reply needs a link or a longer answer, YT moves it to a DM by hand (Rule 11).

1. One pass a day is enough. Any comment worth a reply follows the pattern under "LinkedIn comment

replies" below.

Features we use

Open the table (reference)

Feature	How we use it
Planner, drafts	Claude saves approved posts as drafts through the Metricool connection (MCP). YT schedules
UTM builder	Tags every post link with the pattern in Rule 3, campaign set per post from the content library. Shortener off
Autolists	Already set up, see the follow-up
MCP (Claude connection)	Works on our plan. Used for drafts and reading stats, never to schedule
Inbox, LinkedIn comments	Reading comments, see "Use now" above
Website tracking code	Two hashes, one per site, waiting on the reconfirm above
Facebook drafts, reposted from LinkedIn	One pattern for every repost: LinkedIn to Facebook. Drafts save even while Meta restricts both pages (14 saved 2026-09-29, RME-168: 8 on the Review My Emails page, 6 on YT's own Facebook). Never scheduled

Features we want next (ranked)

From Flows and unused features, ranked by how much each helps YT's LinkedIn network. None is switched on yet. The Inbox moved up to "Use now".

Open the table (reference)

Rank	Feature	What it would do for us	Effort
1	Best times to post	Slot YT's posts into her audience's real best hours	Minutes
2	Automated monthly report	The monthly LinkedIn numbers, see "Reports" below	Minutes, plus a routine
3	PDF carousels and polls	A carousel built from Almanac answers, a poll to start comment threads. See the carousel note below	An hour
4	Post library, repurpose, recurring posts	Write once for YT's profile, repurpose a softer version to the company page	Minutes
5	Canva and Google Drive	Pull approved brand visuals straight into a draft (library first)	Minutes
6	Flows	Instagram only, so it waits for Meta. See "Flows" below	Minutes, once allowed
7	SmartLinks	Only for YouTube's channel link or when Instagram is back	Minutes
8	Ads manager	Only if we run Google Ads. Spending money is YT's call	An hour

Not worth it for us: the AI writing assistant (our copy follows the voice rules and the Almanac), hashtag search, Zapier, Make and Looker Studio (Advanced plan only).

PDF carousels, the note

A LinkedIn carousel is a document post: a PDF that readers swipe through left to right, one page at a time. YT's point (2026-09-29): it cannot be boosted, so a carousel is organic only and has to earn its reach on its own. That makes it the place for the cleverest thing we have, not a slide version of a post.

• Pick the shape first, then write. The four shapes and the slide rules are in

LinkedIn carousel layouts, and slide 1 is a post of its own.

• Every fact on a slide comes from the Almanac, quoted, with its number.
• Metricool schedules the PDF as a draft like any post (Rule 1), with its link in the first comment

(Rule 5) and a <category>-<post-name> campaign such as clean-step-one (Rule 3).

Flows (all DRAFT, NOT ON)

Flows reply to comments and DMs by keyword. They work on Instagram and TikTok only, not LinkedIn, Facebook or YouTube. Our Instagram is paused by Meta and we have no TikTok, so none of these can run today. They wait for Meta to lift the restriction, and then each still needs YT's yes to switch on. YT confirmed on 2026-09-28 that A, B and C make sense, and asked for D, E and the extra versions on 2026-09-29.

Metricool allows up to 3 reply versions per Flow so the answers do not all read the same. Each Flow below has 2. Links are plain, with no UTMs (Rule 3). A Flow's clicks show in Metricool's own Flow stats. Instagram limits: public reply 300 characters, each DM 1,000 characters, at most 3 steps, up to 24 hours apart.

Every link was checked on 2026-09-29 and returns 200.

Flow C carries no fact in the DM. The Story it answers quotes the Almanac answer word for word, and the DM only points to that answer by its number and page.

The first wording of A, B and C, and why each exists, is in Flows and unused features, section 3.

LinkedIn comment replies

Metricool Flows do not work on LinkedIn, so YT replies there by hand, in the Inbox or on LinkedIn.

