Automating RSS feeds using Feedly and Zapier

If you're looking to automatically send posts from RSS feeds to your queue in Buffer, a combination of Feedly and Zapier could be ideal for you.

Feedly compiles feeds from a variety of online sources such as news publications, blogs, social media posts, and RSS feeds, around topics that you're interested in. Zapier is a web automation tool, described as the "glue" that connects hundreds of other web apps. You're able to create workflows (known as Zaps) that start with a trigger, which is an event in an app which kicks off the workflow, and end with an action, which is an event that's completed automatically in a second app.

Follow the steps below to start automatically sending content to your queue:

1. Log into your Feedly account and click the + icon in the left hand side bar.
2. Search for the RSS feed you'd like to add. Click Follow and then choose an existing Feed to save it to, or create a new one by clicking NEW FEED

3. You'll now be able to access articles from that RSS feed in your Feeds area. If you want to share an article to your queue manually, you can do so by clicking the Buffer icon at the top of the article. This will open the composer where you can customize the post and add it to your queue.

   If you'd like to automate sending these articles to your queue, feel free to continue with the steps below. Alternatively, you might also prefer to stop here so you can pick and choose which articles to share from Feedly manually!

4. You can now create a Zap in Zapier to automatically pull articles from your Feed in Feedly and add them to your queue in Buffer. Zapier offer thousands of templates to get you started. The subsequent steps walk through creating this Zap from scratch, but feel free to start with this template if you'd like to. Log into your Zapier account and click MAKE A ZAP in the left hand side bar.
5. Give your Zap a title, for example "Sending Feedly articles to my Queue".
6. In the "Choose App & Event" section, find and select Feedly.
7. Under "Choose Trigger Event", select "New Article in Feed" and click Continue.

8. Next you'll need to connect your Feedly account and then click Continue.
9. Choose the Feed you'd like to pull articles from and then click Continue.
10. In the "Choose App & Event" section, find and select Buffer.
11. Under "Choose Action", select "Add to Buffer" and then click Continue.
12. Next you'll need to connect your Buffer account and then click Continue.
13. Now you're able to choose the social channel you'd like to add posts to, as well as customize the posts themselves.

    • Organization: Select the organization you're using.

      If you have been invited to Buffer as a user of an organization, you can select between your own organization and your team's. You'll need to select an organization so that we can display the correct tags for your organization.

    • Channel: Select the social channel you'd like to add posts to.
    • Text: Choose which elements from the article in Feedly you'd like to include in your post text. For example, you might choose article title and article URL.
    • Photo URL: Choose which element from the article in Feedly you'd like to use as the image URL. For example, you might choose article thumbnail image URL.
    • Top: Select Yes if you'd like the post to be added to the top of your queue, rather than the bottom.

    • Now: Select Yes if you'd like the post to be published immediately, essentially skipping your queue completely.

      Once you've completed the customizations, click Continue.

14. Then, click Test & Continue.
15. Finally, click Done Editing and then click TURN ZAP ON. Anytime a new article is added to the Feed in Feedly that you selected, Zapier will grab it and add it as a post to your queue!