Imagine hitting publish on a new blog post and then social shares start pouring in, almost on autopilot.

No, that’s not a daydream.

Blogging is a lot of work, but with a few choice tools, the workload can be a little bit lighter (AND your efforts can be multiplied tenfold).

One of those tools that should be in every blogger’s playbook is If This Then That (IFTTT), an automation software that can create practically any trigger and automation reaction imaginable.

The quantity and depth of automations that If This Then That offers is almost intimidating. So, rather than browsing their website for ideas and getting lost, set up these 4 basic automations for your blog to get automatic social shares of every blog post.

Pin cover with text: how to get isntant shares for every single blog post

The Impact Of Social Shares

Using social media for blog traffic is a topic that can divide a room of bloggers in a hot second.

Why? Because social media isn’t searchable, which means it’s not a stand-alone traffic strategy. It’s short-term content that’s instantly replaced by new content by other creators all competing for readers’ attention.

But (and a BIG but): it can validate your work by generating social shares.

A high social share count gives blog content authority and social proof.

For example, the share count on my most-shared piece of content is at 445,822 shares and continues to grow daily (thanks to marketing on Pinterest, which is a search engine and not a social media platform):

screenshot of social share count from Grow plugin reading 445,822 shares of one single blog post

Dream with me: imagine if your most important piece of content had that many social shares. This impresses readers and implies that your content is high-quality.

And yes, social shares CAN bring in traffic, when done correctly over enough time.

After all, you can only get blog post traffic from Twitter if your posts are ON Twitter.  

This doesn’t have to be a time-consuming strategy. Not all social sharing platforms are a black hole of time (I’m looking at you, Instagram).

Actually, we won’t be talking about Instagram at all because the only real way to share your blog content on IG is via your stories, and those aren’t permanent.

We’re going to focus on permanent content that takes minimal effort and generates a snowball effect of sharing, while also building your authority.

Social shares are contagious. Pins, tweets and posts are reshared every second of every day, like a ripple across the water  

Time to make waves! Use the free software If This Then That to set up your content to be shared *automatically.*

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How To Set Up If This Then That (IFTTT)

Spend an afternoon setting up your automations (called applets) and your blog will get instantaneous shares every single time you hit the publish button.

Step 1: Sign Up for This Then That

You can use up to 5 If This Then That applets for free.

Go to ifttt.com/ and click “Get Started.”

screenshot of if this then that (ifttt) get started button

Set up your account. Then…

Step 2: Set Up These 5 Sharing Automations

Let’s cruise through each platform.

Psst: you’ll notice that Pinterest isn’t on this list. Since Pinterest is a search engine, you need to add custom keywords to each description and then each pin can drive traffic for years. Learn how in my Pinterest beginners guide.

Facebook

“But Facebook is dead for blogs.” I thought the same thing, but I missed out on HUNDREDS of blog shares over the years by not setting up my blog’s Facebook page sooner.

You’re missing out too.

Let’s get your blog on the right track.

  • Third: Customize the message that comes with each new blog post. A link with no text won’t jump out of the feed. Add a general message to entice readers to click.
screenshot of settings for wordpress to facebook applet

Adding an emoji doesn’t hurt either! Make it friendly.

screenshot of settings for wordpress to facebook applet

After you’ve completed those steps, you’ll automatically be sharing every single new blog post on your Facebook page!

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Twitter

*record scratch* Even if you hate Twitter and are prepared to skip this step, you need to consider something important. You need to own (create the account for) your name and your brand name on Twitter. It’s bad for your branding if someone else snatches up your username, so you should lock that down even if you have zero intention of publishing.

But, once you’re already on the platform, you might as well sync up IFTTT. It only takes a few minutes!

  • First: Create a Twitter account for your blog. Also set this up using your blog name and branding.
  • Second: Set up the WordPress to Twitter applet. Your WordPress account should already be connected.
  • Third: Customize this recipe to have a specific message, just like the Facebook share. The link alone will probably not compel readers to click through.

Remember to include a hashtag or two that’s related to your blogging niche!

screenshot of If this then that (IFTTT) WordPress to Twitter applet with custom message

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Second Twitter Share

To get double the tweets, create a Twitter account for yourself AND your blog.

The ability to link 2 accounts on the same platform is something that’s technically only offered through the IFTTT Pro+ plan (which is $5 per month), but there’s a free workaround.

You can create a 2nd IFTTT account (with a different email) and then link your personal Twitter account.

Before you do this, it’s important to know that Twitter doesn’t like duplicate tweets so you must change the message slightly within the applet settings:

Every blog post from Writing From Nowhere is immediately tweeted through my personal Twitter account and my brand account, and it’s funny how sometimes one picks up traction and the other doesn’t.

Despite having fewer than 100 followers total on Twitter, I still see Twitter traffic inside my Google Analytics. How many views could you be missing out on per year?

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LinkedIn

LinkedIn is an often overlooked platform, but it’s booming! Does it feel intimidating for you to share blog content on a professional platform?? I hear that a lot from bloggers.

I post on LinkedIn every single day and will be your friendly face in there! Feel free to send a connection request 🙂

Wordpress to LinkedIn IFTTT plugin screenshot

You need to complete 1 extra step for this automation or instead of publishing a link to your new blog post, IFTTT will share the entire post on LinkedIn.

Once you’ve replaced {{PostContent}} with {{PostURL}}, add your custom message (such as my example: food for thought, straight from the blog) and hit “update action.”

Wordpress to LinkedIn IFTTT plugin screenshot

Phew – roll-call!

After completing these steps, you’ll be getting:

  • 1 automatic share on Facebook
  • 1 on LinkedIn and
  • 2 on Twitter

Four social shares off the bat give your new blog post 4x the exposure it has without using IFTTT.

Just make sure you take a few more steps to get the most mileage out of those shares…

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Step 3: Set Up Social Profiles Correctly

In order for automatic blog shares to reach their full impact, you need to set yourself up for success on each platform.

Promise yourself that you won’t start sharing content until your accounts are set up properly.

This is a personal point for me. My Pinterest management business got started when I was hanging out in blogger Facebook groups answering people’s questions about the platform.

People constantly railed against Pinterest, even going so far as to discourage other bloggers from even trying to grow on the platform, declaring as a total authority that it was dead.

When I would offer to take a look at their account, 9/10 times I saw the same thing: these people hadn’t even finished setting up their accounts. Of course Pinterest wasn’t working for them!

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Skipping the fundamentals holds you BACK on platforms, so here’s your task:

  • Dedicate 25 minutes to set yourself up for success on each platform that you’re going to use.
  • Make a custom account banner (correct size for each platform) with your branding
  • Write an account bio that fills up the available characters
  • Research how to optimize and put your keywords in the right place

After you’re done doing all of this, ask yourself: if somebody new sees this, is it clear how I can help them?

I urge you to actually set a timer for 25 minutes per platform to get this stuff done. Setting a timer for yourself (I use this Google Chrome extension) creates an urgency to complete the task and not get lost in research and fail to act.

It’s easy to get lost in the minutiae of each platform, but remember the basics of all good marketing: tell the viewer how you can help them.

Final Thoughts

After you hit publish, how great will it feel to know that the busy work of spreading your post online has already begun??

After writing an SEO-friendly article and getting these initial social shares, the best thing to do for your article is to upload it to Pinterest.

I’d love to hear in the comments: where else do you share your blog content online? Where does your audience come from?