Piping An RSS Feed Into Your Facebook Page Or Profile is Easy With RSS Graffiti!
Whether you have a blog feed that you need to bring into your Facebook page/profile, or a podcast feed that needs to be shared to your FB connections… RSS Graffiti is your solution.
Quick Guide: RSS Graffiti Setup Step-by-Step
- Create a Publishing Plan:
- Open the app and click “Add New Publishing Plan”.
- Name your plan (e.g., “My Example Plan”).
- Add the Source Feed:
- Click on “Add New” under Sources.
- Enter the RSS feed URL and configure basic and advanced options.
- Save the source settings.
- Add the Publishing Destination:
- Click on “Add New” under Targets.
- Choose the type (Facebook Profile, Page, or Group).
- Configure Bit.ly for click tracking and save changes.
- Enable Your Publishing Plan:
- Switch the plan from “Off” to “On” to activate the feed.
- Check If It Works:
- Allow some time for the feed to run.
- Verify the feed’s performance by checking the graph icon for your plan.
- Track Your Output:
- Ensure new content is posted on your Facebook timeline with the correct thumbnail and link.
- Monitor Clicks and Engagement:
- Use Bit.ly stats to track click-through rates and engagement.
- Set It and Forget It:
- Once set up, RSS Graffiti runs on autopilot, consistently publishing new content.
RSS Graffiti is Your Answer To Importing RSS Feeds on Facebook [Full Guide]
You can find RSS Graffiti at their Fan Page here and at the direct link to the application.
I suggest liking their page so that you get application update notifications.
Step 1: Create A Publishing Plan
Once you have opened the app, click on the “Add New Publishing Plan” button and name your plan. (For this demo, I named mine “My Example Plan”.) You can easily rename your plan later by clicking on the plan’s name.
You will notice that both the “Source” and “Target” buttons are grey, but can be clicked on.
Step 2: Add The Source Feed
Let’s start with the “Add New” news to Sources!
The source is where the content is coming from. This is the original RSS feed URL.
If your feed can be auto-detected, it may be able to use the basic site URL but it’s probably best to expect to use the RSS feed.
Enter your feed URL and click “Add Source”
On the next screen you will have both basic and advanced options (in tabs) that you will want to configure.
How you set these has a lot to do with what type of feed it is. A weekly blog needs different settings than an 8x/day media alert feed.
In the example above, we have set the source as MY blog. This is a high frequency site that sometimes publishes multiple times per day.
For this, we are checking the feed 4x/day, with no publishing delay, publishing older posts first, and publishing a maximum of one post at a time, with a text blurb that says: [New Blog Post] {Post Title}
Now, click “Save”
Step 3: Add The Publishing Destination
… and on the main screen we now want to move on to the “Add New” Target button!
Your target is where the feed will be piped into and where will host the resulting output as shared link back to the original.
Your target can be a Facebook Profile, Facebook (Fan/Business) Page, or Facebook Group!
On the “Add New Target” Basic Tab, you have three options for your publishing type. Generally speaking, you’re going to want to use the default (Standard)
Step 4: Set Up Bit.ly
While we’re still on the “Add New Target” window… click over to the Bit.ly tab and configure your bitly account. This is important for click tracking.
You will need to enter your Bit.ly key which you will get by first signing into Bit.ly and then by vising here.
Then click “Save Changes” to add the target.
Step 5: Enable Your Publishing Plan
Now, back at the main screen, you want to move the “Off” switch to “On” to enable the feed. You can easily switch it off at any time.
Step 6: Check If It Works (Done Later)
Once you have allowed the feed to run for some time… you can easily check whether the application is doing it’s job by opening the “graph” icon in the upper right of your individual plan.
(In the example above, you see errors, due to some site down-time I had last week. You will not generally see success rates so low.)
Step 7: Checking Our Output!
Once the RSS Graffiti publishing plan has been allowed to run – and you have published new content – the item will be published on the timeline of your profile/page group and look like this:
The standard publishing style does a great job of picking up a thumbnail if you have used a thumbnail scaled image in your post. (You are doing that right?)
Step 8: Tracking Your Clicks
Above.. you can see that the outbound link is actually a bit.ly URL and you can then check the stats on your bit.ly URL.
This can be a good way to keep an eye on whether your fans are filtering out application postings and whether or not they actually like your titles enough to click on them. (Post titles are the leading factor in click through rates.)
Step 9: Set It & Forget It!
One of the things you’ll like most about this app is that it will work consistently month after month. Once it’s set up, it’s generally on auto pilot unless they add new features (which they do from time to time. Be sure to like their page so you get those updates.
Wrapping Up
RSS Graffiti makes it super easy to bring in blog feeds, media feeds, and other RSS feeds into Facebook to share with your connections!
Have you imported any RSS feeds into your Facebook properties?
PS: This tutorial covered how to import a feed. Click here, if instead, you need to get the feed of your Facebook feed to use externally.