Help & tutorials
Get the most out of SherpaPost
Short, practical guides. No fluff.
Take the interactive walkthrough
11 short steps across the Dashboard, Preview Enhancer, and Sherpa Studio. Skippable any time, and you can re-run it from here whenever you need a refresher.
Written quick-tour
Prefer to read instead of clicking through? Here's the same workflow in 3 steps.
- Open Preview Enhancer. Type or paste your post on the left. The right panel renders it live as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, Threads, and Pinterest — with each platform's real character count and link-preview style. Pick a format preset (Story, Square, Landscape, Vertical, Ad) above the editor so the preview matches what you'll publish.
- Click "Enhance with AI" when you want sharper copy. You get three rewrites — Polished (clean & pro), Engaging (hooky & conversational), and Creative (bolder reframe). Each click counts as 1 enhance against your monthly quota. Drop in images or video on the same screen.
- Open Sherpa Studio when you have a fuller story to tell. Paste a raw input (a voice-memo transcript, a journal entry, a customer story) and click "Generate campaign" — you get a Cold Reel, a Warm Post, and a Story Activator built from the ACA framework. For 7 days you can regenerate the campaign for free; only the original story counts against your monthly campaign allowance.
Everything you create is auto-saved on the Dashboard. SherpaPost doesn't publish for you — you copy the publish-ready text and download the media when you're ready to post.
Glossary
- ACA
- A two-edge meaning. Authentic Content Architecture is the voice — embodied authenticity, "Show, don't analyze," and Sensory Anchors. Attract, Convert, Activate is the mechanism of impact on the audience — attract with a cold reel, convert by building trust, activate the reply or reaction.
- Cold Reel (Attract)
- A short, hook-driven post for people who don't know you yet. Designed to stop the scroll using a Sensory Anchor — a specific sight, sound, or felt moment — instead of a generic claim.
- Warm Post (Convert)
- A deeper post for people who've already met your work. Builds trust by showing the work, the trade-offs, or the proof — then invites a clear next step.
- Story Activator (Activate)
- The micro-CTA piece — a story moment that turns a warm reader into a reply, a booking, or a click. Usually short, specific, and ends with one ask.
- Hook bank / alt hooks
- Iskra's curated taxonomy of opening lines, grouped into 9 families (curiosity, contrast, identity, etc.). Every Sherpa Studio generation includes a primary hook plus a few alt hooks drawn from this bank — useful as captions, email subject lines, or newsletter subheadings.
- Enhance / Enhancement
- One click of "Enhance with AI" in Preview Enhancer. Returns 3 rewrites and uses 1 of your monthly enhance allowance.
- Campaign (in your quota)
- One new story you paste into Sherpa Studio and click "Generate campaign" on. Regenerations of the same campaign within 7 days are included in your plan and don't count.
- Format preset
- Aspect-ratio shortcut above the editor: Story (9:16), Square (1:1), Landscape (1.91:1), Vertical (4:5), Ad. Switching presets resizes the live preview to match what each platform will display.
- Sensory Anchor
- A specific, real-world detail — a sound, a sight, a smell, a texture — that makes a post feel lived-in instead of generic. Core to the Authentic Content Architecture voice.
Image & video file sizes
Per-file caps depend on your plan — from 35 MB on Free up to 500 MB on Sherpa Labs. SherpaPost auto-resizes large photos on upload, so the cap mostly matters for video.
See the full breakdown, plus reference tables for typical image and reel file sizes, in the media sizing guide.
- Images: export from Canva or Photoshop as JPEG at quality ~80, or run a PNG through Squoosh.
- Videos: compress with HandBrake (free) using the "Social 30 FPS" preset, or trim the clip down in Canva / CapCut before exporting.
- Delete old drafts from your dashboard to free up storage — removing a draft also removes its media.
What "Enhance with AI" does
Enhance with AI rewrites the text of your post into three variations — Polished, Engaging, and Creative — that respect each platform's character limit. It does not generate or edit images or video, and it doesn't post on your behalf.
Free accounts get 30 enhances per month. Pro gets 150 per month, Pro+ gets 400 per month, and Sherpa Labs members get 500 per month. The counter resets monthly on your signup or upgrade date, not on the 1st. Browsing previews, switching formats, and saving drafts are all unlimited and don't touch your AI quota.
Previews vs. publishing
SherpaPost is a preview & composition tool. You write once, see exactly how your post will look on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, Threads, and Pinterest, then copy the caption and download the media to post from each app yourself.
We're intentionally not a scheduler today — that would mean uploading large video files through us on every send, which would push the cost (and your price) up. If you want one-click cross-posting later, vote for it via email.
FAQ
What does ACA mean? Is it the same as Attract → Convert → Activate?+
ACA has a two-edge meaning — it stands for the voice as well as for the impact on the audience:
- Authentic Content Architecture — embodied authenticity. Built on "Show, don't analyze" and Sensory Anchors (the specific sights, sounds, and feelings of a real moment). The authentic voice strips out hype and AI clichés.
- Attract, Convert, Activate — the mechanism of impact on the audience: Attract them with a cold reel → Convert them (start building trust) → Activate them (make them send a message, ask a question, react to the post).
Does SherpaPost post to social media for me?+
No. SherpaPost shows you exactly how the post will look on each platform and lets you copy the caption and download the media. You publish from each app (or its web composer) yourself. This keeps your accounts safe and keeps SherpaPost fast and cheap.
Why a 10 MB image / 100 MB video limit?+
Those sizes are well above what Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, Threads, and Pinterest need for a great-looking post — they all re-compress your media anyway. Keeping caps reasonable means uploads stay fast and your 500 MB storage lasts a long time.
What counts toward my monthly AI enhances?+
Only clicks of the "Enhance with AI" button. Previews, drafts, format switching, character counters, and link previews are all unlimited and free on every plan.
How do I free up storage?+
Open your dashboard, delete drafts you no longer need, and their attached media is removed along with them.
How do upgrades, downgrades, and cancelling work?+
Everything happens on the pricing page while signed in.
- Upgrade (Pro → Pro+, Pro → Sherpa Labs, etc.): switches right away. Stripe charges a pro-rated amount for the rest of your current billing period and your renewal date stays the same.
- Downgrade to a cheaper paid plan: scheduled for the end of your current billing period. You keep your current plan until then — no refund, no surprise charge.
- Downgrade to Free (cancel): same idea — your paid plan stays active until the end of the period you've already paid for, then you move to Free. You can re-subscribe any time.
- On a complimentary plan? Upgrading starts a fresh paid subscription today and your complimentary access ends at the same moment, so you never pay twice.
Use Manage billing on the Dashboard to update your card, see invoices, or check your renewal date.
Can I get a refund?+
All plans are month-to-month. You can cancel any time from the Billing page — your plan stays active until the end of the period you already paid for, and you won't be charged again.
We don't issue refunds for time you've already had access to. The Free plan lets you try SherpaPost in full before you upgrade, so you can decide without paying. If you sign up directly on a paid plan, you're choosing to skip that trial step.
Questions? Email support@sherpapost.app — we read every message.
How do I delete my account?+
Self-serve account deletion is coming. For now, email support@sherpapost.app from the address you signed up with and ask us to delete your account. We'll cancel any active subscription, delete your drafts and uploaded media, and remove your profile within a few business days.
If you only want to stop being charged, you don't need to delete the account — downgrade to Free from the pricing page and your data stays put on the Free plan.
Still stuck?
Email support@sherpapost.app with a screenshot and we'll get back to you within one business day.