WordPress offers great tools that make it easy to automatically share your posts on social media. However, the process of setting this up can seem daunting if you’re not sure where to start. Luckily, as you’ll see in this article, there are plenty of plugins that will allow you to set up auto-posting with minimal effort on your part – and they’re compatible with virtually any theme!
So even if you’re not tech-savvy, you can have your content posted on social media sites with just a few clicks and little time investment.
First, you need a plugin
There are two primary ways to auto-post from your WordPress site to your social media accounts. The first is through a plugin that integrates with your chosen social media platform and WordPress. Popular options include: Jetpack, Shareaholic, and OnePress Social Locker Pro.
Each has different strengths and weaknesses, but one is right for you will depend largely on how many of your followers use each network. Once you’ve settled on a plugin, it’s time for step two: setting up your connection.
Select your social media platform
Social Media has more than 300 million active users. You can also engage with these users using hashtags and follow trending accounts, making it a great platform for you to use to grow your social media presence.
If you’re still in the early stages of starting your business, Instagram is perfect for brand awareness and interacting with customers. After you’ve established yourself online, you can start thinking about how to get followers who are truly interested in what you have to offer—and how much it will cost.
According to Hootsuite , posts from businesses that include images earn about 3 times more engagement than those without them. So if images are so important, why not automate them? There are plenty of options out there—choose one and be ready when picturesque moments arise!
Decide what content should be shared
The biggest mistake you can make is auto-posting everything that’s published on your site. Use a tool like Crowdfire (free) or Hootsuite (paid) and create scheduled posts for your most valuable assets—like fresh posts, new products, etc.
This will ensure your content isn’t buried by other brand messages. Also, think about what channels are most appropriate for each type of content.
For example, if you have an online store then Facebook and Instagram are good places to share photos of pretty product shots and cool merchandising ideas; YouTube would be a great place to post how-to videos or short demos. Don’t waste time rehashing old stuff just because it has your logo on it.
Determine timing options
Timing is everything when it comes to posting—especially for social media. Too often, users feel like they need to post something as soon as possible. But if you’re constantly tweeting or updating your Facebook status at odd hours of day, it’s a good indication that you need to take a step back and reevaluate how you manage your online community.
A good rule of thumb is not to try and post more than once per hour (and certainly no more than twice) and make sure that each update has some relevance with another; otherwise, followers will be turned off by too much information.
Create a schedule for posting
First, you’ll need to create a social media schedule. This will tell your site when it should post new content and which networks should receive that content.
For example, if you want Facebook posts to go out at 9:00 am EST and Twitter updates at noon, write those times into your schedule. If you don’t want posts going out during office hours, set off hours for your scheduled times—the opposite for an international audience or for breaking news. Whatever works best for your network!
Determine where notifications should be sent
The first step is to figure out where notifications should be sent. In WordPress, you can choose between several popular services: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+.
This will depend on how many different social networks you wish to auto-post your content. Once you’ve selected your platform of choice and logged in with your username and password, there are several options for configuring specific settings.
For example, you may choose not to include a link back to your site in each post or tweet (known as cross promotion) or perhaps choose not publish daily but instead only weekly or monthly. The possibilities are endless; it all depends on what suits your marketing needs best.
Most platforms offer similar functionality so choosing one shouldn’t be too hard!
Test it out!
The first step is to set up your social media accounts, so that when you post something, it will automatically be posted on those sites as well. I recommend using Hootsuite or Buffer for Twitter and Facebook, but really any kind of automation program will work.
You’ll also want to set up each site individually with different times so that you don’t overdo it with information. For example, I post every day at noon and then again at 9 p.m., allowing a few hours in between so that people have time to see each post without feeling overwhelmed.
Ensure everything is working correctly
We’ve written about how to schedule posts for your WordPress site (or, if you have a team, make sure everyone is staying on top of their schedule), but there are still some quick and easy things you can do.
If you’re using desktop: Open up your social media management dashboard (the one you use to manage all of your accounts) and go into each profile. See what’s scheduled.
You can also see a preview of it in most cases—so double check that everything looks good! For example, Facebook gives you an option at the top: Preview post. If something is scheduled incorrectly or looks funky, change it accordingly. This goes for whatever platform you’re managing as well.
Start promoting it!
Now that you’ve got an awesome auto-post for your site, you need people to read it! It’s time to put together a social media campaign. Start by creating accounts on every major platform—Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest are great places to start.
Then schedule posts in advance so you can focus more of your attention on driving traffic and interacting with users one-on-one. For example, if you know you have an amazing new recipe coming out at 3pm EST every Wednesday, be sure and schedule it beforehand! This way when 12pm hits (when your recipe is posted) all eyes will be glued on your account.
