Zapier
It is 2019. If you aren’t automating your daily tasks, now is the time to. As a marketer, you probably have a ton of daily tasks to do and metrics to track. Doing it manually is not the best way to spend your time. Thanks to Zapier, you can reduce your manual tasks to a great degree. No more filling spreadsheets, no more monotonous tasks. Just automation.
What is Zapier?
Zapier is a web automation tool. You can connect apps to automate everyday tasks and increase productivity. There are over 1000 apps you can connect to create ‘recipes’ and automate work with easy integrations, without the help of developers.
How does Zapier work?
Consider these examples for B2C and B2B companies.
Example 1 (B2C): Your brand runs a UGC campaign. You send a form built on TypeForm to your users and collect responses in a spreadsheet. These entries are then converted to videos, which you share on social media. This is useful for brands that sell products to consumers directly (think Nike or Samsung).
Example 2 (B2B): Every time a new contact is added to your SalesForce dashboard, they get an email with a personalized onboarding video. The video welcomes them and gives a quick glimpse of how to use your product. This is particularly useful for B2B Saas products.
Terminology
1. Zap
A zap is a link between your apps. In our example 1 above, the zaps are:
- TypeForm to Google Sheets, to create personalized videos
- GoogleSheets to Buffer, to schedule videos on your social media handles
In our example 2 above, the zaps are:
- SalesForce to Google Sheets, to enable personalized video creation
- SalesForce to MailChimp, to create email campaigns
- Google Sheets to MailChimp, to add the personalized video to email campaigns
2. Trigger
A trigger is an event that initiates a zap. In our example 1 above, the triggers are:
- Form is filled by a user
- Video is generated successfully and a link is generated
In our example 2 above, the triggers are:
- New contact created in SalesForce
- Video is generated successfully and a link is generated
3. Action
An action is an event that a zap performs. In our example 1 above, the triggers are:
- Populate form responses in the sheet
- Generate video using the submitted responses
- Add video to queue for social sharing
In our example 2 above, the triggers are:
- Create a new row in Google Sheets
- Add contact to a MailChimp campaign
- Insert video URL in the personalized field in MailChimp
Implementation
Step 1: Create a Zapier account
You can create an account here: https://zapier.com. To fasten the signup process, you can use Google login.
Step 2: Select your first app
Step 3: Choose a trigger
You can select what fields from the trigger app goes to the action app.
Step 4: Select your second app
Step 5: Choose an action
Step 6: Set the zap live
Benefits of using Zapier
1. Automate daily tasks
Tracking daily metrics in a spreadsheet? Automate it. Sending personalized onboarding emails to users? Automate it. Publish UGC video submissions on social media in real-time? Automate it. Turning the page while you read your newspaper? Automate it .
2. Add new capabilities to apps you use
By linking TypeForm, Google Sheets and MailChimp, you’re indirectly adding the ability to make personalized videos at scale and delivering them to your user’s inbox, to TypeForm.
There are over 1000 apps on Zapier. By linking different apps, you can come up with new ideas on how information from one tool can be transferred and used in another.
3. Easy to setup
You don’t need any developers to help you connect apps. Using their easy, intuitive UI, making zaps and connecting apps is easy pretty easy. You also have a list of preset, recommended apps by the Zapier team, which you can find here.
Some useful Zaps for marketers
Here is a collection of our favorite zaps that are useful for marketers:
1. Share articles from your company’s blog on your social channels (RSS feed + Social)
If you’re working in a team, it’s a great practice for all members to share your blog’s articles on social media. This helps your articles reach the right audience, and get good traction on social media.
These zaps trigger from your blog’s RSS feed as soon as there is a new article and post it on your social channels. Use with these zaps to share valuable content on social!
- RSS to Twitter
- RSS to LinkedIn
- RSS to Facebook
2. Get the latest news delivered to you on Slack (Feedly + Slack)
For this, you need an account on Feedly. Once you’ve created an account, create a new feed and add some sources around topics you want to stay updated on in this feed.
Then connect Feedly to Zapier, select the New Article in Feed trigger and for the Slack action, specify the channel you want to share the articles to. Stay updated with this zap!
3. Run Facebook retargeting ad campaigns for users who have opened your email (Active Campaign + Facebook)
Ypaigou can automatically add an email to a custom audience on Facebook through Zapier. Just connect a drip email provider like Active Campaign or Drip to Zapier, select the New Email Click trigger, and then choose the Facebook Custom Audiences Integrations and you’re done. Get more conversions with this Zap!
4. Share real-time payment notifications with your team (Stripe + Slack)
It is always a good habit to keep the morale of your team high. And the best way to do this is to let them know whenever a new customer pays you.
Connect Stripe, PayPal or any other payment processing software you’re using with Zapier as a trigger and select the specific channel on Slack, say #payments. Celebrate new subscriptions with this zap!
5. Auto post your Buffer updates in Facebook groups (Buffer + Facebook)
Facebook Groups Integration is still in beta and you should start using it if you aren’t already. Connect your Buffer and select New Buffer item as a trigger, then select the Post Message or Post Photo action from the Facebook Groups integration. Keep your community engaged with this zap!
Zapier Alternatives
- Integromat — Integromat is easy to use, powerful tool with unique features for automating manual processes. Connect your favorite apps, services, and devices with each other without having any programming skills.
- IFTTT — ‘If This Then That’ is the free alternative to get all your apps and devices to talk to each other.
- Automate.io — Automate.io connects all your cloud applications with amazing ease. Automate marketing, sales processes, payments or any business processes in minutes.
Conclusion
Zapier definitely deserves a spot in your toolkit. You will save hours of manual work by making simple zaps. Also, exploring new zaps and running different combinations of apps is a great way to see the bigger picture — experiencing how information from one app can be used to create something new in another app is almost poetic!
What do you think of Zapier? Let us know!
