Running out of time in the day to get your teams content together and distributed across all social media channels? Wanting to archive pictures and videos posted? Or track and collate fan content specific to your organisation? IFTTT is at your beckoned call then.
IFTTT; stands for IF THIS THAN THAT. Is a web based service which allows users to connect different online services which are referred to as ‘channels’ such as Facebook, Evernote, Twitter and Email (71 channels available), in the pursuit of automating certain actions between channels. IFTTT likes to refer to process as ‘Putting the internet to work for you’.
The way IFTTT allows different services to connect is through the creation of specific formulas called “Recipes”. The diagram below outlines the Recipe / Formula structure along with the core attributes, “Trigger” and “Action”.
If This Than That
To summarise the formula above; the ‘This’ part is the trigger and the ‘That’ is the action. An example of a trigger is, post a photo on Instagram and the action would be tweet twitter formatted picture.
At Sports Geek we have created a list of recipes which digital marketers can implement to save time through automating certain actions, allowing for content collating and archival purposes as well.
Instagram to Twitter
Want your twitter followers to see your Instagram photos? This recipes allows your photos to be tweeted in the correct format for twitter. Therefore there is no need to send pictures twice.
Branding
IFTTT allows for brand specific automations, with a recipe which will update your Twitter profile picture when you change your Facebook profile picture. Similar actions can be created via different social media accounts, creating a uniformed brand and saving time.
Instagram Album on Facebook
This recipe which allows for new Instagram photos to be uploaded to a specific facebook album is a great way of delivering your Instagram content to users who may not have Instagram. With Facebook recognizing hash tags you can effectively use them between both platforms
Cross Promotion
Wanting the ability to cross promote? IFTTT allows for this with a recipe which can greet a new twitter follower with a tweet suggesting other accounts to follow. This can be used in the case of players with new fans following them, with the greeting tweet suggesting specific team handles to follow.
Content Retrieval
IFTTT has the ability to connect with services such as DropBox, Evernote and Google spreadsheet which can assist in archiving of data and content. A great recipe is having your phones (iPhone) photos backed up to a specific DropBox folder. This allows for content to be saved for future use and editing during events in which content needs to be gathered away from your office.
Facebook Tags
Wanting to track photo mentions on facebook and see what your fans are tagging you in? We have found the recipe for you. This recipe can also be used in a facebook campaign in which fans can upload photos and tag the organisation. The pictures will be saved in a DropBox folder and collated for potential use as a fan wall of sorts.
Instagram Mentions
The archiving of tagged photos in facebook can also be utilized for Instagram. The below recipe allows for the user to save pictures to a Google spreadsheet based on specific mentioning of a hash tag or use of handle (@).
IFTTT is a great web service which has the potential to save digital marketers time through streamlining certain tasks while also assisting in the collection of content. With over 70 channels at your disposal the possibilities are vast and recipes can be tailored to a specific action you require.
If you are currently using IFTTT we would love to hear what recipes are your favourite, so please comment below.
Check out Sean's IFTTT profile for some more rules