Optimise Your Social Media Posting with Google Calendar and IFTTT: A Seamless Scheduling Strategy

A Cost-Effective, Buffer-Inspired Solution for Effortless Social Media Management.

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, managing social media is an essential part of any successful marketing strategy. But with so many platforms to juggle, it can be tough to stay on top of your posting schedule. Enter Google Calendar and IFTTT, an ingenious duo that can help you streamline your social media scheduling and effortlessly maintain a consistent online presence. While Buffer is a fantastic tool for this purpose, this simple yet effective alternative can save you both time and money and actually feel more productive since you see it all in your Google Calendar!

How it works

By harnessing the power of Google Calendar and IFTTT, you can create a Buffer-style app that allows you to queue, audit, and edit your social media posts with ease. With Google Calendar, you can schedule your posts as events, and IFTTT will automatically post them at the set times. You’ll even receive notifications when your posts go live, ensuring you’re always in the loop.

How to Set It Up

1. First, create an IFTTT account* or log in if you already have one.

2. Next, create a new Applet, connecting Google Calendar as the trigger and Twitter as the action.

3. Set up a dedicated Google Calendar for your social media posts. Schedule your posts as events, titling them “Tweet: Your post content” and setting the desired posting time.

4. Customise your IFTTT Applet to automatically post your scheduled tweets and send notifications when they go live.

5. Enjoy seamless social media scheduling using this powerful combination!

What am I missing out on?

While this Google Calendar and IFTTT solution offers simplicity and cost-effectiveness, there are some benefits to using Buffer that are worth considering:

• Buffer has a dedicated user interface for managing social media posts, providing an all-in-one solution.
• Buffer supports multiple social media platforms, whereas the Google Calendar and IFTTT solution is tailored for Twitter for now but this can be expanded on as you will see.
• Buffer offers advanced features like analytics, team collaboration, and post optimisation based on best posting times. We can also work on this.

If you require these advanced features and multi-platform support, Buffer may be the right choice for you. However, if you’re looking for a simple, cost-effective solution for managing your Twitter posts, the Google Calendar and IFTTT combination is a fantastic alternative.

Taking it to the Next Level

Filter codes is a powerful feature that enables IFTTT Pro+ users to customise their Applets with expanded functionality. You can use this to a create a filter to determine if the Google Calendar Event Description contains a image or not. If it does it runs a Tweet with Image, if not a normal Tweet. This feature is very powerful for customising IFTTT applets.

// TypeScript v2.92

// Get the event description
const description = GoogleCalendar.eventFromSearchStarts.Description;

// Regex pattern to find image URLs (jpg, jpeg, png, gif)
const imageUrlPattern = /(https?:\/\/\S+\.(?:jpg|jpeg|png|gif))/i;

// Check if the description contains an image URL
const match = description.match(imageUrlPattern);

if (match && match[0]) {

  // Set the image URL for the Tweet with Image action
  Twitter.postNewTweetWithImage.setPhotoUrl(match[0]);

  // Skip sending the regular Tweet action
  Twitter.postNewTweet.skip();

  // Remove the image URL from the tweet text
  const tweetText = description.replace(imageUrlPattern, '').trim();
  Twitter.postNewTweetWithImage.setTweet(tweetText);
} else {
  
  // If no image URL is found, skip the Tweet with Image action
  Twitter.postNewTweetWithImage.skip();
  
  // Proceed with the regular Tweet action
  Twitter.postNewTweet.setTweet(description);
}

TL;DR

By leveraging the power of Google Calendar and IFTTT, you can create an efficient social media scheduling solution that rivals Buffer’s capabilities. This approach is perfect for individuals and businesses looking for a budget-friendly, easy-to-use alternative for managing their social media presence. Give it a try and witness your productivity soar!

• 10% off Pro accounts using my friend link: https://w.preston.ie/ifttt

Next up I’ll be showing you how to connect other social networks as well as showing how you can automate some of the content curation and creation!

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