Lately a ton of people have asked how we use @zapier + @Google Sheets to automate our social sharing on Twitter, LinkedIn & more.

So if you're tired of using @buffer, @hootsuite & the like.

Or if you just want to schedule 100s of shares in 30 seconds.

This thread is for you.

Basically you three simple things for this to work:

1. A @zapier account
2. A @Google Sheet
3. A social media account

Literally that's all you need.

Well, you also need some content.

But think you have that under control.

Link up your accounts

So after you sign up for @zapier , you are going to need to link up your @Google Account & whatever social networks you want to share to.

For this exercise I'm going to use my personal @Twitter account.

Create & format your Google Sheet

Before you build a Zap, I recommend you create & format your Google Sheet.

This will save you a ton of headaches.

As you can see in the image below, you should name 5 columns:

Note
Link
Image
Date
Time

Add some test data

Next add some fake/test data to each of the columns

Note - Text to share
Link - Link to article/blog post
Image - Link to image, if needed
Date - Date to share
Time - Time to share

This will make setting up your Zap much easier.

Set up sharing Zap

For this to work you are going to have to use three different steps/apps in your Zap.

1. Google Sheet
2. Delay
3. Twitter

So let's set up that first.

Search for the Apps & then add them in that order.

Set up your Google Sheet step

Now we can start setting up the actual Zap!

Select "New or Updated Row" as the trigger
Select the right Google Sheet
Select the right Worksheet
Set the trigger column

I usually leave the trigger as "Any Column"

Then click Continue!

If you did everything right, you should see a page like this!

Now we can move on to the next step.

Set up the Delay step

This step will make sure your content is shared at the right time.

Select Delay Until
Add Date
Add "at"
Add Time

This specific format will make sure @zapier shares your content at the specified time, not just share it all at once.

If you did everything right, this is what you should see!

Set up the Twitter step

Now let's set up the actual sharing part of this automation!

Select Create Tweet
Select your account
Insert the "Note" info to the Message box
Add a line, then add "Link" to the Message box too

If you want to share images, you can add "Image" to the Image box as well

After adding all of that, it should look like this:

Test it out

After you click continue, make sure to Test the Zap.

As you can see, it was a successful test!

You can now set the Zap live if you want.

Organize the content

I would recommend writing all your shares in a separate Google Sheet tab & copying them into the Sharing sheet once they are ready.

I use one called Staging in all my automation sheets.

This allows me to get everything perfect & avoid accidental shares.

Share, share, share!

Once you have got all your shares ready in the Staging tab, just copy them over to the main page.

@zapier will see the new rows & run the Zap that you set up!

And don't worry, the Delay step makes sure your content is shared at the specified time.

Congrats you made it to the end of this LONG thread.

I use this to automate our shares for the month, but you can use it on a daily or weekly basis.

Also this process can be repeated with any social network.

I have built some for @Twitter, @LinkedIn, @Facebook & more.

Let me know if you have any questions as well!

I am writing a post for the @zapier blog that will let me dive a bit deeper into our strategy as well.

So be on the lookout for that.