This is the Metricool setup tutorial we wish existed when we started using it. Not a feature overview — a step-by-step walkthrough of the setup decisions that actually matter, in the order that makes sense to execute them.
Follow this sequence and you’ll have a working Metricool setup for a multi-brand operation in a few hours. Skip steps or do them out of order and you’ll spend more time fixing the setup than you saved on scheduling.
Step 1: Account and Plan Selection
Create your Metricool account at metricool.com. Choose the plan that matches your brand count and whether you need API access. If you’re managing more than two or three brands or need the API, go straight to Advanced — the cost difference is small and the feature upgrade is significant. Don’t try to make the free plan or Starter work for a real agency operation.
Set billing to annual if you’re committed to the tool — the discount is meaningful over twelve months.
Step 2: Create Your Brand Structure
Before connecting any social accounts, set up your brand structure. If you’re managing multiple brands or clients, create a separate brand workspace for each one. Click the brand switcher in the top left → “Add Brand” → name it clearly (client name, business name, or project name).
Do this first, before connecting accounts. Connecting all accounts under one brand and then trying to reorganize later is significantly more painful than setting up the brand structure correctly from the start.
Step 3: Connect Social Accounts Per Brand
With your brands created, connect social accounts to each brand. Navigate to the brand, go to Settings → Social Networks, and authorize each platform. The connection flow for each platform:
Instagram and Facebook: Connect through Meta Business Suite. You’ll need Business Manager access. Connect your Facebook Page first — Instagram professional accounts connect through the Facebook Page connection.
LinkedIn: Connect your LinkedIn personal profile and/or Company Page. Both can be connected separately and posted to independently.
Google Business Profile: Connect your Google account with GBP admin access. If you manage multiple GBP locations, each location can be connected.
Twitter/X, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube: Straightforward OAuth connections — click, authorize, done.
Step 4: Configure the Planner
Open the Planner for your first brand. Set the default view to weekly. Enable best-time recommendations — these appear as highlighted time slots on the planner calendar. For the first month, schedule content during the recommended windows and track whether those times actually perform well for your specific audience.
Set your time zone in account settings if it wasn’t set during account creation. Wrong time zone is the most common reason posts publish at unexpected times.
Step 5: Connect Canva
In the post creation interface, locate the Canva button and authorize the Canva connection. Once connected, you can open a Canva design directly from within Metricool’s post creation flow — design the asset, publish it from Canva, and it imports automatically into your post. This is the workflow for all visual content creation.
Step 6: Create and Schedule Your First Posts
Create a test post for each connected platform to verify the connections are working. Click a time slot on the planner or use “New Post.” Write a caption, add media, select platforms, confirm the scheduled time. Check the preview for each platform to make sure the formatting looks correct. Schedule it.
Verify the post publishes at the scheduled time. If anything fails — usually a connection that needs to be re-authorized — fix it before building out a full content calendar.
Step 7: Set Up Analytics Tracking
Navigate to Analytics and select a platform. Set the date range to the last 30 days to establish a baseline. Note your current follower counts, average engagement rate, and best-performing post types. This baseline is what you’ll compare against in future months to know whether your content strategy is working.
Add competitor accounts if you’re on a plan that includes competitor analysis. Add two to four accounts in your space to track their posting frequency and follower growth alongside your own.
Step 8: API Setup (If Needed)
If you need programmatic access — creating posts from an external system, pulling analytics data automatically — go to Settings → API and generate an API token. Store it in a password manager or secrets manager. The Metricool API documentation covers the available endpoints for creating posts, reading scheduled content, and retrieving analytics data.
We set up and run Metricool for multi-brand social media operations — the pipeline, the scheduling system, and the analytics workflow.
Tygart Media manages social scheduling across multiple brands using Metricool daily. We know what the tool actually does and what it doesn’t.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does the initial Metricool setup take?
For a single brand with three or four connected platforms: one to two hours including account creation, brand setup, social connections, and the first test posts. For a multi-brand agency setup with five or more brands: a half day, allocating time for each brand’s account connections and verification. The API setup adds another thirty to sixty minutes if needed.
What do you do if a social account won’t connect?
Most connection failures are permission issues — you don’t have the right admin access to the account you’re trying to connect, or the OAuth token from a previous connection needs to be re-authorized. Check that you have admin access to the platform account, disconnect any existing connection, and try re-authorizing from scratch. For Facebook and Instagram, ensure your Meta Business Manager permissions are correctly set up before attempting the connection.
Can you import existing scheduled content into Metricool?
Metricool doesn’t have a direct import function for content scheduled in other tools. If you’re migrating from another scheduler, you’ll need to recreate your scheduled content in Metricool. The practical approach: don’t recreate posts already scheduled in the old tool — let them publish, then start fresh in Metricool from a clean date going forward.
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