Ifttt is likely the best and most versatile free automation tool out there. Automating necessary yet repetitive tasks is the key to freeing up your time and becoming more productive. Let’s cover the general idea behind ifttt, which stands for ‘if this then that’, and review some of the many ways this tool can automate your marketing.
So what is ifttt? Well, the company really says it best:
“Put the internet to work for you by creating tasks that fit this simple structure: if this then that. Think of all the things you could do if you were able to define any task as: when something happens (this) then do something else (that).”
To use the tool, you need to define triggers, which are the ‘if this happens’, and actions, which are the ‘then do this’. You have at your disposal various channels from which you can define your triggers and actions, such as Twitter, Facebook, Dropbox, Evernote, Instagram, Email, SMS, Google Reader, and RSS feeds.
This may sound slightly complicated, but once you start using it, you’ll find it’s actually very simple. If you sign up for ifttt and don’t know where to start, pick recipes, which are pre-built tasks made by others that you can use yourself. Otherwise, you can dig in and start creating custom tasks right away.
I always find examples more powerful than descriptions so I’m going to stop talking about ifttt and start showing you tasks and recipes that I think you’ll find incredibly helpful.
- When you star a blog post in Google Reader and tag with “Tweet”, automatically tweet the blog post
- When you post a new photo in Instagram, automatically tweet the photo
- When you favorite a tweet, automatically save the tweet to a specified Evernote note for future reference
- When you star a blog post in Google Reader, automatically save the blog post to a specified Evernote notebook for future reference
- When a new blog post is published to your RSS feed, automatically send a tweet of the blog post (or send an update to LinkedIn, or to Facebook, or to all three!)
- When you update your Facebook profile photo, automatically change your Twitter profile photo to match
- When you or your business is tagged in a Facebook photo, automatically save the photo to a Dropbox folder
- If the weather forecast says it will rain, automatically send a text with that information
- When you post a new photo in Instagram, automatically save that photo to a Dropbox folder
I hope that this post has given you ideas for how you can start using iftt today. If you have any questions about this tool, please let us know in the comments below.
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About Mary Chevalier
Mary is Co-Founder of SalesBlend and works closely with clients to help them use digital marketing to achieve measurable business results. Follow Mary on Twitter @MaryVChevalier.