Social Media on Autopilot — Let Make.com Do the Posting for You

How I Built a Social Media Machine That Works While I Drink Pistachio Lattes

Raise your hand if you’ve ever stared at a blank social media scheduler, wondering how to squeeze "buy my book" into 280 characters without sounding like a used-car commercial. Same. Social media can be exhausting, but it doesn’t have to be.

What if your posts magically showed up on your platforms—at just the right time—with zero effort from you? That’s the dream we’re chasing today. This week, we’re turning to Make.com to automate your social media scheduling, so you can focus on your writing (or, you know, binge-watching Vampire Diaries again guilt-free).

Why Automate Social Media?

For authors, social media is more than just a time suck—it’s necessary. It’s how we connect with readers, share updates, and, yes, sell books. But it shouldn’t feel like a full-time job.

Automation lets you:

1. Stay Consistent Without the Hassle: Keep your platforms active and your readers engaged, even on your busiest days.

2. Save Time for the Good Stuff: Spend less time scheduling and more time writing, replying to readers—or doing literally anything else.

3. Simplify the Process: Post to multiple platforms at once without copy-pasting across 17 tabs with custom captions for each platform.

Important Note:

Pausing here to add: this is a BASIC step-by-step of setting up your social media. It’s purposefully simple, and it’s just fine and free for most users.

It’s a vanilla ice cream cone.

There is only so much I can cover in a post, so consider this your starting point and if you’re good here, then don’t worry about anything else! Don’t feel the need to stress yourself out with more, or spend more than you’re ready to!

But if you want to pull in stock images, or create images using generative AI (remember, we don’t judge how others run their business), have ChatGPT create custom captions for each social channel, create different images from templates, setup book quote campaigns, create TikTok scripts, or brainstorm cool automations, then I have a 2-hour webinar this week.

Think of that as a triple hot fudge sundae with pralines and sprinkles. You can register for that here: https://indieauthortraining.com/courses/automations-masterclass/ - and if you’re a paid subscriber to this newsletter, it’s free!

Okay, now back to the nerd stuff.

Step-by-Step: Automate Your Social Media Scheduling with Make.com

Here’s what we’re building: A scenario in Make.com that takes posts from an Airtable base (or a Google Sheet, if that’s more your style) and schedules them across your social platforms like X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and Facebook.

I know you’re going to ask, so I’ll answer preemptively. Make.com is better for this than Zapier. See my grey (gray?) hair for proof. I tried to make it work but Zapier doesn’t like hidden fields or calculations. Next week I’ll showcase when I use one over the other. Sometimes it’s subjective. Sometimes it’s trial and error.

Step 1: Prep Your Content in Airtable

First, make sure your social media content is ready to roll. If you followed last week’s Airtable setup, you’ve already got a base that includes:

• Captions: Short, platform-appropriate messages for X, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

• Images: Links to the visuals you’ll use (stock photos, DALL-E images, or your own graphics).

• Links: URLs for blog posts, book pages, or any other calls to action.

• Post Date/Time: A date picker to schedule when each post should go live.

• Status Field: Use this to tell the automation when a record is ready for action.

Step 2: Create Your Scenario in Make.com

1. Log in to Make.com: Head to your dashboard and click “+ Create a new scenario.”

2. Add Airtable as the Trigger:

   • Choose Airtable and set the action to “Watch Records.”

   • Filter for records in a view with the Status of “Ready to Process”.

   • This tells Make.com to check for new posts that are ready to be processed. It also lets you redo something that didn’t work the way you expected.

Step 3: Add Actions for Social Platforms

Now it’s time to connect your social media accounts.

1. For X (Twitter):

   • Add the X module and select “Create a Tweet.”

   • Map the Caption field from Airtable to the Tweet text. If you’re including images, map the Image URL field to the media attachment.

   • Test it to ensure it looks right. Then go delete that weird tweet.

2. For Facebook Pages:

   • Select the Facebook Pages module and choose “Create a Post.”

   • Add the Caption field for text, and link your Image URL and Call-to-Action Link. Pro tip: Images have to be hosted somewhere publicly first, so you can use Google Drive, Dropbox, or your own website for the image URL.

3. For LinkedIn:

   • Use the LinkedIn module to create either a personal post or an organization post.

   • Add your Caption and Image fields, and tailor the post for LinkedIn’s vibe (slightly more polished and professional).

