Step 1 of 4
Just starting
Your first 24 hours with Clipflow
The exact order of operations that gets your first clips published by tomorrow.
What this guide covers
- 01What you need before you start
- 02Step 1 — Connect your publishing channels (2 minutes, optional)
- 03Step 2 — Import your first video (1 minute)
- 04Step 3 — Your first post (30 seconds)
- 05Step 4 — Train your Brand Voice (15 minutes, most important)
- 06Step 5 — Review and approve (10 minutes)
- 07Step 6 — Publish (or copy out manually)
- 08What to do tomorrow
Jump to section
- 01What you need before you start
- 02Step 1 — Connect your publishing channels (2 minutes, optional)
- 03Step 2 — Import your first video (1 minute)
- 04Step 3 — Your first post (30 seconds)
- 05Step 4 — Train your Brand Voice (15 minutes, most important)
- 06Step 5 — Review and approve (10 minutes)
- 07Step 6 — Publish (or copy out manually)
- 08What to do tomorrow
What you need before you start
Clipflow bundles the AI into the plan — no API keys to configure, no credits to top up. Before you import your first video, you need exactly one thing: a long-form recording. Auto-publishing needs one Upload-Post connection on top, and you can skip that on day one and add it later.
Accounts to have ready
- (optional) An Upload-Post account for auto-publishing — free tier covers 10 posts/month
- One long-form recording to import — podcast, Loom, Zoom, or 10+ minute reflection
Step 1 — Connect your publishing channels (2 minutes, optional)
Open Settings → Channels. Instagram and YouTube connect in one click and receive the clip itself. TikTok and Pinterest post through an Upload-Post account connected to the workspace, and LinkedIn gets the clip once it is linked in that account (its one-click connection posts text only). Facebook gets no clips. The AI needs no setup at all: transcription, clipping, and captions run bundled in the plan.
Step 2 — Import your first video (1 minute)
Click Videos in the sidebar — it opens on the Smart-Import box, which takes the video: drop an MP4 or MOV, or paste a YouTube link. Clipflow detects which, no per-format tabs to pick. Scripts, audio-only files, web pages and RSS feeds are not imported — clips are cut from video.
- Upload or link your longest-form recording — the clip finder needs raw material
- Pick a recording where you talk naturally, not a prepared script
- If using YouTube, make sure transcripts are available on the video
- Do not import a 60-second vertical video — there is nothing to clip from
- Do not paste incomplete transcripts — broken timestamps hurt clip ranking
- Do not upload private recordings you have not reviewed — AI sees everything
Step 3 — Your first post (30 seconds)
Once the content status turns "Ready" (transcript present), Clipflow writes one post for the video in your brand voice — the caption that goes out with its clips. It appears on your Drafts board within roughly 30 seconds. The post names no network: you pick the channels when you publish.
Open the content you just imported
Click the card from the library. You will see the transcript and the clips Clipflow found; the post is written on its own once the transcript is in.
Let it write
One AI call, in your brand voice. Watch the "Generating..." indicator tick through.
Review the output in Drafts
Open the video and click Review & publish under its clips — that opens the video’s posts. Your fresh post is ready for review; the card shows the caption, the clip it carries and a virality-like ranking signal. Review all on the dashboard opens the posts of every video at once.
Step 4 — Train your Brand Voice (15 minutes, most important)
Skip this step and the AI sounds generic. Settings → Brand Voice. Fill in three fields: tone, words to avoid, example hook. Specificity matters more than length — one sentence of detail beats a paragraph of vagueness.
Boost your engagement with these actionable tips that will help you grow your audience! What are your thoughts? 💪🚀
Reads like every other tool
Nobody told me the algorithm doesn't care about effort — only about the first 3 seconds. Here's the fix that actually works:
First-person, contractions, specific
Example Tone field
I write in first person, use em-dashes instead of commas for pacing, never start sentences with 'So,' and always end short-form posts with a specific action — not an engagement question.
Friendly, professional, approachable.
After saving, go back to the video, click Review & publish and regenerate the post. The new draft will be noticeably closer to how you actually write. If they are not, the Brand Voice copy is too vague — rewrite it more specifically.
Step 5 — Review and approve (10 minutes)
On the video’s posts (Review & publish under its clips), read each draft. Minor edit: click inline and retype. Major miss: click Regenerate. Happy with it: click Approve.
Step 6 — Publish (or copy out manually)
With a channel connected, you publish right where you approve: every approved draft on the Review board carries a Publish button — pick the platforms, hit Publish now, done. Approved a whole batch? The bar at the bottom of the Review board offers "Send N now": one click, a confirm, and the queue drains to your live accounts over the next minutes — with an Undo while rows are still waiting. Nothing connected yet? Use Copy text on a draft (or Download all posts for the whole video) and paste into each platform by hand.
What to do tomorrow
You now have a working pipeline. The next 6 days compound — not by adding more tools, but by refining the voice and the cadence.
Week 1 calendar
- Day 2: Import another recording. Do NOT re-tune brand voice yet — you need more data points first.
- Day 3: Review yesterday’s posts. Which hook got the most watch-through? Update your example hook in Brand Voice.
- Day 4: Try the A/B Hook Testing feature on your next draft. Pick the winner, ship it.
- Day 5: Generate a thumbnail for your YouTube post via Thumbnail Studio.
- Day 7: Review what worked. If the output still sounds off, the Brand Voice settings are still too vague — get more specific.
Keep reading
Try this workflow on your next recording.
7 days free, no card. Your first draft lands in about two minutes.
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