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Too busy to tweet? You’re a liar.

Published by Brock Warner on

Everything that happens on any social media channel can be categorized as one of two things: content or conversation. Content builds a following, conversation builds a relationship. Content is difficult and time-consuming, conversation is fun.

So, here’s an idea – outsource and automate content so you can focus on having conversations.

I know, automation sounds a lot like spam. And mostly, I agree. But it’s not impossible to automate content that is timely and valuable. If you can hit that sweet spot, your audience won’t care that it is automated.

For example –great fundraising blogs like 101Fundraising, Fundraising Detective, or The Agitator (to name only a few) provide killer content on a regular basis. They’ve never published anything that I wouldn’t share with my followers. So regularly I’d go to their latest post, grab the URL, head to twitter, write a tweet, paste the URL and send. In total, maybe 5 minutes of work. Not much, but over a span of years it adds up. Then multiply that by 10 or 15 more great blogs, and I’ve spent a pile of time compiling content before I’ve had a single conversation.

So, why not automate that process, and save myself hours a week? I’ll save time and look like a twitter ninja, the bloggers get credit and traffic, and my followers get fresh content. Sounds like a win-win-win to me.

Here’s one way to do it. This is a 5-step system I use for Twitter.

Step 1: Go to Tweriod to get a (free) report of when your followers are most active. This is important, because you don’t want to send content when nobody is paying attention.

Step 2: Go to Buffer and sign up (for free). Basically, Buffer allows you to create a queue of tweets to be released in the time and order that you specify. In ‘Settings’ you can schedule Buffer to release a few tweets at the time that Tweriod says your audience is most active. Nifty eh?

Step 3: Go to IFTTT and sign up (for free). You’ll need to ‘activate’ your Twitter account with IFTTT by clicking on “Channels” in the upper right, then clicking on the Twitter icon, and allowing IFTTT access to Twitter. Still with me?

Step 4: Go to your favourite blog, like say… www.101fundraising.org. Click on the RSS icon on the right, then copy the URL in your address bar. It looks like this – https://www.101fundraising.org/feed/

Step 5: Go back to IFTTT where we’re going to create an “If this, then that” trigger. Click on ‘Create a Task’.

5.1 Click the big blue ‘this’
5.2 Click the RSS icon (third row, first on left)
5.3 Click ‘New Feed Item’. Paste the URL you copied in Step 4, click ‘Create Trigger’
5.4 Click ‘That’
5.5 Click the Buffer icon (first row, third from left)
5.6 Click ‘Add to Buffer’
5.7 Customization time! You can add static info that will appear around the text that will be auto-populated in the future. For first timers, I’d recommend adding “RT @101Fundraising” in front of the entry title, followed by entry URL.
5.8 Click ‘Create Action’
5.9 Click ‘Create Task’

Automating a handful of content isn’t a silver bullet, but it will ensure you are pushing out fresh content on a regular basis. Your account will appear active and you’ll literally be starting conversations in your sleep. Remember though – you can’t just set it and forget it, because without the conversation, you have no relationship. And without the relationships, you have no value.

Here are some ideas for how to put automation into practice to save you time:

If a specific hashtag like #RedCross is used, have an email sent to your inbox.
If someone uses a combination of keywords like “homeless” and “Toronto” have it sent to Evernote. You could review the file once a day to keep on top of trending news.
Have all of your tweets archived in Evernote, or photos archived to Dropbox just in case.
Auto-thank anyone that #FF’s you
If tomorrow’s forecast calls for rain, get a text reminding you to take an umbrella

Good luck! Let me know how it goes.


Brock Warner

Brock is obsessed with raising money for causes he believes in. He is based in Toronto, Canada and loves to connect with other passionate fundraisers from all over the world. Follow Brock on twitter here: @brockwarner.

6 Comments

Shane · June 12, 2012 at 01:43

Great post Brock! I was going to ask you how ifttt and buffer work but this post was perfect. I’ve also never heard of Tweriod, so I’ll check that out too.

You rule buddy. Keep it up,

Shane

    Brock Warner · June 12, 2012 at 02:30

    Thanks Shane! I hope this can help out a few people and charities in lightening the load of tweeting a bit.

    Auto-tweeting can NEVER replace real conversations. I hope that comes through clear for readers, that the idea here is to use the time you save finding and sharing content investing in having real conversations with people.

Claire Wagner · June 12, 2012 at 07:35

I love Buffer and use IFFTT to push out my own content but never thought of using it for other blogs. Thanks – great tips.

icon design · September 14, 2012 at 12:45

Happens… Such casual concurence

P.S. Please review our icons for Windows and windows12icons.

Peter Anderson · November 6, 2012 at 01:21

Hi Brock,
Trying this quite a while after the post … and can’t get IFTTT to accept the url: https://www.101fundraising.org/feed/ Keep getting the message: ‘Not a valid feed url, missing feed title’.

Has something changed since you posted this in June?

Any advice appreciated – from a Twitter newby!

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