Best Practices and Account Health Score
Overview
The Best Practices page tracks 14 setup and promotion steps that help your practice get more from social media. Your Account Health score on the Overview page rates your progress from 0 to 100, and the checklist shows what to do next.
Before You Start
- Best Practices is available on the Base, Pro, Premier and Enterprise plans. It isn't shown to teams that joined through a partner network.
- Everyone on the team can view the checklist. Admins and Editors can check or uncheck steps. Viewers can't.
How to Open Best Practices
- Click your avatar (top right) and select Account Settings.
- Select Best Practices in the left sidebar.
You can also click Improve your score → on the Account Health card, or View all best practices → on the Best Practices card, both on the Overview page.
Your Account Health Score
The Account Health card on the Overview page shows your score, its tier, and how many of the 14 steps are done.
| Score | Tier |
|---|---|
| 0–29 | Getting Started |
| 30–59 | Building |
| 60–89 | Strong |
| 90–100 | Excellent |
Steps that Social Cascade detects automatically count twice as much as steps you check off yourself.
The 14 Best Practices
Auto steps are detected by Social Cascade. It re-checks them about once an hour and after related changes. Self-reported steps happen outside Social Cascade, so you check them off yourself.
Set Up Your Accounts
| Step | Type | Done when |
|---|---|---|
| Connect your social accounts | Auto | At least one social profile is connected. See Connecting Social Profiles. |
| Set your posting schedule | Auto | At least one post is scheduled or published. On the classic auto-scheduler, setting your Post Frequency also counts. |
| Subscribe to content streams | Auto | You subscribe to at least 3 Streams. See Working with Streams. |
| Upload your logo | Auto | Your team has a logo. |
| Complete your brand kit | Auto | At least 4 of these 5 are filled in: primary color, logo, a provider, a location and a tagline. See Managing Your Brand Kit. |
| Set up your Link In Bio page | Auto | An Admin has named your page. See Setting Up Your Link in Bio. |
| Invite your team | Auto | Your team has more than one member, or an invite is pending. See Adding and Inviting Team Members. |
| Record a video with the Teleprompter | Auto | At least one Teleprompter recording has been sent for processing. |
Amplify Your Reach
| Step | Type | How to do it |
|---|---|---|
| Add social links to your website | Self-reported | Add social icons to your website's header, footer and contact page. Link each icon to your Facebook Page, Instagram account or Link in Bio page. |
| Display QR signage in your practice | Self-reported | Click Download poster to open Account Settings → Posters. Print the poster and place it at the front desk, in the waiting room and on exam room doors. See Customizing Your Poster Design. |
| Add social links to patient communications | Self-reported | Add a "Follow us" line with social icons to staff email signatures, appointment reminders and newsletters. |
Engage Your Community
| Step | Type | How to do it |
|---|---|---|
| Mention social media to patients and families | Self-reported | Give staff a one-line script, such as "We post health tips and practice updates on Facebook and Instagram. Follow us for reminders and news." Mention it at checkout or after well visits, and point to the QR poster. |
| Encourage staff to follow and engage | Self-reported | Ask team members to follow your accounts and to like, comment on and share posts from their personal profiles. Keep it genuine and occasional. |
| Add social media to patient intake forms | Self-reported | Add "Social media" as an answer to "How did you hear about us?" on your intake form, then review the answers each month. |
Veterinary practices see "pet owners" and "client" in these labels instead of "patients and families" and "patient".
Checking Off Steps Yourself
Click a step's checkbox to check or uncheck it. This works for auto steps too.
If you check or uncheck an auto step yourself, your choice sticks. Social Cascade stops updating that step automatically. A step you check early stays checked even if the action never happens, and a step you uncheck stays unchecked.
Draft Emails
Under Resources, the Best Practices page has draft emails for your staff and for patients. Click Copy to copy one, then paste it into your email program. The drafts unlock in this order:
- Until a social profile is connected, you'll see "Connect your social accounts first to generate draft emails."
- Until your Link in Bio page has a name, you'll see "Set up your Link In Bio page first so the emails include your page link."
Overview Cards
- Account Health: your score, tier and a link to improve it.
- Best Practices: your progress (for example, 5/14) and your next steps. Close it with the X. It reappears if your progress drops, and it hides once all 14 steps are done.
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| An auto step is unchecked though I did it | Auto steps re-check about once an hour, or you unchecked the step yourself earlier. | Refresh the page after an hour. If you unchecked it yourself, it won't update automatically. Check it yourself. |
| "Set your posting schedule" isn't checked | Changing settings doesn't count. A post must be scheduled or published. | Schedule a post from the Calendar. |
| I can't check off a step | You're a Viewer. | Ask an Admin or Editor, or ask an Admin to change your role. |
| "Could not save — please try again" | The change didn't save. | Check your connection and try again. |
| My score seems low | Auto steps count twice as much as self-reported steps. | Complete the auto steps first for the biggest change. |
| I don't see Best Practices | Your team joined through a partner network. | Contact support@socialcascade.co if you think this is wrong. |
FAQ
Q: Does my score affect my account or features?
A: No. The score only helps you track your progress. It doesn't unlock or limit any features.
Q: Can I undo a manual check on an auto step?
A: You can uncheck it, but that choice also sticks: the step stays unchecked until you check it again. There's currently no way to hand a step back to automatic detection.