It is not surprising to see why ‘If This Then That’ is quickly becoming the most popular automation package for SME’s through Internet-connected services. It doesn’t matter if you are on the Web or using specific apps via iOS or Android, IFTTT is guaranteed to manage just about anything by means of its “channels” support.
IFTTT successfully bridges two distinct services to create a single recipe so that an action from a single service makes room for a separate action at another. This means the action of one service will trigger another useful action pertaining to another service.
For instance, a business could make use of an email triggering a tweet. Likewise, a Facebook post can make way for a download. In this post, we will discuss an assortment of these methods more popularly known as ‘recipes’ to further elaborate these formulae.
All you need to do is to sign up for a free IFTTT account and you are given easy access to initiate your own distinctive strategy by linking a variety of channels including Facebook or email.
Some of the most important social media services that have been associated with IFTTT are as follows:
Facebook
Twitter
Reddit
YouTube
Instagram
Tumblr
LinkedIn
Apart from social media channels, IFTTT is also related with a large collection of other channels that consists of both hardware and apps ranging from popular channels like text message, email and GPS to more creative channels.
Here are some of the few most notable channels IFTTT has been efficiently making use of to make recipes.
Pocket
Gmail
Jawbone Up
Soundcloud
Evernote
Google Calendar
Buffer
Feedly
Dropbox
Now let’s discuss in detail how you can create various formulae or recipes via these channels that can immensely help you to make your work flow more manageable and convenient.
15 Recipes to Help You
Initiate Text Reminders for Appointments and Events
Text messages are generally the most crucial ways to get data. With IFTTT you can set text reminders for appointments and events in your Google or iOS calendar. This may be just what you need to stay on top of your business as your enterprise grows and evolves.
Let your Instagram Photos be the same as Twitter Photos
We are aware of the fact that this can already be done by linking a Twitter account to the Instagram app. However, those Tweets only get to be displayed as links instead of full images.
For having Instagram photos to leave a more lasting impression in the minds of your followers, share new Instagram photos as native Twitter picture.
Let your Twitter Status Updates be Pre-Arranged
In the beginning all SME’s may have ample time to post that once-a-year post wishing their followers and subscribers a ‘Happy New Year!’ However, as time passes, these seemingly trivial but important messages are not posted with the same enthusiasm.
Let IFTTT pre-arrange Twitter status updates on a specific date and channel for doing it this year. Any message can be modified and transformed into a discreet message to someone on Twitter for establishing a more personal connection.
Automatically Generate a Link to Facebook with a New WordPress Blog Post
IFTTT is popular because it is known to save time and trigger effective actions. That is why a popular IFTTT recipe is to create a Facebook post each time a new blog post is written. By means of an easy formula, a Facebook post is generated whenever a new blog post is published.
The same recipe can be employed for LinkedIn or Twitter if you are in the habit of making regular posts on these channels. This has been an important method particularly for e-commerce websites.
Receive Text Notifications Whenever there is a New Blog Comment
Currently, one of the most important things that business blogs habitually fail at is to give due attention to comments on their blogs. If there’s a steady flow of comments coming to your blog, then it is fairly understandable to miss out on any one of them that may leave a significant impact.
Moreover, blog platforms are usually not set up to offer notifications in the same manner that Twitter or Facebook does. That’s why IFTTT has been aptly used, with an RSS feed, to receive text notifications pertaining to your all new blog comments so nothing gets neglected.
Sort Out and Save Your LinkedIn Network to a Google Spreadsheet
With this recipe you can create a Google spreadsheet for maintaining a log of your LinkedIn network and your professional associates, including demographic information related to these contacts.
As an SME expands its network, you will have a dire need to keep all your contacts in a place so you can discover exciting opportunities for extending your business operations. The same goes for recruiting new employees for which LinkedIn is actually utilized for.
Maintain a Backup of iOS Contacts to a Google Spreadsheet
Much like creating a backlog for your LinkedIn network, your set of contacts on iOS must be representing a crucial amount of business contacts and client that no SME want to lose. That’s why with an IFTTT recipe for keeping a backup of your iOS contacts to a Google spreadsheet as well setting up an update each time a new contact is entered, there is nothing to worry about losing your stored connections.
Thank your New Followers
Each time you receive a new follower on Twitter, an email notification is received. For all such emails through Gmail, a filter can be created for the message that looks up for ‘is now following you on Twitter!’ string and IFTTT can monitor that label. Each time it detects it, a tweet saying “Thanks!’ can be sent out to your new followers.
Initiate Reminders for Automatically Posting Birthday Greetings
A large number of SME’s have broadened their business horizons by making their clients feel important and cherished. That is why remembering birthdays of clients and important people can make room for initiating more business opportunities.
By setting timely reminders with the use of IFTTT in a format best suitable for your business, (email, text or any other) send out automatically generated birthday wishes to make every business contact feel valued.
Track all Tweets on a Google Spreadsheet
Now you may want to ask why keeping track of your tweets is such a big deal. As an SME is constantly looking up for ways to improve their social marketing endeavors, it is always effective to reflect back on the type of Tweets you received over the past couple of weeks.
When you have a compact Tweets log saved to a Google spreadsheet, it offers a useful backlog for keeping record of searching ways to improve your business tactics in the future.
Keep a Log to a Google Doc Spreadsheet for New Orders
A much cooked IFTTT recipe, this offers an easy method of staying organized. Enterprises can maintain a log of all orders made on their website to be saved on a Google doc. Did you think you need to manually enter each order details in this day and age? Not when IFTTT is around.
Voice Memo on Evernote
This recipe can be used by means of utilizing Siri or a service similar to that for recording a voicemail which will then be dropped as an mp3 file in the suitable Evernote notebook of your selection!
Keep a Track of Facebook Links Using Bitly
One of the most popular of IFTTT recipes, a Bitly URL can be generated for each Facebook post that you come up with. As Bitly has always been a handy tool for cutting short long URLs, it can also be important for collecting views and stats for every post.
Let Items be saved in Pocket to a Google Spreadsheet
Pocket is a popular app enabling users to save things that can be read at a later date. It doesn’t matter if it’s a handy article related to your business or an email, once items are marked, they can be read in Pocket at you convenience.
Once read, they will automatically disappear from the list. An IFTTT recipe can be created to reference these items at a later date to a Google spreadsheet.
Let Your Employees be Reminded of Important Tasks
Last but not the least, something for your employees. This is a helpful recipe for offices that are using Yammer for corporate communications. Make use of this formula to initiate a reminder that is sent out to staff for submitting time-sheets or absolutely everything else from meetings to anything important.
Final Thoughts
IFTTT is guaranteed to trigger an action that is sure to make work and business easier for SME’s when useful actions are combined just the effective way. Innovative channels and new actions that trigger more effective actions bring exciting opportunities to extend business prospects. There’s a possibility that IFTTT will come up with a premium version soon so before this happens, start benefiting from the many advantages of the IFTTT today!