How to automate social media and more with IFTTT

Yeah, I said it.

You’re wasting time, you’re pretending it’s work, and you’re distracting yourself from solving hard problems by soothing your brain with cat videos. You can do better, and I’m going to show you how with some software that saves me HOURS of time every week.

As you know, I do a lot on social media. What you may not know is exactly how many people I do it for. At any given time, I’m helping run the social media accounts of 10-20 clients.

That is a LOT of time potentially spent on social. In addition to great programs like Later which help me batch schedule updates, I want to make sure clients are getting the most bang for the their buck so to speak. If they are having me create beautiful content on Instagram, there is no reason their Facebook audience shouldn’t be able to engage with it, too.

So how do I do it all? Easy.

Introducing IFTTT

IFTTT stands for “if this, then that”. For the less tech savvy of us, that’s exactly how basic computer programming works. It’s a way to create simple rules.

What makes IFTTT cool is that you connect the apps and services you already use (Instagram, Mailchimp, IoT devices, etc.), and IFTTT will automate some of those processes for you. They call them “Applets”, but think of it like making a super simple recipe.

And like with most of the recipes we use, other people have already created many of them for us so we don’t have to think so hard. I’ve collected a few of them here for you that I personally use, as well as a few additional fun ones.

But before we get into the recipes, let’s get the oven preheating. I mean, let’s get your IFTTT account setup.

To setup IFTTT:

1. Create an account
2. Connect your services
3. Choose your recipes

It’s seriously that easy! Now comes the fun part. Let’s automate some of the repetitive tasks keeping you in the weeds.

8 Recipes/Applets to try:

1. Automatically upload your Instagram Photos to a Facebook Page Album – click here to try it.
2. Share new WordPress posts to a Facebook Page – click here to try it.
3. Tweet my WordPress blog posts – click here to try it.
4. Share your Instagram pics as native Twitter photos – click here to try it.
5. Keep your profile pictures in sync – click here to try it.
6. Pin your new Instagram photos to a board – click here to try it.
7. Share newsletter performance with the team – click here to try it.
8. Do more with your Discover Weekly playlist – click here to try it.

Have you tried IFTTT? Have a recipe you love? Post it for us to check out in the comments!