Customizing Your Editorial Disclaimer
Overview
The editorial disclaimer is the short block of legal/medical boilerplate that Social Cascade automatically appends to every post your team publishes. By default we provide a sensible disclaimer, but you can customize it for your clinic — for example to add your phone number, change the wording for veterinary or behavioral health, or comply with state-level requirements.
Before You Start
- You must be an Editor or Admin on the team to change the disclaimer.
- The disclaimer is limited to 290 characters. Aim shorter than that — long disclaimers can crowd out your caption on Instagram and TikTok.
- The disclaimer text is included in the character/hashtag budget for Instagram. See How Instagram Hashtags Work in Social Cascade.
How to Customize Your Disclaimer
- Open Account Settings from the avatar in the top-right.
- Make sure the team selector shows the team you want to update.
- Scroll to Editorial Disclaimer.
- Edit the text in the box. The character counter under the box updates as you type.
- Click Save. A confirmation toast appears once the change is stored.
The new disclaimer is used the next time content is published. Posts that are already scheduled keep the disclaimer that was active when they were created.
How to Revert to the Default Disclaimer
- On the same screen, click Revert to Default.
- The textbox refills with the platform-wide default disclaimer.
- From this point forward, future posts will pick up any future changes the Social Cascade team makes to the default disclaimer.
Note: Once you click Save on a custom disclaimer, you are pinned to that custom value. Reverting un-pins you so you again receive the platform-managed default automatically.
Including Your Phone Number Automatically
If your default disclaimer references a phone number, Social Cascade will fill it in for you using the contact phone configured on your team or, if that is empty, the phone configured on your organization.
- Set Contact Phone on your team in the same Account Settings screen, or set the organization phone for org-wide use.
- If neither phone is set, the phone placeholder is removed from the disclaimer at publish time so you do not get an empty Call for an appointment sentence.
If you write your own disclaimer, you can simply type your phone number directly into the text — no template syntax required.
Reach Warnings in the Editor
As you type, the disclaimer editor checks two things that hurt Instagram reach and surfaces an inline warning if it spots them. The warnings are advisory only — you can still save the disclaimer — but we strongly recommend resolving them before publishing.
| Warning | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| “Using more than 5 hashtags can negatively impact reach.” | Your disclaimer contains 6 or more #hashtags. Because the disclaimer counts toward the 5-hashtag Instagram cap, the extras would be demoted to plain text on Instagram. See How Instagram Hashtags Work in Social Cascade. |
Remove hashtags from the disclaimer until you are at 5 or fewer. Better still, keep hashtags in the caption itself and leave the disclaimer hashtag-free. |
| “Using external links can negatively impact reach. We recommend using comments or link-in-bio for external links.” | Your disclaimer contains a URL or a www. address. Both Instagram and Facebook deprioritize posts that send people off-platform. |
Take the link out of the disclaimer. Instead, point readers to your Link in Bio or post the link in the comments after publishing. |
The warnings appear as yellow alert banners directly above the disclaimer textbox. They update live as you edit and disappear once the issue is resolved.
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The Save button is greyed out | The disclaimer text has not changed since the last save, or you do not have permission to edit. | Edit the text first, or ask an Admin/Editor to make the change. |
| I see Error updating the clinic! | The save request failed (network or permissions). | Reload the page, confirm your role, and try again. Contact support if it keeps happening. |
| My disclaimer reads “Call for an appointment” | The phone placeholder was empty at publish time. | Add a contact phone on your team or organization, or write the phone number directly into the disclaimer text. |
The default disclaimer shows odd characters like {{phone}} in a published post |
Older custom disclaimer was using template syntax we no longer compile. | Click Revert to Default, then optionally re-customize without template tags. |
| Disclaimer is missing from a post entirely | The team setting was empty and the platform default was empty. | Re-save your disclaimer from Account Settings, or contact support to confirm the default is configured. |
| I see a yellow warning banner above the disclaimer textbox | The disclaimer contains too many hashtags or an external link — both of which can hurt your Instagram reach. | See Reach Warnings in the Editor above. |
FAQ
Q: Where does the disclaimer appear in my post?
A: Below the caption and any platform attribution text, on its own line, before the linked hashtag line. The exact placement is identical across Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
Q: Can each social platform have a different disclaimer?
A: Not at this time. The same disclaimer is applied to every platform. If you need platform-specific differences, edit the caption itself for that post.
Q: Will my custom disclaimer change automatically if Social Cascade updates the default?
A: No. Once you save a custom disclaimer you are pinned to it. Click Revert to Default if you want to follow the platform default again.
Q: What is the maximum length?
A: 290 characters. The character counter under the textbox shows how much room you have left.
Q: Can I ignore the hashtag or link warnings and still save?
A: Yes. The warnings are advisory and never block the save. They are there because Instagram and Facebook tend to suppress posts that contain external links or that overshoot the 5-hashtag recommendation. We recommend resolving the warning before publishing for the best reach.