Creating Social Media Posts from Google Sheets with Pabbly Connect

Learn how to automate social media posts from Google Sheets using Pabbly Connect. Follow this detailed tutorial for seamless integrations with Facebook and more. Explore systematic approaches to creating efficient automation solutions that convert technical concepts into practical, implementable instructions.

Watch Step By Step Video Tutorial Below

Setting Up Pabbly Connect for Automation

To start creating social media posts from Google Sheets, first access Pabbly Connect. This platform allows you to automate tasks without any coding. Go to the Pabbly Connect website and sign up for a free account, which provides monthly automation tasks for testing.

Once signed in, navigate to your dashboard and click on the ‘Create Workflow’ button. Name your workflow something like ‘Social Media Posts from Google Sheets’ and click the Create button to proceed. This action sets up the foundational structure for your automation.

Configuring Google Sheets as the Trigger

In this section, we will connect Google Sheets as the trigger application in Pabbly Connect. Select Google Sheets from the list of applications and choose the trigger event ‘New or Updated Spreadsheet Row’. This event will initiate the workflow whenever a new row is added or updated in your spreadsheet.

Upon selecting the trigger, Pabbly Connect will provide you with a webhook URL. This URL will be used to link your Google Sheets to Pabbly Connect. Open your Google Sheets document and ensure you have the necessary data structured, including the post link, publishing date, caption, and image URL.

• Select Google Sheets as your application.
• Choose the trigger event: New or Updated Spreadsheet Row.
• Copy the provided webhook URL for later use.

After copying the webhook URL, you will need to set up the Google Sheets add-on for Pabbly Connect. This involves installing the Pabbly Connect Webhooks add-on, which allows Google Sheets to communicate with Pabbly Connect.

Setting Up Webhooks in Google Sheets

To configure the webhook in Google Sheets, open your spreadsheet in incognito mode to avoid account conflicts. Click on Extensions, select Add-ons, and search for ‘Pabbly Connect Webhooks’ to install it. Once installed, refresh your spreadsheet. using Pabbly Connect

After refreshing, navigate back to Extensions, select Pabbly Connect Webhooks, and click on Initial Setup. Here, paste the webhook URL you copied earlier and set the trigger column to the last data entry column, which is typically the D column for your spreadsheet.

• Paste the webhook URL in the designated field.
• Set the trigger column to the last column with data (e.g., D column).
• Click on the Send Test button to capture data from your spreadsheet.

Once the test data is sent successfully to Pabbly Connect, you will see the captured data reflected in your workflow. This confirms that the integration between Google Sheets and Pabbly Connect is working correctly.

Creating Images with Switchboard Canvas

After successfully capturing data from Google Sheets, the next step is to create images using the Switchboard Canvas application within Pabbly Connect. To do this, add a new action step in your workflow and select Switchboard Canvas as the application. Choose the action event ‘Create Image’ and connect it using your API key from Switchboard Canvas.

Fill in the required fields, such as the template name, width, height, and the variables needed for your image. These variables include the publishing date, caption, and image URL from your Google Sheets data. Mapping these values correctly will ensure that the image is generated as per your specifications.

Select ‘Create Image’ as the action event in Switchboard Canvas. Enter the necessary details such as image dimensions and template name. Map the values from the previous step to create the image.

Once the image is created, you will receive a URL for the newly generated image. This URL will be used to post the image on your desired social media platform.

Posting to Facebook Using Pabbly Connect

The final step in this automation process is to post the created image to Facebook. In your Pabbly Connect workflow, add another action step and select Facebook Pages as the application. Choose the action event ‘Create Page Post’ to share your image as a post on your Facebook page. using Pabbly Connect

Connect your Facebook account and select the page where you want to post the image. Map the photo URL from the previous step and include the caption from your Google Sheets data as the description of your post. This will ensure that your post is complete with the necessary image and text.

Select Facebook Pages as the application for posting. Choose ‘Create Page Post’ as the action event. Map the image URL and caption correctly for posting.

After configuring the Facebook post settings, click on Save and Send Test Request. If everything is set up correctly, a new post will be created on your Facebook page with the image and caption you specified. This completes the automation process, allowing you to create social media posts directly from Google Sheets effortlessly.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we explored how to create social media posts directly from Google Sheets using Pabbly Connect. By integrating Google Sheets, Switchboard Canvas, and Facebook, you can automate your social media posting process efficiently. With just a few steps, you can ensure your posts are published automatically whenever you update your spreadsheet.