Step 4: Add a Delay for Scheduling (Option 1)

To make sure posts go live at the right time:

1. Insert a Delay Module: Add Make.com’s Delay feature to the scenario and set it to use the Post Date/Time column from Airtable.

2. Test the Timing: Run a test to confirm the post doesn’t go live until its scheduled time.

Step 4 (Advanced Option 2): Create a Formula-Driven Trigger for Scheduled Posts

This approach adds an advanced step: using a formula field in Airtable to dynamically update the post status to “Now” when the scheduled date and time are reached. This ensures your automation only runs for posts that are ready to go live right now.

1. Add a Formula Field to Your Airtable Base

   In your Airtable base, create a new formula field called something like "Post Now"

   Use this formula:

   IF({Schedule Date/Time} <= NOW(), "Now", BLANK())

Here’s what it does:

• Compares the scheduled date/time of each record to the current time (via NOW() in Airtable).

• When the scheduled time is reached (or has passed), the formula updates the field to show “Now.”

• Otherwise, it leaves the field blank.

2. Create a Filtered View for "Now" Posts

   Set up a new view in Airtable that filters for records where the Post Now field equals "Now." This view becomes your trigger for Make.com.

3. Build the Second Scenario in Make.com

   Set Airtable as the Trigger:

   • Configure Make.com to “Watch Records” in the filtered view.

   • It will only act on posts with the status "Now," ensuring that posts are processed as soon as they’re ready to go live.

Step 5: Log Posts for Reference (Optional)

Want to keep track of what’s been posted? Add a Google Sheets module to your scenario, or write it back to Airtable. This is a great place to think about adding some automation in the future to track the post’s performance!

Real-Life Example: My Social Media Workflow on Steroids

Now, let me show you how I handle my own social media—because vanilla cones are great, but I’m all about the triple hot fudge sundae. My setup goes way beyond the basics and chains together several Make.com scenarios for a fully automated, customizable system that still gives me full control over the final product.

Here’s how it works:

1. Trigger: Airtable with "Ready for Social" Records

   • I have an Airtable base with a view for records marked as “Ready for Social.” These records include Google Doc URLs that link to source material, which could be anything from book chapters to blog posts or article PDFs.

   • The Action: ChatGPT reads the source material and drafts captions tailored for each platform—X (Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and even a TikTok script.

2. Bring in Images

   • The automation pulls a stock image from Pexels for visual flair. If I want something more custom, it can also call Leonardo.ai to generate a background image based on prompts. This gives me a mix of options to choose from for each post.

3. Review and Approve Captions & Images

   • Once the captions and images are ready, I review everything in Airtable. This step is critical—I manually approve or revise each caption and swap out any images I don’t love.

   • When I’m satisfied, I update the status to “Ready to Merge” in Airtable.

4. Create Final Merged Images

   • Make.com takes the approved captions and images and creates merged graphics. It combines the images with captions in two formats:

     • 1:1 for standard social posts.

     • 9:16 for stories or reels.

   • It uses pre-designed templates I’ve created, and if something doesn’t look right (like a caption being too long for the template), I can edit the image directly in Airtable using a custom “Edit Image” button.

5. Schedule and Post Automatically

   • Once the graphics and captions are finalized, I use Airtable to schedule the posts. Changing the status to “Scheduled” triggers a third Make.com scenario that publishes the posts to the appropriate platforms at their scheduled times.

Screenshot of what my Airtable looks like

When I’m ready to schedule the post, I just need to use the date picker to kick off the final automation and send it to the social media channels.

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Why I Built It This Way

This system is a balance of automation and control. Automation handles the heavy lifting: drafting captions, pulling images, and even merging graphics with templates. But the process is flexible enough that I can step in to tweak anything—whether it’s rewriting a caption or choosing a better image.

Does it take a little time upfront to build? Sure. But once it’s running, I can churn out a month’s worth of posts in less time than it takes to drink a latte. Which I’ve clocked at 4.7 seconds.

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Want the Sundae Instead of the Cone?

If this sounds like your dream system, you’re in luck. I’m hosting a 2-hour webinar this week to break down these advanced workflows. We’ll cover everything from pulling stock images and using generative AI to creating multi-platform campaigns and custom image templates.

But let me reiterate — there’s nothing wrong with the vanilla cone! Don’t automate just to automate, and don’t spend for the sake of spending. I’ll be here if and when you’re ready!

Next week, we’re pitting Zapier vs. Make.com head-to-head. I’ll help you decide which tool is best for your needs and show you how to switch between them seamlessly.

Until then, happy automating!