You know what's a huge time-suck? Social media drudgery. You know, the tedious and repetitive tasks that are part of every social media manager's job. You have way more to offer the world than copy/pasting content from social media sites into spreadsheets. YOU have creative ideas that the world needs! IFTTT helps you spend more time on that good stuff, and less time on the drudgery.
What is IFTTT?
IFTTT is a free service that allows you to automate tedious tasks, like uploading photos to Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Flickr. Or capturing tweets from a hashtag campaign. Basically, IFTTT is your very own digital personal assistant.
How to start using IFTTT
To get started with IFTTT, follow these instructions:
1. Create an account
Create an account by clicking the "Join IFTTT" button on the homepage. You will have the following options when creating your account:
- Auto-shorten URLs with bit.ly: Whether you shorten your URLs ultimately depends upon how you choose to use IFTTT. If you're posting content to any other platform other than Twitter and Instagram, you don't need to shorten the URL.
- Pick a channel for your profile: The profile that you choose for INFTTT is based on one of your social media profiles. The choices include:
- Tumblr
- Foursquare
- Soundcloud
- Vimeo
Select the one you'd like to use to representing your profile on IFTTT, which is always public.
In my case, I selected my Twitter profile which is also public by default.
2. Find cool recipes
The automated tasks you create with IFTTT are called "Recipes". Click "Browse" at the top navigation bar. Enter a search term, view featured, or view trending recipes (as shown below). Eventually, you will also see recipe recommendations based on how you're been using IFTTT.
3. Activate the best recipes
Once you find a recipe you want to use, click the "Use Recipe" button at the bottom of the recipe page (as shown below). If the recipe requires channels that you have haven't authorized yet, you'll be prompted to do so. For example if you're using Twitter in the recipe, you will be prompted to authorize your Twitter account.
3. Don't replace the human
If you're using IFTTT to automatically post content on social media channel, ask yourself this question:
Can a human do this task better?
For example, updating profile pics can easily be automated without compromising the integrity of your brand. Select file - upload - save. No empathy required. On the other hand, automatically posting content while ignoring replies isn't good either. Especially if you use Twitter, where rapid responses to replies are expected.
12 Useful IFTTT Recipes for Social Media
As you browse through the various recipes, you'll be struck by the number of recipes for social media. Here are 12 of my favorites: