Episode Details

This short video episode shows how Jethro Jones runs school social media from one photo or video. You post it to Instagram, and If This Then That recipes share it to your school's Facebook page and Twitter, so you only take the picture.

Jones's workflow runs in four steps. The Instagram post goes to his school's Facebook page, then to Twitter with the school hashtag, and a text message arrives on his phone. He built five recipes already and shows on screen how to connect them to your own accounts.

What you'll learn

• Start by posting your school photo or video to Instagram, since Jones calls it the hardest platform to feed automatically.
• Create an If This Then That account and add the five ready-made recipes from the blog post.
• Swap Jones's school name for yours in each recipe, then tie each one to your school accounts.
• Connect your school's Facebook page through your personal admin login so posts land on the school page.

Chapters

• 0:00 Why a school workflow starts with Instagram
• 0:49 The four-step photo to text message workflow
• 1:42 Connecting Instagram and Facebook in IFTTT
• 3:12 Adding the five recipes for your school

Times are for the episode without ads. Your player may be off by the length of any ads.

Questions this episode answers

How can I post to Facebook and Twitter automatically from Instagram?
Jones signs in to If This Then That, activates the Instagram and Facebook page channels, and adds recipes. Each new Instagram photo then shares to the school Facebook page and posts to Twitter with the school hashtag. He then gets a text message about the hashtag.

How do I connect a school Facebook page to an automation?
Jones explains that the Facebook page admin is his personal account, so he signs in through it. In the channel settings he picks which page to post to, here the school page, and clicks update.

Links and resources

• Social media automation blog post
• Rate the show on iTunes
• Rate the show on Stitcher
• Jethro Jones on Twitter
• Transformative Principal on Twitter
• Buy Communication Cards
• Paperless Principal book

Working on this at your school? Get a free preview of a 10-week leadership pathway built from episodes like this one at transformativeprincipal.com/start.

Thanks to our Sponsor Broadcast Made Easy who help you start a news broadcast at your school by having everything you need in one easy-to-download place. Check it out today and get your kids creating. 

We’re proud to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit