Facebook–How to Automate Sharing Your Blog Posts

This is something a social media expert walked me through the first time, but it turns out it’s not very hard. I have a separate Facebook page devoted to my writing, and I set it up through WordPress to automatically update all my blog posts to it.

If you haven’t done this yet, it’s extremely easy, at least if you have WordPress. (I’m afraid you’ll have to Google how to auto-post from other blogging platforms.) From your WP Admin page, go to Settings–Sharing. Click the Publicize button. (Note: you can also get there from the same menu page that has the stats by clicking the sharing button there.) It will give you a list of platforms to share on. Don’t overlook Google+. It doesn’t do much in terms of social media, but having all your posts there increases the likelihood that search engines will pick up our content.

Choose whatever social media services you want from the options listed, and just follow the prompts to set it up. Easy-peasy. But there’s a WordPress support page here if you want more info: https://en.support.wordpress.com/publicize/.

I don’t have Twitter chosen because my Facebook page is set up to tweet automatically. If I were doing it today, I’d probably make it easy on myself and just connect to Twitter from my blog. But if you want it to go through Facebook to tweet, here’s a post that tells you how: https://www.facebook.com/help/1547895645497795?helpref=uf_permalink.

A couple cautionary notes: first, this works best with a page, not a profile. (If you don’t know the difference between the two, check out my post: Facebook: Profiles vs. Pages.) I’ve read several articles recommending against linking profiles to your blog–they’re just too casual in nature. And also, it’s possible to link in the other direction with Twitter–putting all your tweets on your Facebook page or profile, but I’ve read several articles stating that this is unwise, too. Sending out twenty tweets a day is no problem, but most people don’t want that many updates on Facebook. Plus, the 140 character limit makes for shorter Facebook posts than are usually optimal.

And even though it’s possible to put your Facebook page on automatic, you’ll still have to access your profile to respond to likes and comments to build a network (see Facebook–Profiles vs. Pages if you’re unclear on the difference between the two). Your page will be much quicker to maintain, but you’ll still need to return likes and follows. Automation only goes so far. 🙂

About cathleentownsend

Avid writer and reader of Faerie tales and noblebright fantasy.