Social media is something that shouldn’t be ignored. Especially if you have a WordPress account. So why should you post to Facebook? Well, there are two main reasons: 1) Facebook is the largest social media platform and 2) It is also one of the largest sources of website traffic. That’s why when you post to Facebook from WordPress you increase your social media following and website traffic. Which is a total win-win in our book. Therefore today we’ll discuss how to automatically post to Facebook from WordPress.
Since Facebook has a huge user base, it can create significant traffic for your website. However, you will still need to engage with users on Facebook in order to build a strong following. Unfortunately, you can’t schedule engagement ahead of time. But you can find some of the best times to post to social media to up your views and subsequent engagement. Best of all, you can automate your blog content to your Facebook page. There are three different methods to do it with too. And naturally, having options means that you can choose the way that works best for you.
METHOD 1: Automatically Post to Facebook from WordPress Using IFTTT
IFTTT is a popular online tool that lets you automate your online accounts. Who doesn’t love something that makes the internet work for you? IFTTT lets you define applets. Each applet connects your two online accounts. Essentially it looks for a trigger on one account. And when that trigger is found, it performs your predefined action to the other account.
That means that you can make IFTTT automatically post to your Facebook account when you publish a new post on WordPress. Naturally you have to visit IFTTT‘s website and create a new account. Once you sign up, click the on your username and select “New Applet”.
This will start the IFTTT wizard. But in order to actually start the wizard you need to click on the +this link. Then IFTTT will ask you to choose a service. Type WordPress in the search box and select it. IFTTT will ask you to connect your WordPress site. Click on the connect button to continue. This will bring up a popup that will ask you to enter your WordPress site’s address, login email or username, and your WordPress password.
After you enter the information, be sure that you click on the connect button to continue. IFTTT then saves your information and connects to your WordPress site. After which it will show you the trigger that you can choose for your WordPress site. Some of the choices include, when any new post is published or when a post in published in a specific category or tag. Then click on any new post box to continue. This will bring you the “that” part of your IFTTT applet. Click on the +that link to continue.
This will bring you to the ‘that’ part of your IFTTT applet. Click on the +that link to continue.
IFTTT will ask you to select another service. This will be the service where you want an action to be performed by IFTTT. This is where you will search for and select Facebook. Keep in mind that if you want to post to your personal profile, it’s fine to select Facebook. But if you want to post to a Facebook Page, you have to select Facebook Pages.
Another popup will appear, allowing you to give them permission. Then connect your Facebook account. Next you will see the actions you can take on Facebook. Be sure to click on “Create a Link Post” box in order to continue.
IFTTT will show you some action settings. This is where you can change how you want the post to appear on Facebook. When you add only your post link, it will allow Facebook to automatically fetch the post title, description, and thumbnail. Click on the “Create Action” button to continue.
Now you’ve successfully set up automatic posting to Facebook from WordPress using IFTTT. Which means you can click on the “Finish” button to exit the applet setup wizard.
METHOD 2: Automatically Post to Facebook Using Buffer
If you haven’t heard of Buffer before, it is an online tool that allows you to schedule status updates for your social media profiles. That includes Facebook. All that’s needed is an account. One advantage to Buffer is that you can schedule the time you want your posts to be shared. Which comes in hand when you want to post during peak times. They even let you select an optimal time for sharing, regardless of when you actually publish the post.
After you sign up, you’ll need to connect it to your WordPress site. Which is fairly easy once you install and activate the WordPress to Buffer plugin. For more details on WordPress plugins head over here, so you can find out what plugins are and how to use them.
After activation, visit the WP to Buffer page in order to configure the plugin’s settings. Keep in mind that you need an access token in order to connect your WordPress site to Buffer. There access token field will have a callback URL. Be sure to copy this URL because you will need it in the next step. Afterwards you can head over to the Buffer Developers website and click on the create an app button.
