Research collections, playbooks, and recordings

Research helps you write social posts from things your business already knows: approved documents, saved ideas, past posts, and your own recordings. You choose the exact text the AI may use, check it, and get drafts you can edit before anything is published. This guide is for marketers and business owners who want posts grounded in real facts.

Before you begin

• Open Social Media → Research. You need edit access to create collections and run AI.
• Have at least one source ready:
  • a document in Knowledge (you'll approve a short excerpt from it),
  • an idea saved in Content Intelligence,
  • or a post you've already published.
• Optional: an active Brand Kit, so drafts match your voice.
• Building a collection, reviewing sources, previewing playbooks, and arranging the canvas are free. Only the final AI generation uses credits, and you see the maximum charge first.

How it works

1. Collection – a folder for one campaign, product, or theme.
2. Sources – up to 12 pieces of approved text, each with a role.
3. Brief – what you want to create, for which network, with which Brand Kit.
4. Review AI context – you see the exact text the AI will receive.
5. Quote and run – you confirm a maximum charge.
6. Results – saved drafts or an editable carousel that you review before Publisher.

Create a collection and add sources

1. Open Social Media → Research.
2. Enter a Collection name, for example "Autumn menu launch", and select Create collection.
3. Open the collection and select Add sources. The Add research sources window opens.
4. Choose a Source type: Knowledge excerpts, Saved ideas, Social posts, Published content, or Competitor inspiration. Use Search sources to find items.
5. Select each source you want (up to 12), then select Done.
6. For each source under Selected context, set a Source role:
   • Facts – true information the post can state, such as prices, dates, or features.
   • Brand – how you talk and what you stand for.
   • Inspiration – examples to learn from, not copy.
   • Framework – a structure to follow, such as "problem, solution, proof".
7. Select Save changes.

What you should see: each source shows Ready or Review needed. The counter shows how many of 12 you've used.

Approve a Knowledge excerpt

Knowledge sources must be reviewed before the AI can use them.

1. On a source marked Review needed, select Review excerpt.
2. In Review excerpt for Social, edit Approved excerpt so it contains only text that may appear in public posts.
3. Fill in Review owner and Review through (UTC), the date the approval should last until.
4. Select Approve excerpt. Use Revoke approval later if the text becomes out of date.

Write the brief and check the AI context

1. Go to the brief panel (on a phone, the Brief tab).
2. Describe the post in Creative brief: the audience, the message, and the call to action.
3. Choose the Platform and a Brand Kit (or No Brand Kit).
4. Select Review AI context.
5. Read Context ready for your review. It lists every source, its role, and the exact text, plus the Brand Kit revision.

If something is wrong, change the sources or brief and review again. Nothing has been charged yet.

Get a quote and generate

1. Select Get generation quote, then Get credit quote.
2. Check the Maximum charge and your Available balance.
3. Select Confirm and run.

How AI credit quotes work

• A quote lasts 15 minutes. If it expires, you'll see This quote has expired. Request a new quote before running. Select New quote.
• You're charged no more than the maximum. If the run costs less, the difference is returned automatically. If the AI provider fails, you're refunded.
• If you close the page mid-run, come back and select Check saved status. Spacebrain collects the saved result without starting another paid run.

Review the results

Results appear under Saved results (on a phone, the Results tab). Each draft lists the Sources it used.

• For posts, select Review drafts. This opens Review saved drafts, where you pick an account, edit, and create Publisher drafts. See Review saved drafts.
• For carousels, select Open carousel. The slides open in Creative Studio, where every page stays editable.
• Earlier runs are listed with their date and status. Select Recover result to reopen one without generating again.

Finish an editable carousel

1. Edit the slides in Creative Studio and export them.
2. In Review exported pages, choose the Destination (LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram) and write the Caption.
3. Select Review draft plan, choose the connected account, and create the draft.

Creating the plan doesn't publish anything or use credits.

Start from a playbook

Playbooks are ready-made recipes, such as a carousel or a set of posts, that tell you which sources you need.

1. In Research, select Browse playbooks. Previewing is Free to preview.
2. Use Search playbooks or Category to find one, then select Preview playbook.
3. Read What you need. It explains which sources the playbook requires, often at least one Facts source.
4. Select Choose a collection, then pick or create the collection to use.
5. Continue with the brief, context review, and quote as above.

Use past results (measured evidence)

You can base a new draft on how your posts actually performed.

1. In Research, select Measured evidence.
2. Choose a Source cohort (Own accounts or Competitor inspiration), a Provider, a Metric, and a Publication window.
3. Select Inspect evidence on a post to see its numbers and the posts it was compared with.
4. Select Use in playbook, choose a Research collection and Playbook, then Continue to playbook.

This page only uses results already saved. To refresh numbers, use Analytics or Competitors. A missing number means "not available", not zero.

After you publish, the From sources to outcomes panel in your results links drafts to the posts they became and their reported results. These numbers show what happened. They don't prove that a source or playbook caused it.

Use the canvas (optional)

Prefer to see everything on one board? In a collection, select Canvas view.

• Drag cards, or select Arrange cards, Zoom in, Zoom out, or Fit cards.
• Lines connect sources to the results they produced. Select Refresh connections to update them.
• Select Save layout. You'll see Layout saved. AI context unchanged. Moving cards never changes what the AI uses.

Select List view to go back.

Turn a recording into Knowledge and Brand Kit updates

Use this when a founder interview or talk captures your voice well.

1. In Research, select Recordings & brand.
2. Under 1. Add an owned recording, pick a Knowledge base, choose a WAV file (PCM WAV, up to 10 minutes, 25 MB maximum), and tick I own this recording or have permission to process and use its content.
3. Select Upload privately, then Review transcription quote and Confirm extraction.
4. Under 2. Review the transcript, listen and correct the text, then approve an excerpt with Review excerpt for Social.
5. Under 3. Refine your Brand Kit, choose a Brand Kit, select Review brand context, then Review proposal quote and confirm.
6. Compare Current and Proposed for each field. Tick only the changes you want and select Apply selected fields (the button shows the count).
7. Select Prepare content with this brand or Continue to content brief to write posts with the updated Brand Kit.

Only the audio is transcribed. Visuals and speaker names aren't analyzed.

If something goes wrong

FAQ

Will Research publish anything?

No. Research creates drafts. Publishing still needs an account, any required approval, and your action in Publisher.

Can I use competitor posts?

Only as Competitor inspiration. Their role is fixed so they're never treated as facts. Keep your own Facts sources in the collection too.

What happens to my recording?

It becomes a private, timestamped transcript in the Knowledge base you chose. Only excerpts you approve are used for Social.

Next step

Keep drafts on-brand with Brand Kit and analytics, or schedule them from Publisher.