Best Zapier Integrations for Social Media
Last week I wrote all about the best IFTTT recipes for social media, and some people said "Hey, what about Zapier?" so here it is! If you are unfamiliar with Zapier, here it is right from them:
"Zapier is an online automation tool that connects your favorite apps, such as Gmail, Slack, MailChimp, and over 750 more. You can connect two or more apps to automate repetitive tasks without coding or relying on developers to build the integration."
Zapier integrations are called zaps. Below I've compiled some of my favourites, most of which I've used in the past or am currently using.
Heads up! This post contains affiliate links, marked with an asterisk. If you sign up through one of those links you won't pay anything extra (sometimes you’ll even get a discount or bonus!), but I'll get a small commission or credit that helps me to keep delivering this awesome free content to you! I only recommend tools that I use and trust. Read my affiliate disclosure here.
Crossposting
I know I harp on how you shouldn't do this. But there could be very specific circumstances under which it might be OK. And how do you know it's OK? 2 main things:
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it looks like its been posted directly from the social media network (or as close as possible)
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your audience is engaging with this content
If no one is engaging with your crossposted content - STOP POSTING IT.
Share Facebook Page posts on Pinterest
Since this will automatically pin every Facebook post you put out there, this one only works if you are always posting photos, ideally square or portrait-sized (remember, while landscape pictures tend to work best on Facebook, they work worst on Pinterest). If you are a retailer or blogger and your main network is Pinterest, but you like to maintain a presence on Facebook then this could be the way to go. If you're just looking for an excuse to save time on Pinterest, don't use this. Get the zap here.
Share Instagram Photos to Twitter
Normally when you send an Instagram post to Twitter, it displays part of your caption and then a link to Instagram - not super engaging for your audience. But . . . if you keep Twitter in mind when posting to Instagram (so that it looks like the post was done right in Twitter) then you might get away with it:
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write the first sentence of your caption while eyeballing what 140 characters might look like (so when it goes to Twitter it's not a half-formed cut-off thought)
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feel free to include 1-2 #hashtags in that first sentence (keeping in mind 140 characters)
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once you hit the 'Share' button, go back and either edit your caption to include the rest of your #hashtags (you can have up to 30 on Instagram) or add them into the first comment
Add new Instagram Media to Your Buffer Queue
I really really love Buffer (Buffer is a social media scheduling tool that you can read more about here). Unfortunately there are other things out there that can do more for me at a lower cost. But one of the really cool things about Buffer is that it easily integrates with so many other platforms.
This zap will take Instagram posts that you've added a specific hashtag to and automatically add them to your Buffer queue to be posted to other networks. Again, be mindful of how you create your Instagram captions and how those might look on those other networks. If you use a ton of hashtags, having these automatically post to Facebook or LinkedIn might not be the best idea, but they could work fine for Pinterest or Google+. If you write really long captions with no hashtags, these might not work great on Twitter, but may look great on Facebook or LinkedIn. Get the zap here.
Add Pinterest Pins to Your Buffer Queue
Really long vertical images aren't going to work on many other social media networks besides Pinterest. You may need to experiment with the best dimensions for your pins in order to avoid having images that are too small to read, like this (on Facebook desktop; on mobile people could zoom in if they really wanted to):
Use with caution. Get the zap here.
Create Facebook Pages posts via email
This zap only works with text-based posts BUT is does allow you to set up a way for other people to post to your Facebook Page without actually giving them admin access to your page. This could be good for emergencies (i.e. you set up the email and provide it to trusted people to update your page in the event you are sick or injured) or temporary circumstances like live-posting an event. Get the zap here.
Post new Eventbrite events to LinkedIn
If you run events targeted at the business crowd, and use use Eventbrite to manage them, this zap might be for you! It will automatically post any new event you publish on Eventbrite to LinkedIn. Get the zap here.
A Note About Posting to Facebook From a 3rd Party Application
Facebook wants us to be on Facebook all the time. They don't want us using other software to post to Facebook - if we do that we'll never click on all of those ads or get sucked into our newsfeed for 3 hours at a time!
So...if you use any other software to post to Facebook (like scheduling software, another social media site, your email marketing software, Zapier/IFTTT, etc.) there is a chance that these posts won't get as much reach in the newsfeed. I don't want to say that Facebook is penalizing these posts, but they are giving preference to things posted directly from Facebook.
With that being said, you should feel free to use 3rd party software to post to Facebook providing that you also watch your analytics closely - try it for a month and see if your reach is trending down. If it is, stop using the 3rd party software and go back to Facebook directly. After another month if you see your reach trending back up then you know it was probably the software. All in all, if your Facebook page is rocking with reach and engagement you likely won't notice any change.
Backing Up Your Posts
Backing up your posts is important for several purposes:
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in case something happens to your social media account you have a record of what you've put out into the world
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it's an easy way for you to review past posts to repeat or tweak a message (or just look for inspiration on what to post!)
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you have the final, edited copies of any photos/videos/media you've posted
Zapier allows us to back things up in a number of ways: Google Calendar, Google Sheets, Google Drive, Dropbox, and Evernote:
Special Mention: Save Twitter @mentions to Google Sheets
Sometimes you need positive posts for social proof to promote a product or service, or just for part of your PR & media kit. Instead of scrolling through your Twitter notifications or doing an advanced search, you could have all of the mentions automatically save to a Google sheet where it's easier for you to browse and search. Get the zap here.
Auto Post Your Blog
If you have your website optimized with the correct images and meta tags so that your link previews are optimized, then it may save you some time and a few clicks to have your new blogs automatically post to social media. Zapier integrates directly with WordPress to make sharing easier, but even if you're not using WordPress you can utilize the RSS feed automatically generated by your blog to share.
Sharing From WordPress
Using RSS to Share on Social Media
Other Zaps
These don't strictly fit into any of the above categories, but are still useful.
Tweet at new Twitter followers
Engaging with new followers is a great way to start online conversation and build your reputation as a friendly brand. If you like to customize each 'welcome' tweet based on the user, their industry, your existing relationship, the time of day or week, then this zap is not for you. This zap allows you to set up a single 'template' tweet that goes to every new follower - the trick is to make it general but engaging, without sounding like a promotional robot. Don't use it to ask new followers to follow you on other networks or buy something.
Oh, and before you set this up, consider the following: some of the accounts that follow you could be fakes, spambots, or porn accounts - if you are OK with the idea of a 'welcome' tweet being sent to them (that could be seen by your audience as well) then get the zap here.
Build a Twitter list from Twitter search results
This is a great zap to use if you have a custom hashtag for your business, event, or marketing campaign. Make sure that your Twitter list is public so that users get notified when they are added to the list
This is also a great way to track people talking about a particular subject so that you can go and check them out and engage in conversation before following them. Get the zap here.
Tweet when Google Calendar events start
If you have a lot of online events (webinars, Twitter chats, sales or promotions, etc.) this could be a good way to get some last minute attendees or customers. At a specified amount of time before your event starts, this zap will tweet about it. Make sure that you have a separate Google Calendar set up for the events you want to tweet about.
And not to say that this wouldn't work for in person events as well, but make sure that the timing would work out for people to get to wherever you are. For example, don't Tweet at the last minute asking people to attend your 60 minute workshop - it's unlikely they will make it in time! Get the zap here.
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