This will bring you to a form where you will provide a name and description for your app, your website url, and the callback URL you copied from plugin’s settings page. Simply click on the ‘Create Application’ button to continue. Buffer will then create your app. As a bonus, it will also show you the API keys and access token on the next page.
You need to copy and paste the access token to the plugin’s settings page on your WordPress site and then click on the save button to store your settings. The WordPress to Buffer plugin will now connect your WordPress site to your Buffer account. Once connected, it will show you two new tabs labeled Posts and Pages on plugin’s settings page.
Click on the Posts tab to configure how you want your posts to be shared.
Then you will see your connected social media profiles. If you haven’t connected any social media profiles to your Buffer account, don’t worry. All you need to do is head over to your Buffer account and add them.
Click on your Facebook Account and then check the box next to ‘Enable Account’ option. Repeat this step for all your social media accounts that you want to automate. Don’t forget to check “Enable” under publish in order for the plugin to show you some more options.
You can compose a custom message and add tags. You can then add your post URL. This will allow Facebook to automatically fetch the post title, description, and featured image from your open graph meta data settings. You can then click on the save button to store your settings. The WP to Buffer plugin will now add your newly published posts to your Buffer queue, which will then automatically post it to Facebook.
METHOD 3: Automatically Post to Facebook Using a WordPress Plugin
Plugins are great, but this method is a little bit more in depth, and as a result, longer. However it does give you more control. Because you can publish posts in certain categories or tags. You can even include custom post types! Naturally you will need to install and activate the AccessPress Facebook Auto Post plugin. After activation you will see a new menu item, “AccessPress Facebook Auto Post” in your WordPress admin bar. This will take you to the plugin’s settings page.
First you’ll check the box next to the “Auto Publish” option. This enables auto-posting on your WordPress site. After that it’ll ask you to enter the Facebook application ID and secret keys. You can obtain these keys by visiting the Facebook Developers website. It’s important that you click on the ‘Add a new app’ button.
Next a popup will appear asking you to enter a display name for the app, your email address, and choose a category. You can choose any name or category and click on ‘Create App ID’ button to continue. Facebook will then create an app for you.
On the next screen, click on the Dashboard link.
This will take you to the app’s dashboard where you can see your ID and secret keys. Just click on the show button to see the secret key. All you need to do is copy and paste the keys to the plugin’s settings page via your WordPress site. Then return to the app’s dashboard page and click on “Choose Platform” button. This will bring up a popup where you select a website as your platform.
Facebook will then direct you to a page that shows you how to use the app on websites with few code snippets. All you need to do is scroll down to the ‘Tell us about your website’ section and enter your WordPress site’s URL. After that click on the next button to save your website URL and finish the setup wizard. There is still one last step before you can use the app on your website.
Make sure that you visit the App Review page and make your app public by clicking on the Yes button.
Your Facebook app is now ready to be used on your WordPress site. Just return to the plugin’s settings page, enter your app ID and secret keys. Don’t forget to click on the save settings button to continue. Then click on the ‘Authorize’ button to connect this plugin with your Facebook account.
This will take you to Facebook where you will see a popup asking for your permission. Click continue and select who will be able to see the posts added by the app.
After you give permission, you’ll be redirected back to the plugin’s settings page on your WordPress site. It’s important to remember that you need to add your Facebook account ID in plugin settings. Luckily there is an online tool that will help you find it. The rest of the plugin settings are pretty self-explanatory. You can choose which post types you want to auto post. As well as ones you can auto publish; which are filed under a certain category or tag.
However don’t forget to click on the save settings button in order to store your changes. Facebook Auto Post plugin will now start sharing your posts automatically on Facebook based on your settings.
We hope this post have come in handy for you. If you decide that automatically posting to Facebook from WordPress is a little difficult, we can help! But if you follow these steps you should be fine. Still need more WordPress support? We offer it 24/7!
Have you automatically posted to Facebook from WordPress before? Did you find it harder than you expected? Or easier? Have you noticed a change in your social media exposure because you’ve automatically posted to Facebook? Let us know in the comments below so we can discuss!
