Schedule Articles by Using Zapier and Buffer

I had written a Zapier review on Sharing Your Blog Post on LinkedIn. I tried it out for a few months and it had indeed helped to automate the process. However, there are some hits and misses. I made some revisions to the workflow and I decided to share an update about it.

Content

1. Review of the Previous Workflow

2. Revised Workflow

3. Conclusion

1.Review of the Previous Workflow

Pros:

It was easy to set up the automation via Zapier.
The process is automated. Once a blog post is published, it will be posted on my LinkedIn automatically. I do not need to do any extra work.

Cons:

You cannot customise the content description. It's either you use the blog's title as the caption or nothing at all. You cannot add in the relevant hashtags for your posts too. You have to log in to LinkedIn to edit the post.
LinkedIn will show the URL instead of the title of the blog. It would affect the branding.
Sometimes, the social card of the blog post does not appear too. The LinkedIn content looks plain. Again, it's not professional too.

Although I had automated the workflow, I found the cons overweighed the pros. I decided to make amendments to the workflow.

2. Revised Workflow

When a new blog post is published, it will be push to Buffer. I will log into Buffer to create the caption. Buffer will publish the post on my LinkedIn profile.

What is Zapier?

Zapier is a tool that allows you to automate repetitive tasks between two or more apps! You do not need to input any code to automate any of the processes. You can connect over 2000 different apps to streamline the processes. For example, you can automate some workflows from Outlook to Slack or from your blog to your social media accounts!

How to create the revised workflow?

To keep things simple, proceed to the dashboard after you have logged into your Zapier account.

Connect the "RSS by Zapier" with "Buffer". Zapier will recommend the workflows. Select the "Add new items in RSS feeds to Buffer as scheduled items" option.

Simply follow the prompt and key in the necessary details.

In the new workflow, I decided to include an URL link only. It's because I want to write the captions, and I can only do that in Buffer.

Once a URL link is pushed to Buffer, it will be pushed to Buffer. I will be able to view the scheduled post on Buffer. I can proceed to add in the caption. Click on the "Edit" button to add your caption.

After you have added in the caption, save the post and you are done! The post is now ready to be published.

You may be wondering why don't I copy and paste the blog URL on Buffer every week since I have to log in to create the caption? Well... I want to cut short the process. I do not need to view my page, click on the specific article, copy and paste the URL link on Buffer. I can reduce the entire process by at least 4 steps. By streamlining the process, I just need to log in to Buffer. Everything is concise to 1 step. I find it more efficient.

I have been using the new workflow for a month now. I like it even though I have to log into Buffer to create the captions. Although the process is not automated and I have to spend some time thinking and writing a caption. It is worth it because I have better control over how the shared post looks.

3. Conclusion

Automating a process has its pros and cons. However, you would want to review it after trying it out for maybe 3 months. In my case, the first process did not give me the result that I wanted. I decided to modify it, and I realised and accepted that a small part of the process can't be automated. After all, this is part and parcel of process improvement. If the process is not working well, improve it! Always be looking for ways to improvise the workflows and make sure that the process fulfils your needs.

I hope you learnt a new way to schedule your articles via Zapier.

x, Esther