Complete guide to SocialBu Automation

SocialBu Automations let you run actions automatically when a selected trigger happens. You can use automations to reply to messages or comments, publish posts, add posts to queues, send emails, or send data to another tool through an HTTP request.

This guide explains the main automation options available in SocialBu and what each option does.

Where to find Automations

Go to Automations in your SocialBu dashboard. From there, you can create a new automation, edit an existing automation, duplicate it, enable or disable it, review recent logs, or delete it.

How an automation works

A SocialBu automation has three main parts:

• Trigger: The event that starts the automation.

• Conditions: Optional rules that decide whether the automation should continue.

• Actions: The tasks SocialBu performs when the trigger happens and the conditions match.

An automation can have multiple rule groups. Each rule group can include conditions and one or more actions.

Available automation triggers

You can start an automation from these trigger types:

• Message is received: Runs when a connected account receives an incoming message.

• New post is published by account: Runs when the selected account publishes a new post.

• Someone replies to a Facebook post: Runs when someone replies to a Facebook post.

• Someone posts a Facebook review: Runs when a Facebook review is received.

• Someone leaves an Instagram comment: Runs when a comment is added on Instagram.

• RSS Feed has new item: Runs when a new item is found in the RSS feed URL.

• Webhook is triggered: Runs when the automation webhook URL receives a request.

Trigger settings

Some triggers need an extra setting before they can work:

• Account-based triggers: Select the connected social account that should trigger the automation.

• RSS trigger: Enter a valid RSS feed URL.

• Webhook trigger: SocialBu gives you a webhook URL that can be called by another app or service.

Condition options

Conditions let you run actions only when the trigger data matches your rules. SocialBu supports condition groups with AND and OR logic.

Available operators include:

• is and is not

• contains and doesn't contain

• starts with and ends with

• is greater than and is less than for number fields

• yes and no for true/false fields

Conditions available by trigger

Webhook is triggered

• Request body

Message is received

• Message content

• Has media, where supported

• Has sticker, where supported

New post is published by account

• Post content

• Has media

• Media URL, if available

• Post permalink

RSS Feed has new item

• Item title

• Item link

• Item image

• Item description

• Item author

• Item category

• Has image

Facebook post reply

• Content

• Has media

• Post is published by account

• Post ID

• Facebook name, where available

Facebook review

• Content

• Is positive

• Facebook name, where available

Instagram comment

• Content

• Instagram username, where available

Available automation actions

Actions are what SocialBu does after the automation runs.

Send reply

Available for supported message, Facebook reply/review, and Instagram comment triggers. It sends a reply using the connected account. Reply content is required.

Send an email

Sends an email to one or more recipients. You can set recipients, subject, and email body.

Publish a post

Creates a post for one or more selected social accounts. You can set the post content, attach media when available, trim links from post text, and optionally schedule the post using a timestamp or relative time.

Add post to queue

Adds a post to a selected SocialBu queue. You can set the post content and attach media when available.

HTTP Request

Sends a POST request with a JSON body to an external URL. This action can return response data that later actions can use.

Post and media options

For post-related actions, SocialBu can use available media from the trigger, such as an RSS item image or a media URL from a social post. You can also provide a media URL in fields that support it.

For scheduled automation posts, the schedule field can use:

• A placeholder that returns a Unix timestamp.

• A relative time such as +2 hours, +3 days, or +1 week.

Placeholders

Automation fields can use placeholders from the trigger data. For example, an RSS automation can use item title, link, image, author, category, or description in the post content, email body, or HTTP request body.

Some actions also export data for later actions. For example, an HTTP Request action can export whether the request was successful and the response body. Later actions can use that output as an action placeholder.

Team automations

Automations can also be connected to teams when team access is available.

• To create an automation for a team, a member needs automation create permission.

• To edit team automations, a member needs automation edit permission.

• Team automation limits depend on the team owner's plan.

• Automation actions can only use accounts and queues available to the user or team.

Activation, logs, and failures

• Automations can be active or inactive.

• SocialBu keeps recent automation logs so you can review what happened.

• If an automation fails, SocialBu may deactivate it and notify the user.

• If ignore failure is enabled, SocialBu logs the error instead of deactivating the automation because of that failure.

• If the account attached to an automation is no longer available, the automation can be deactivated.

Limits and validation

• An automation needs a description.

• An automation needs one trigger.

• An automation must have at least one rule group.

• Up to 10 rule groups can be saved.

• Each rule group needs at least one action.

• RSS feed URLs must be valid active URLs.

• Selected accounts and queues must be available to the user or team.

• Post content must fit the selected account's allowed post length.

• For X/Twitter accounts, automation post content cannot start with @ and cannot contain multiple @ mentions.

• HTTP Request actions currently support POST requests with JSON bodies.

Common use cases

• Send an automatic reply when a message is received.

• Reply to Facebook post replies or reviews.

• Reply to Instagram comments.

• Publish a post when a new RSS item is detected.

• Add RSS content to a queue automatically.

• Send an email alert when a condition is matched.

• Send trigger data to another app through an HTTP request.

Troubleshooting

The automation did not run.

Check that the automation is active, the trigger account or RSS URL is correct, and the conditions match the incoming data.

The automation was deactivated.

An action may have failed, the connected account may no longer be available, or the automation exceeded plan/resource limits.

The post was not created.

Check that the selected account is available, the content length is valid for that network, and any media URL is valid.

The HTTP request failed.

Check that the URL is valid, the method is POST, the type is JSON, and the request body is valid JSON.

Need help?

If you need help setting up an automation, contact us at support@socialbu.com.