Make.com — Zapier’s Nerdy Little Cousin with Serious Skills

Nov 16, 2024

You know how every family has that one cousin who’s a little extra? Like, they’re fluent in three languages, build their own furniture, and just had to bring a charcuterie board to the picnic? Meet Make.com. It’s Zapier’s nerdier little cousin—armed with flowcharts, conditional logic, and the ability to handle multi-step workflows. If automation tools had superlatives, Make.com would be voted “Most Likely to Complicate Your Life in a Good Way.”

And today, we're going to start our journey into Make.com’s world of “scenarios” (their version of Zaps). By the end of this week, you’ll have set up your very first scenario, and I promise it’ll be painless. Well, mostly.

Why Make.com? Why Not Stick with Zapier?

Zapier is fantastic for quick, linear workflows. Need to send a “thanks for subscribing” email or log a new lead into a spreadsheet? Zapier’s got it covered, no sweat. But when you start thinking bigger—like handling complex projects with branching steps, or organizing your entire author business in one giant, efficient flow—Make.com swoops in with the big guns.

Make.com lets you:

Run Complex, Multi-Step Automations: Instead of chaining separate Zaps, Make.com allows you to do it all in one place. Want to send an email, update a Trello board, add a note in Notion, and send a Slack message for a single task? Done.
Use Flowcharts to See Your Workflow at a Glance: Each Make.com scenario is like a map of your automation; you’ll see the connections, triggers, and conditions right in front of you.
Save on Automation Costs: Because Make.com charges based on operations rather than individual tasks, you can do a lot more for less, making it cost-effective for bigger workflows.

So, whether you’re an automation newbie or a Zapier power-user, Make.com is here to level you up.

Setting Up Your Automated Content Distribution System

Alright, let’s dive into your new scenario. Here’s what it’ll do:

Watch for new blog posts on WordPress.
Summarize each post and create an image using OpenAI. (You could replace this with Leonardo here, too!)
Automatically share the content across X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, and Facebook.

This setup will take your blog post, give it a social-media-ready blurb and image, and post it everywhere you want—all hands-free.

For those that don’t want to use Generative AI to create images: No worries. You can replace this step with a call to Pexels or Upsplash, or Adobe Stock Images. You can choose whichever method makes sense for your business!

Step 1: Set Up the WordPress Trigger

Create a New Scenario: In Make.com, click on “+ Create a new scenario.”
Add WordPress as the First App: Select WordPress and set the trigger to “Watch Posts.” This will initiate the scenario each time you publish a new post.
Choose Post Type: You can specify post types here if needed (e.g., only blog posts, not pages).

This trigger ensures that every time you publish a new blog post, Make.com starts working its magic.

Step 2: Generate a Social Media Summary with OpenAI

Add OpenAI as the Next Step: Choose the OpenAI module and set it to “Create a Completion.” This will use ChatGPT to generate a catchy summary of your blog post for social media.
Customize the Prompt: Enter a prompt that tells ChatGPT to write an engaging summary. For example, “Summarize this blog post in one sentence for Twitter and make it catchy.”

This gives each blog post a unique blurb for your social media, saving you time and keeping things engaging.

Step 3: Create an Image with DALL-E (Optional )

Add DALL-E: In the OpenAI options, select DALL-E to generate an image.
Customize the Prompt: Describe what kind of image you want for the post. For instance, “Create a simple, visually appealing image about time-saving tips for authors.” It’s really important to have a great prompt here. Spend time working to make it great. Otherwise you’ll end up with something like this:

Step 4: Share to X (formerly Twitter)

Add X as the Next Step: Choose X and select “Create a Post.”
Post Content: Use the ChatGPT summary as the tweet content. If you created an image with DALL-E, attach it here as well.
Additional Customization: Add hashtags or a call-to-action if you like.

Your new post will automatically go live on X, sharing your blog post with your followers.

Step 5: Share to LinkedIn

Add LinkedIn to Your Scenario: Select LinkedIn and choose “Create an Organization Image Post” (or a regular “Text Post” if you’re posting from your personal profile).
Include the Summary and Image: Add the ChatGPT blurb as your LinkedIn post text, and attach the DALL-E image if you created one.

Now your LinkedIn network is in the loop too, without any extra work from you.

Step 6: Share to Facebook

Add Facebook Pages: Choose the Facebook Pages module, then select “Create a Post with Photos.”
Post Content: Use the summary text from ChatGPT and attach the DALL-E image if you generated one.

Your new blog post is now on Facebook as well, reaching even more of your audience.

Step 7: Test and Activate Your Scenario

Run Once: Test your whole setup by publishing a sample post on WordPress. Watch it flow through OpenAI and out to your social channels.
Adjust If Needed: If anything’s not working as expected, tweak the module settings (e.g., prompt format in OpenAI or image settings on Facebook).
Turn It On: Once everything’s running smoothly, activate the scenario to automate your content-sharing routine.

Optional Add-On: Keep a Record of Each Post in Google Sheets

If you want a log of all your posts and their social distribution, you can add Google Sheets to your scenario:

Add Google Sheets: Create a new Google Sheets module to “Add a Row” each time a new post is shared.
Set Up Columns: Include columns for post title, URL, date, and the social platforms it was shared on.
Review Your Log: Now, you’ll have an archive of each post’s details, which can be useful for tracking engagement later.

Congratulations, you just met your automation soulmate! 🎉

I felt like I was cheating on Zapier when I started playing with Make.com But the moment I got my first complex scenario working? Game. Changer. I watched my tasks move from one bubble to the next like a well-oiled machine, and I may have actually fist-pumped the air (okay, I definitely did).

Next week, we’re tackling Airtable for Authors—the ultimate tool for organizing your content, tracking projects, and keeping your writing life under control. Get ready to become a spreadsheet wizard (without any actual spreadsheets).

Until then, happy automating!