Why IFTTT Could Be the Best Blogging Tool Ever

Bloggers are busy folks.  We shoehorn post writing, promotion, and networking in between day jobs, family time, and sleep (sometimes).  That’s why I get all warm and fuzzy when I discover a time saving tool that works as advertised.  The latest tool, “If Then Then That” (IFTTT) has got me shouting from the roof tops.

IFTTT is incredibly powerful.  It works by automatically performing specific actions based on a trigger.  For example, IFTTT can watch an RSS feed for a specific keyword and perform a task when it is triggered.  You can use this automation to save time, find blog topics, and curate content just for starters. The tool is connected to dozens of social, curation, and productivity sites giving you hundreds (maybe thousands) of different ways to automate specific tasks.

I am an IFTTT addict.  It’s responsible for much of what I do on Pushing Social.  So, I’m excited to share with you some of my ninja hacks using IFTTT. In this section, I will describe the “If This Then That task. You can click on the recipe link to see an example view and use the task on IFTTT. You should print out this post and sign-up for IFTTT so you can follow along.

Here we go:

Feeding the Twitter Beast

Twitter is voracious.  You need to keep your followers happy with a steady flow of content.  The problem is finding the time to visit each article and then retweeting.  These recipes work with your Google Reader to make quick retweeting a snap.

• If a post is starred in Google Reader then Tweet it” [Recipe]
• If a post is starred in Google Reader then schedule a tweet in Buffer [Recipe]
• Automatically tweet a link for every new post on your blog [Recipe ]

Curating Content for Posts

I often get my best ideas for posts based on snippets of info in articles that I read.  Before IFTTT I had to pause, select a passage, pop over to Evernote, paste the passage, and the go back to reading.  This is a pain that IFTTT quickly solved.

• If a post is starred in Google reader then save the post in a specific Evernote notebook [Recipe]
• If a specific keyword is used in an RSS feed then save the post in Evernote [Recipe]
• If you favorite a tweet then save the tweet in a specific Evernote notebook [Recipe]
• If a follower tweets then save the tweet in a specific Evernote notebook [Recipe]
• If a keyword appears in your activity feed then save the link in a specific Evernote notebook [Recipe]
• If you add a YouTube video to your Watch Later Play List then send the link to a specific Evernote playbook [Recipe]
• Add posts in Google Reader with a specific to a specific Evernote notebook [Recipe]

Blogging Grunt Work

There are dozens of little tasks that bloggers have to check off. Here are a few that I have delegated to IFTTT.

• Change your Twitter picture with any new photo placed in a specific DropBox folder [Recipe]
• Add any new photo placed in a specific DropBox folder to your Facebook photo album [Recipe]
• Update LinkedIn when you add a new post to your blog [Recipe]
• Change your Twitter profile picture when you change your Facebook profile picture [Recipe]

This is Just the Beginning…

Geeked yet?  I’m sure you will find creative new ways to manage your blogging activities with IFFT. Go ahead and list any new uses you conjure up in the comments section below.