IFTTT: An Awesome Marketing Resource that You Don’t Want to Abuse

Be careful of misusing a great resource so the results of your activities don’t backfire on you!

IFTTT is an acronym for the words:  “If this, than that”, and that is exactly what this awesome marketing resource is all about.  In a nutshell, the IFTTT website will allow you to create what they call “Recipes”.  The Recipes are little formulas you devise to help trigger a specific reaction.  I know you might not understand what I mean right now, but before I go into detail about the benefit of this site, and how things actually work, here is a word of caution.  Make sure that you don’t abuse the IFTTT Recipes.  Keep in mind that as with most things in life, there is always the possibility  of “too much of a good thing.”

IFTTT Recipes

According to the IFTTT website, this is the official description of a Recipe:  “Recipes are simple connections between products and apps. There are two types of Recipes: DO Recipes and IF Recipes.  These Recipes actually give you “…control over the products and apps you love.”  The “IF” recipe is triggered by a specific action, for example:

“IF” I publish a video on my Just Charm YouTube channel, the IFTTT Recipe that I selected will automatically post a tweet on my Just Charm Twitteraccount.  In reality, this action is not really new to some of us, especially when you have multiple Google-related accounts.  But at IFTTT, you really get the full benefit of how these Recipes actually work, plus, you can pick and choose the ones that you want to work together.  Not only do they have a huge selection of pre-made Recipes for you to choose from, but you can even create your own recipes! 

  

Finding Effective Recipes

Just Charm currently uses a number of effective IFTTT Recipes, in addition to the YouTube / Twitter “IF” Recipe that is described above.  Here are a few more that you can choose from their website, and set into motion yourself. 

“IF” I make a new post on my Tumblr blog, automatically post a link on my Blogger blog.

“IF” I get a positive Fiverr® gig review, automatically post a tweet to my Twitter account.

“IF” it is 8am (PST), automatically post a pre-created tweet to Twitter, saying “good morning”

As you can see, these Recipes require a specific action to occur before the result is triggered.  This can be an awesome tool, but be careful.  Inadvertently duplicating some of the same recipes can become a nuisance to your viewers.  It is easy to make this mistake when you select IFTTT Recipes, because many of them are the same, or similar (merely created by different people). 

At IFTTT, creating your own Recipes is not only allowed, but encouraged.  In fact, some of the more popular Recipes were created by people who really need them, just like you.  That is why it is so easy to create Recipes that already exist.  A smart practice would be to analyze all the Recipes you have selected, to make sure that there are no repeats.  Also, as was mentioned, most accounts that are Google-related (or owned), are already connected.  That means, that you don’t want to make the mistake of selecting Recipes that are already being trigged by Google.

How “DO” Recipes Work

The “DO” Recipes are not the same as “IF” Recipes.  There is nothing for you to trigger with a “DO” Recipe.  Instead, they “…run with just a tap and enable you to create your own personalized Button, Camera, and Notepad.”  These work really cool and rely on the connections between your devices.  “DO” apps are available for iOS and Android.

Monitor what Works

Whatever Recipes you decide to select, create, and use on the IFTTT website, just make sure to pay attention to the results that you are getting.  Try to monitor what is happening on your blog, website, social media and other related sites.  This way, you can determine just what is actually working, as well as when it’s working; and maybe even why it’s working!  After all, isn’t that what we want from an effective marketing resource?  This website is a perfect resource, and it is absolutely free to use.  The last thing we want to do is misuse it.  This is the voice of experience speaking, because I believe some of my own selected Recipes are on steroids!  I plan to go over everything thoroughly, and determine which ones need adjusting.  But as for the effectiveness of the IFTTT website, I wholeheartedly recommend the site!