How to Automate LinkedIn & Instagram Posts in 15 Minutes With Make.com
Most business owners know they should post daily on LinkedIn - but between writing captions, finding articles, and manual posting, it becomes another abandoned task. This Make.com automation scrapes industry articles, generates branded summaries with AI, and posts to LinkedIn/Instagram automatically - saving 5+ hours per week.
What Is AI Automation?
Every morning, business owners face the same dilemma - they know consistent LinkedIn posting drives leads, but staring at a blank post editor kills momentum. AI automation solves this by connecting your content sources, AI tools, and social platforms into one seamless workflow.
As shown in the tutorial, automation platforms like Make.com act as the glue between applications. They watch for triggers (like a new row in Google Sheets), process data through AI tools, then take actions (posting to LinkedIn) - all without manual intervention.
Real-world example: A financial advisor could automatically scrape market news each morning, generate analysis in their brand voice using AI, and post to LinkedIn before their first client meeting - all while sleeping.
Make.com Basics for Beginners
Make.com (formerly Integromat) provides a visual interface where you connect "modules" to build automation "scenarios". Unlike simpler tools, Make.com allows complex branching logic - perfect for social media workflows that need to handle multiple platforms and content types.
The key components you'll use:
- Triggers: Watch for new data (Google Sheets rows, RSS feeds, etc.)
- Actions: Process data (AI summarization, image generation)
- Routers: Split workflows to multiple platforms
- Schedulers: Run automations at specific times
At 2:15 in the video, you'll see how to navigate Make.com's interface and create your first scenario. The platform offers a free tier with 1,000 operations/month - enough to test this workflow.
Setting Up the Google Sheets Trigger
The automation starts when you add a new article URL to a Google Sheet. This trigger approach offers several advantages:
- Easy manual override - just paste a URL when you want to post something specific
- Team collaboration - multiple people can add to the queue
- Historical record - your content calendar stays organized
At 4:30 in the tutorial, you'll see how to:
- Connect Make.com to Google Sheets
- Select the specific sheet and columns to watch
- Configure the "Add Row" trigger to only process new entries
Pro Tip: Use Google Sheets' data validation to create dropdown menus for content categories and hashtags - making your automated posts more consistent.
AI Content Generation With Perplexity
The magic happens when Make.com sends your article URL to Perplexity AI's API (demonstrated at 7:12). Unlike ChatGPT, Perplexity can directly read web content - eliminating the copy-paste step.
The key configuration points:
- API Key: Get from your Perplexity account (free credits available)
- Prompt Engineering: "Act as a [industry] expert summarizing this for LinkedIn..."
- Token Limits: ~1,000 tokens keeps costs under $0.03 per post
You'll see how to test different AI models (Sonar vs. GPT-4) and adjust creativity settings (temperature) to match your brand voice. The workflow captures the AI output and prepares it for social posting.
Automated Social Media Posting
At 12:45, the tutorial shows the LinkedIn connection setup. Make.com uses OAuth to securely connect to your account without storing credentials. The same approach works for:
- LinkedIn: Personal or Company pages
- Instagram: Requires Business account connection via Facebook
- X/Twitter: API v2 with elevated access
The router module (shown at 14:30) lets you split one AI-generated post to multiple platforms simultaneously. Each connection requires:
- API authentication
- Post content formatting
- Error handling in case of rate limits
You'll see the test post appear instantly in the demo LinkedIn account at 15:18.
Scheduling & Activation Options
The final piece (demonstrated at 16:40) is scheduling when your automation runs. Make.com offers flexible options:
- Interval: Every 15 minutes, daily, weekly
- Time Windows: Only post 9AM-5PM on weekdays
- Manual: Run immediately when adding URLs
For content calendars, we recommend:
- Morning posts: 7-9AM in your audience's timezone
- Midday posts: 11AM-1PM
- Evening posts: 5-7PM
Important: Social platforms have rate limits (typically 25 posts/day). The workflow includes safeguards to avoid hitting these limits accidentally.
Advanced Customizations
Once you've mastered the basics, consider these enhancements shown in the full video:
- Image Generation: Add DALL-E or Midjourney to create featured images
- Hashtag Research: Automatically include trending industry hashtags
- Engagement Tracking: Log likes/comments back to your CRM
- Content Recycling: Repurpose top-performing posts automatically
The most powerful aspect? These automations compound - once built, they run indefinitely while you focus on higher-value work. At 18:10, you'll see how to monitor executions and troubleshoot failures.
