Automate social media posts with Airtable

1. Scroll to the right of your existing content table and click the large + button to add new columns.

Use the: Long text field column for the actual copy of your social media. Attachment property column for any images or videos that need to be posted. Date property column for the date and time that the content should get posted. Single select property for the platform the content will be posted on, such as Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Formula property column.

2. Enter the formula DATETIME_DIFF(Date, NOW(), 'minutes') to the Formula property column.

While you won’t be scheduling your social media posts right away, this initial formula tells Airtable the basic timing structure it should use when you schedule your posts. Most companies won’t need to get more specific than the basic date, hour and minute that content should be posted to social media. However, if you need to be even more specific, such as posting at a specific second or millisecond, Airtable offers additional timing formulas.

3. Click the large + button to add additional columns for any extra metadata and other content you need to include with your social media post.

Examples include: Captions. Tags. Author bylines.

4. Working from left to right, complete each empty column in the first row of your table, with your first social media post.

Enter your plain text copy into the Long text field column. Add any necessary images, graphics or videos to the Attachment column. Select the date and time when you want this post to go live and enter that into the Date column. Specify which social media platform this post is for in the Single select column.

5. Start a new automation: click the Automation tab above your table and click Create custom automation.

You will need to create new automations for each platform: Click the Automations button, which opens the automations side panel. Select the blue Create an automation button in the side panel. Click + New Automation. Name this automation after the specific social media platform this automation is focused on, such as Facebook or Twitter.

6. Set up a new trigger that tells Airtable to start posting your social media content by clicking + Choose a trigger > When a record matches conditions > + Add condition.

7. Add two conditions that specify when to post, and what platform to post on.

In the + Add condition menu, select When Countdown = 0. This tells Airtable to refer to the formula you entered previously, and to trigger the publishing of your social media post when the countdown hits zero, which is when the current time and the scheduled posted time match. Add a second condition for when the social media platform listed in the Single select column matches the name of the automation itself. For example, if Facebook is listed in the Single select column, Airtable will also check to ensure the automation that’s running is also named Facebook.

8. Connect the automation to your social media platforms by clicking + Add action and selecting the corresponding social media network action.

An Airtable action is the actual task that occurs when the trigger starts. In this case, you want Airtable to send the content in each of your columns to a connected social media account. Airtable has built-in integrations with Twitter, Facebook and many other major platforms. For example, if you’re automating Twitter social media posts, click + Add action > Twitter: Post tweet and either select your account or add your account if you haven’t linked it to Airtable yet.

9. Click the + signs in the action elements to automatically fill them in with elements from the database.

Where applicable, include content files in the Attachment section and caption text in the Message section.

10. Double-check that each automation is named after the specific social media platform to ensure that each automation is posting to the right account.