A virtual channel is a placeholder channel that behaves like a real, connected social media channel inside ZoomSphere — except it isn't linked to an actual social media account, and content added to it can never be published. It exists purely for planning, collaboration, and approval within your Scheduler.
Why Use a Virtual Channel
Virtual channels give you the full Scheduler experience without an active account behind it.
Typical use cases include:
Influencer and partner collaborations – approve collaboration posts before the influencers actually post them.
Pitching prospective clients – demonstrate a content strategy before connecting their real accounts.
Onboarding new team members – train staff on a safe practice channel where nothing can accidentally go live.
Planning future channel launches – prepare content in advance for a new channel, such as an upcoming TikTok account.
Virtual channels also solve a technical limitation: since a Scheduler can't be created without at least one channel attached, they let you set one up for a future or hypothetical channel right away, instead of waiting for a real channel to be connected.
Creating a Virtual Channel
💡 Only for Administrator Accounts.
Go to Settings > Social media channels.
Click Add Virtual Channel.
Enter a channel name and, optionally, upload an avatar image.
Choose the social network the virtual channel should imitate (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, YouTube, or Threads).
Click Save. The new channel appears in your channel list with a purple "Virtual" tag, so it's always clearly distinguishable from a real, connected channel.
Connecting It to a Scheduler
Open the Scheduler you want to use and click the gear/settings icon.
Go to the Data Sources tab.
Select your virtual channel from the list alongside your real channels, and click Save.
The virtual channel now appears in the Scheduler's channel filter and can be selected when creating a post, just like any other channel.
Planning Content on a Virtual Channel
Once connected, you can create posts for the virtual channel exactly as you would for a real one:
Choose the post type.
Upload the content.
Write (or create via an AI copywriter) the caption.
Preview how it would look on the platform.
Assign a content pillar and tags.
Set a publish date and time.
Move it through your team's approval statuses (Private Draft, In Progress, To Approve, Approved, To Rework).
Comments and internal discussion threads work the same way too, so your team or client can collaborate and leave feedback as usual.
What's Different From a Real Channel
⚠️ The one key limitation is publishing: since a virtual channel has no real account behind it, there's no "publish now" option, and scheduled posts will never go out automatically.
You can only save posts to the Scheduler or to the Unscheduled Queue for later review. Once a real account is ready to take over, you'll need to connect a real channel and move the planned content there.