Watch the Full Tutorial
See the complete workflow in action from 4:30-7:12 where we configure the Google Sheets trigger and Perplexity AI integration. The video demonstrates each step clearly with real-time results.
Key Takeaways
Automating social media posting with Make.com eliminates the #1 reason businesses fail at consistency - the manual effort required. This workflow demonstrates how to:
- Transform hours of weekly content creation into 5 minutes of URL pasting
- Maintain a professional, on-brand presence across platforms
- Scale your content output without adding team members
In summary: With Make.com, Perplexity AI, and 15 minutes of setup, you can have an "always-on" content machine that builds your authority while you sleep.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this topic
Make.com (formerly Integromat) is a visual automation platform that connects apps and services. Unlike Zapier which uses a linear trigger-action model, Make.com allows complex branching workflows with parallel paths.
Make.com offers more advanced features like routers, aggregators, and error handling at lower price points for high-volume automation needs. The learning curve is slightly steeper but the flexibility is unmatched.
- Better for complex, multi-step automations
- More cost-effective at scale (cheaper per operation)
- Visual workflow builder shows data flow clearly
Yes, the workflow demonstrated can be extended to post to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, and LinkedIn simultaneously using Make.com's router feature. Each platform connection requires proper API authentication.
For Instagram specifically, you'll need either a Business account or the Facebook Graph API for direct posting capabilities. Personal accounts have more limitations due to platform restrictions.
- Router module splits one AI output to multiple destinations
- Each platform needs its own API connection
- Content can be customized per platform (character limits, hashtags)
Perplexity AI offers a pay-as-you-go model starting at $20/month for API access. Each API call costs approximately $0.01-$0.05 depending on model and token usage.
The workflow shown consumes about 1,000 tokens per post (roughly $0.02). New users get $5 in free credits to test the API before committing to a paid plan. This covers ~250 posts during testing.
- Sonar model: $0.00004 per token (~$0.04 per 1k tokens)
- GPT-4 model: $0.0001 per token (~$0.10 per 1k tokens)
- No hidden fees - pay only for what you use
In Make.com terminology, a scenario is the visual canvas where you build your automation logic. A workflow refers to the actual execution path that data follows through your scenario.
One scenario can contain multiple parallel workflows using routers, allowing complex branching logic that tools like Zapier can't easily replicate. This is perfect for social media posting where you might handle different content types or platforms differently.
- Scenario = The entire automation blueprint
- Workflow = A single execution path through the scenario
- Routers enable multiple workflows per scenario
Make.com offers flexible scheduling from every minute to monthly intervals. For social media posting, we recommend 1-4 posts per day maximum to avoid platform rate limits.
The scheduler supports specific days/times, with timezone awareness. Paid plans allow up to 15,000 operations/month - enough for daily posting across multiple platforms with room for error handling and retries.
- Free plan: 1,000 operations/month
- Pro plan ($9/month): 10,000 operations
- Teams plan ($16/month): 15,000 operations
Yes, you can substitute OpenAI's ChatGPT API in this workflow. The main differences are: 1) ChatGPT requires separate web scraping steps for article content 2) OpenAI's models may hallucinate more without source grounding 3) Cost structures differ slightly.
The Make.com HTTP module configuration would change to use OpenAI's API endpoint instead. You'd need to structure the prompt differently since ChatGPT can't directly read URLs like Perplexity can.
- Additional "Get Page Content" step required
- Prompt engineering differs slightly
- Costs comparable at ~$0.02-$0.05 per post
The workflow shown captures a snapshot of the article content at execution time. To handle updates, you could add a Google Sheets timestamp check or implement a versioning system.
More advanced implementations might include link tracking to measure engagement with specific posts and automatically update stale content. The AI summary remains static unless you manually re-run the workflow.
- Original summary doesn't auto-update
- Can add "last updated" tracking column
- Advanced: Set up content expiration rules
GrowwStacks specializes in building custom Make.com automations for businesses. Our team will design a workflow tailored to your content sources and posting requirements, handling all technical implementation so you can focus on your business.
We offer a free 30-minute consultation to assess your needs and provide a fixed-price implementation quote. Typical projects include setup, testing, training, and 30 days of support.
- Custom workflow design for your exact needs
- All API connections and authentication handled
- Training and documentation included
Ready to Automate Your Social Media in 1 Day?
Stop letting manual posting steal your productive hours. Our Make.com experts will build your custom automation workflow - with AI content generation and multi-platform posting - so you can focus on running your business.