How replies are made (YT, 2026-09-29). A reply is written for its post, not picked from a canned set. Each post's replies sit next to the post: in the post's comment_replies field in the content library, or in the post's ready folder. They are drafted with the post and reviewed with it. This page keeps only the pattern, and a library of the replies that were actually used, so the library grows from real conversations.

The pattern. It follows P14, the public comment reply, in the plays library:

1. Reply as YT (not the page).
2. No links and no emojis in the public comment. Never sell in a comment.
3. If they want a link, the public reply says it is on its way, and the link goes in a DM. The DM link

is the plain URL, with no UTMs (Rule 3). The DM itself is manual (Rule 11).

1. An email fact is a word-for-word quote of one Almanac answer, named by its number. If no answer fits,

write nothing and flag the gap to YT.

Pattern, not canned: three examples

These show the pattern. They are not for pasting as they are. Swap {Name} for their first name, and write the real reply for the real post. Also in linkedin-plays-drafts.md.

"list" (they want the link). Public: "Sending it to you now, {Name}. Check your messages." DM: "Hi {Name}, here's the link you asked for. The app opens in a couple of weeks. Join the waitlist and your 1,000 free credits plus 15,000 bonus credits are held for you: reviewmyemails.com/get-started"

"partner" (they want the 15% referral). Public: "Thanks {Name}, I'll send you the details in a message." DM: "Hi {Name}, thanks for asking! If you know someone who sends email, you can earn 15% when they clean with us. I do all the work, so you stay out of it. Here's how it works: reviewmyemails.com/partners. Happy to walk you through it on a short call if that's easier."

"almanac" (they asked a question the Almanac answers), Almanac 005.004.002. Public: "Good question, {Name}. It depends on how often you send. Our Email Almanac puts it like this: "high-volume senders (daily or multiple times weekly) should clean monthly, medium-volume senders (a few times a month) quarterly, and low-volume senders (monthly or less) every six to twelve months." I'll message you the full answer." DM: "Hi {Name}, here's the full answer from our Email Almanac: reviewmyemails.com/emailalmanac/list-management-and-hygiene/list-cleaning-and-scrubbing/how-often-clean-email-list/"

The DMs sign off "- YT 💌🐙" as usual. The public comments carry no emoji.

Tool replies, a real check run by hand (draft)

YT, 2026-09-29: "free tools like the DMARC checker etc, we can check DMARC by hand through chat? Stuff like that too?" Yes. When a comment shows an email problem, YT's public reply offers a real check ("drop your domain and I'll run it through our free DMARC checker"). YT or Claude runs our own free tool by hand and replies with what it found. Help, not a pitch.

• Same P14 rules as above: no link and no emoji in the public comment, the tool link goes in a DM, plain URL.
• Only check a domain they gave us or that is public on their own post. Headers and raw emails are private, so

those tools are offered in a DM only.

• A clean result can be public. A blocklist hit or a broken record is never named in public, it goes in the DM.
• What a finding means is a word-for-word Almanac quote with its number. If none fits, report the result only

and flag the gap to YT.

The tools we use (DMARC, SPF, blocklist, MTA-STS, the parser and the rest, plus the directory and SOS), each link checked 200 on 2026-09-29, and the reply patterns are in linkedin-plays-drafts.md, section "Tool replies". Every tool's detail is in the free tools registry. A tool reply that gets used goes in the library below like any other reply.

Replies used (the library)

Empty so far. When YT sends a reply to a real comment, it is added here with the date, the post's id in the content library, the keyword or question, and whether it led to a DM or a click. Never the commenter's name.

Competitors to track (list only, nothing added)

YT, 2026-09-29: "Can this competitor list also be the Metricool competitors?" Yes, for learning. Nothing is added in Metricool yet. This is the list and the steps only.

Where Metricool can track them. Its competitor tracking works on Instagram, Facebook, Twitch, YouTube, X and Bluesky, not LinkedIn (the Metricool connection's own tool description, read 2026-09-29). So YouTube and X now, Instagram and Facebook once Meta lifts our restriction.

