In this tutorial, we'll see how to automatically share a new Steemit (or Busy, Steempeak or whatever) blog post to a Facebook page, or any other social media account. On Wordpress, the Jetpack plugin provides a publicize tool, which allows to auto-post from Wordpress to different social networks. Let's see how to do the same from Steemit.
Note : Facebook does not allow auto-share to personal profiles anymore, only Facebook pages can benefit from this.
First, we need a RSS feed. It will be used to trigger the sharing action. To do this, many ways are possible, but most of them are paid options. PolitePol provides a free plan that will update your RSS feed every 10 minutes, which is sufficient for what we need to do. With this free plan, you can create up to 20 feeds, but we need just one. So, start by registering to PolitePol (if you don't, you can create a feed but it will be deleted after 14 days).
Now just paste your Steemit profile URL and click the Go button. Then you can click the Title button, select the title of a post on the preview, then do the same with the description button. By doing this, you show PolitePol how the feed is structured.
Then, click on the Save button, and copy the feed URL. Step 1 is finished.
Now we need to set up some kind of script to automatically share a new post from the feed to a social media account. We can use IFTTT, but for this, I prefer Zapier, which offers more options, and multiple actions. Create a Zapier account if you don't have any, then click Make a ZAP! button. Choose RSS by Zapier, let the field blank and toggle the New Item in Feed on, and click Continue.
Now enter your feed URL, let the other fields as they are, and click Continue. Zapier will fetch your RSS feed and give you 3 examples. Select the first one and click Continue to connect to your social media account.
Here, we will select Facebook Pages. You can choose Twitter or whatever you want, or even add it later to share to multiple accounts at once. But let's stay on Facebook for now.
On the next page, you will be able to connect to your Facebook account, and then select the page your post will be shared on. Next, choose Create Page Post.
Then, on the Message block, you can add custom text and, by clicking the button on the right, to choose predefined fields. Let's choose the title of our blog post, press Enter, click the button again and choose the description.
On the Link URL field, click the button on the right and select the Link. Finally click the Continue button.
Finally, you are prompted to test the step. This is recommended to see if the post is properly formatted. Once the test is OK, your post should appear on your Facebook Page.
The post card should mention "Posted by Zapier". If so, everything is fine, you can click the Finish button ! Give your ZAP a name, toggle the switch to ON and you're done ! Now, everything will be automated !
Note : you can click the Add a Step button on the left and repeat the operation for other social media accounts, and automatically share to multiple accounts at once !
