IFTTT is a dream come true and can save an entire weekend of your time in a single click. I use this tool to automate portions of the social media marketing efforts in Michigan, and I’m always seeking out new ways to expand our reach and reduce the time we have to spend on busywork.

What does IFTTT do?

IFTTT offers an endless number of ways to “connect the apps you love.” Quite simply, it connects apps to each other. Then you create “Recipes” that are triggered when an action takes place on one of the apps. “If THIS happens, THEN THIS happens.” For example, if I connect my Facebook and Twitter accounts to IFTTT, I can set up a recipe such as, “IF I update my profile picture on Facebook, THEN update my Twitter profile picture with the same image.”

How are you using IFTTT in your ministry?

I use the Recipe “Get an email digest of Tweets from a specific area” to track tweets from our community. First, I set up a region to track tweets in a certain area. For us, it is the community around our organization. Next up, I enter my email address. Finally, I sit back and receive daily email digests with tweets from my local community. This allows me to listen in on thoughts, feelings, and concerns from the local neighborhood, as well as identify potential folks I can reach out to.

I also use the Recipe “Use a #hashtag in a photo caption to save it to Dropbox.” If we host an event at the local church, we often have a unique hashtag. With this Recipe, we can be sure that we don’t miss a post. For example, we had a day of service in the community and utilized the hashtag #stpaulcares. Prior to launching out into the community, we reminded everyone to share pictures with that hashtag. With this Recipe set up, our Dropbox account filled with pictures throughout the day. At the end of the day, we had an album of photos that could easily be sent to our website or Facebook page.

How much does IFTTT cost?

IFTTT doesn’t cost a dime right now.

Any other comments or insights on IFTTT?

The possibilities are nearly endless with IFTTT. However, there is a more business-friendly, professional platform called Zapier that integrates further with your workflows and business processes. If you’re looking for a comparison between the two, read “Zapier vs IFTTT: The Best Way to Automate Your Life?” There’s a free tier of Zapier, but it’s limited to 5 “Zaps” (their version of Recipes).

Download the free ebook Social Media Automation

Discover how to schedule out and recycle content indefinitely, find and engage in conversations you’ve been missing, expand your follower base, and reduce the time you spend on repetitive tasks. In addition to IFTTT, you’ll learn about these tools:

• Edgar
• Buffer
• Coschedule
• Hootsuite
• Agorapulse