Tracking is for learning, never for posting. The rme-chorus no-comparison rule stays for social: we watch what they post, how often and what gets engagement, and we never name them or compare ourselves to them in a post, a comment or a reel. Comparison pages are allowed on the website only (decision 2026-09-29, competitor pages and free credits).

The list

The competitor set is the Website lane's (RME-171, RME-186): the six small competitors, plus both "Email List Validation" and "EmailListVerify". Each account below is one the competitor links to from its own homepage, read on 2026-09-29. Nothing was taken from a search engine or a third-party list.

No Bluesky or Twitch account is linked from any of the eight sites.

Ready to add now: YouTube for Emailable, MillionVerifier, DeBounce and MyEmailVerifier (4), and X for Emailable and DeBounce (2), plus MyEmailVerifier and EmailListVerify on X once each account is confirmed. Later, once Meta lifts the restriction: Instagram for Emailable, and Facebook for Emailable and MyEmailVerifier.

Steps, for when YT says yes (not done)

1. Pick the brand. Suggested: Review My Emails (7129975), the company brand, so YT's personal brand stays

clean. YT's call.

1. In Metricool on the web, open that brand's Competitors screen.
2. Pick the network (YouTube or X), then add each account from the table by its handle.
3. Check how many competitor slots our plan allows on that screen before adding. If there are fewer than 6,

start with Emailable and DeBounce, the two with both YouTube and X.

1. Later, when Meta lifts the restriction, add the Instagram and Facebook accounts the same way.
2. Once a month, read what they posted and what got engagement. Anything worth learning goes into our own

content ideas, never into a comparison post.

Reports

YT's call (2026-09-28): the monthly LinkedIn numbers go into the RME activity Slack channel (#rme-activity-live) and into the morning SEO brief, not a separate email.

Daily, not only monthly? YT asked (2026-09-29) whether the numbers belong in the daily SEO brief, since a visitor may go from a post to the site. That is written up as a proposal, not built: daily Metricool numbers in the morning SEO brief. The brief is the Website lane's, and RME-183 is the Super-PM's ticket for it.

Suggested next step, to learn what to watch. YT or Claude pulls 2 sample reports, one per brand (7129975 Review My Emails, 7131242 YT), to see which numbers Metricool actually has. Claude does it read only, with the Metricool connection's analytics tools (getAnalyticsAvailableMetrics, then getAnalyticsDataByMetrics for last month, time zone Europe/Amsterdam). YT can do the same from Metricool's own report screen by downloading one report and not scheduling it. No scheduled report is switched on. The sample decides step 1 below.

Setup steps for the monthly pull, written down only. Nothing is switched on. Each step waits for YT's yes.

1. Pick the numbers. From the two sample reports, propose a short list, for example followers gained,

impressions, engagement and clicks on tracked links, and get YT's yes on it.

1. Build the monthly pull. A routine runs on the 1st of each month, reads last month's numbers for

both brands with getAnalyticsDataByMetrics (time zone Europe/Amsterdam), and writes a short plain-English summary. It reads only. It never schedules or edits a post.

1. Post it to the RME activity channel through the RME Activity bot, one message a month.
2. Add it to the SEO brief. The brief runs on the Hetzner box, so this change is a server change and

waits for YT. See the daily proposal above.

1. Leave Metricool's own automated email report off. YT does not want a separate email.
2. Check the first month by hand against Metricool's own screens before trusting the routine.

Open items

• Reconfirm both tracking hashes against each brand's Web connection before either tag goes live

(see "Website tracking").

• Do UTMs survive LinkedIn's short link? LinkedIn does not say. Check the first tracked post by hand:

click its first-comment link and see whether the landing page address still carries the tags.

• The Flows add-on price after the free period. Not published yet.
• When Meta lifts the Facebook and Instagram restriction.
• Competitors. How many competitor slots our plan has, which brand they go on, and whether VerifyBee has a

new official site. Nothing is added in Metricool until YT says yes.

• Which LinkedIn metrics Metricool returns for a personal profile versus a company page. The two sample

reports settle it.