Have you ever thought to yourself “My content is wonderful, I need to share it on Facebook” but at the same time felt a burden to do it manually day by day, post by post? If so, you are in the right place! In this guide, you will learn how to automatically post from WordPress to Facebook step by step.
However, if you’re not convinced about why you should post your content on Facebook, let’s have a look at some numbers. WordPress has more than 75 million active blogs with over 400 million monthly page views, while Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world and has over 2.4 billion active users. So if you make your WordPress posts discoverable and accessible to even a fraction of Facebook users, you will increase the number of page views in your site (in other words: traffic). It’s as simple as that so you need to grab that opportunity. Otherwise, your competitors will.
It’s worth mentioning that there is more than one way to auto-post from WordPress to Facebook. Some of the main options are:
- Use online tools such as Buffer or IFTTT
- Take advantage of plugins
Now that we better understand the size of the opportunity, let’s have a look at why automatically posting from WordPress to Facebook is a good idea.
Why Automatically Post from WordPress to Facebook
- To take advantage of the huge number of Facebook users.
- To save your resources, meaning both time and energy. Think about how time-consuming and tiring it would be weighing what to post, when to post it, and posting it on the exact time and date you want. All of those troubles will go away with auto-posting. Then, you can put more of your time and energy into doing something that adds more value to your business.
- To save money. Today, one of the main resources you have is your time. It is one of those things that you can’t buy and you can’t get back. But you can use it wisely and make the most of your business. So if you think of all the time you will get from automatically posting from WordPress to Facebook, you’ll better understand why it’s a great investment. You can use that time to write a new blog, sketch a new business plan, come up with an SEO strategy, or create a tutorial video, for example. Any of those things could generate money and help you improve your business.
Most of the options in this list are free so you don’t have to spend any money to automatically post to Facebook
Now, let’s have a look at the tools to auto-post from WordPress to Facebook.
Online Tools to Auto-post from WordPress to Facebook
Online tools are very convenient because you can use them without having to download anything. Here are some excellent tools that you can use to automatically post from WordPress to Facebook.
1. IFTTT (If This Then That)
IFTTT works like a two-end magic wand that connects any two Internet accounts. Slack, Pinterest, Instagram, Dropbox, Gmail, Spotify, you name it! It’s able to do so thanks to what’s called an applet. An applet connects two accounts, which means that what you do on one account will happen on the other too.
And the best part is that IFTTT is super easy to set up and manage. To do so, just follow these steps:
- Go to the IFTTT website and create an account. You can link it to your Facebook account to save some time.
- Then, click Create on the top-right drop-down menu. You will be taken to the creating page, where you will see If This Then That with a plus symbol (next to This).
- Click it and then link it to your WordPress account. You’re gonna need to fill in the URL, username, and password.
- After finishing with the WordPress options, IFTTT will take you back to the If This Then That site, but this time you will see a plus symbol next to That instead.
- Click it and link it to either your personal Facebook or Facebook page.
- Press Create a link post.
- Select how you want your WordPress post to appear on Facebook and then finish with the settings by clicking Create action.
Good job, you’ve made it! From now on, every time you post something on WordPress, it will magically appear on your Facebook without you having to do anything.
2. Buffer
Buffer is another fantastic online tool to automate posting to Facebook from WordPress. It can be regarded as a step forward compared to IFTTT since it lets you schedule the time you want to share your post on Facebook. That means that you can post on WordPress at 9 am but if your Facebook audience is more active at midday, you can post it at that time without any complications. However, there is a (small) downside: it requires an extra step compared to IFTT because you will need to download a plugin. The good news is that the whole process is quite easy and will make the auto-post from WordPress to Facebook very simple.
How to set up Buffer
So to set up Buffer you just need to:
- Sign up for an account on the Buffer website.
- Choose whatever Facebook page you want to connect with the WordPress site.
- Then, connect your account to your WordPress website. There is a sequence of actions to do it so we’ll go step by step:
A) You need to download the WP to Buffer plugin, and activate it. After that, go to its settings page to authorize Buffer on the Authentication tab as shown below.
B) You will be taken back to the Buffer website and you’ll need to click Allow Access to get the two worlds connected. If you haven’t signed up for a Buffer account yet, follow steps 1 and 2 mentioned above. After allowing access, you will be taken back to the plugin settings site.
Now, the page will look something like this:
Do you see the new Posts and Pages tabs? There you can customize how you want your posts to be shown on Facebook. After choosing the options you prefer, click Save. Now you can sit back and relax, Buffer will automatically post from WordPress to Facebook for you.
That wasn’t difficult at all, was it? However, if you don’t like online tools and prefer something more native to your WordPress website, there are other options: plugins.
You won’t need online access or any third-party website. Just download the add-on you want, install it, and take your actions. Let’s have a look at some of the best auto-post to Facebook plugins for WordPress.
WordPress Plugins That Automatically Post from WordPress to Facebook
1. Jetpack
Known as an all-in-one kind of plugin, JetPack offers a whole lot of solutions, including content creation, security, analytics, and even SEO. And automating posts from WordPress to Facebook is within its capability too. To get started, you will need to connect your website with the Jetpack plugin first. Once you activate the plugin, you are just a couple of minutes away from allowing Jetpack to post from WordPress to Facebook for you.
Now you just need to follow these steps:
- Go to the Jetpack settings page, click on the Sharing tab.
- Under the Publicize Connections, click Connect to your social media accounts.
- You will then be taken to a sharing page, where you will connect WordPress with your Facebook account. Here you will log in to Facebook and choose whether to connect with your profile or your Facebook fan page.
You are all set! Whenever you compile a new thread now, you will see a small box on the right column. There you can customize how each of your articles should be seen on Facebook.
If you want more information about this plugin, you can have a look at our complete guide about Jetpack.
2. WP2Social Auto Publish
If you want something even easier, WP2Social Auto Publish might be the answer for you. It allows you to automatically post from WordPress to Facebook in one click.
With WP2Social Auto Publish, you can choose to publish or not specific WordPress pages and it also offers different formats for Facebook sharing. You can either share it with a simple text, a text with an image, or just a link.
The best part is that WP2Social Auto Publish is free so you can auto-post to Facebook from your WordPress site without spending a dime.
3. Nelio Content
Another simple choice for those who do not have time to explore more complex tools is Nelio Content. Although this is a plugin, it works as simply as integrating an editorial calendar that assists users in monitoring and scheduling their content. After installing the plugin, you need to go to its settings page to connect the accounts.
Setting up Nelio Content is similar to configuring Buffer. All you need to do is provide equivalent information, click some buttons, and allow the connection. Before you know it, you will have all your future WordPress posts synchronized with Facebook, and the plugin will automatically post all your content to Facebook.
Nelio Content is a premium plugin and costs 35 USD per month.
Wrapping Up
If you want to grow your business, you need to post content on Facebook. Even though that can be tiresome, some tools make your life easier so you can get all the benefits of reaching a huge number of Facebook users without complications.
To automatically post from WordPress to Facebook there are two main options: online tools or plugins. Most of the tools we’ve covered in this post are free and very easy to set up. So which one is the best for you? That depends on your personal preferences. If you prefer an online tool, both IFTTT and Buffer are great choices. The advantage of Buffer is that it allows you to choose the time you want to post on Facebook. However, if you feel more comfortable using plugins, WP2Social Auto Publish and Jetpack are excellent free choices.
Have you tried any of these tools? Which one do you prefer? Please let us know what you think in the comment section below.
