You can easily connect your social media accounts (Twitter and Facebook as of this writing) to the Church Plant Media Content Management System (CMS). Once connected you'll be able to easily share sermons, events and blog posts with your audience on Twitter and Facebook.
This article has three parts: 1) how to do a one-time setup of our CMS to post to Facebook and Twitter, 2) how to publish your sermons, events, and blogposts to Facebook and Twitter; and 3) how to assign an image to your sermon, event, episode or blogpost to post to Facebook or Twitter.
How to do the one-time setup
Go to Admin > Settings in the CMS. There, you will see Twitter and Facebook account settings sections. If your accounts are not already linked, you will see buttons prompting you to link either of these accounts.
1) Click the "Link your twitter account" button.
2) Enter the username and password of the Twitter account you want to link and click "Authorize App" to be redirected back to the Church Plant Media CMS.
3) You're all set! Now when you create a sermon, event, or post, you'll have the option to publish that new content to your Twitter account.
1) Click the "Connect" button.
2) Log in using the Facebook account you wish to link.
3) Once you log in, the pop up will ask you if you want to continue as your current profile. Click the blue "continue" button.
4) Check the box of each profile and page that you wish to post to from the CMS.
5) Next, give the CMS permission to use your Facebook account to post. Note: the integration may not work properly if you turn off these options.
6) Your Facebook account is now linked to the CMS and is ready to be used.
7) Scroll down and select an image that will accompany all of your posts to Facebook (the recommended size is 1200 pixels wide by 630 pixels tall). Facebook will often crop images, so please keep your important image content centered in the middle of the image. We recommend that you use your logo.
8) Click the green "Update Settings" button in the sidebar to save your settings.
9) You're all set! Now when you create a sermon, event, or post, you'll have the option to publish that new content to your selected Facebook timeline and pages that you've chosen.
Note: You may also do the one-time setup from within the sermons, events, and posts modules when you create new content.
Publishing your sermons, events, and blogposts to Facebook and Twitter
Once you've done the one-time setup as described above, publishing links to your sermons, events and blog posts to Facebook and Twitter is simple.
1) Enter the title of your content item (sermon, event, blog post).
2) Check the social media accounts to which you want to publish.
3) Click "Edit" to change the message that will get posted along with the link to this item. Keep in mind that the Twitter message can only have 280 characters.
4) When you're ready, click "Publish Now" in the lower right-hand side.
5) Your content is now on Facebook and Twitter!
Selecting a custom image to share with your sermons, events, episodes and blogposts to Facebook and Twitter
Once you've done the one-time setup as described above, you can change what image is shared to Facebook or Twitter with each individual sermon, event, episode, and blogpost.
First, you will follow steps 1-3 under "Publishing your sermons, events, and blogposts to Facebook and Twitter". Go ahead and add in your title, check the social media accounts to which you want to publish, and click "Edit" to change the message that will get posted along with the link.
Next, select "choose image" to select a new image or to upload an image. If you already have a Newsfeed Image set under Admin > Settings > Facebook Account Settings > News Feed Image that image will show above the "choose image" button. You can either use that image, or choose a new image. If you choose a new image it will only apply to that one post/event/sermon etc.
Note: If you don't have a News Feed image selected and don't select a social media image from within the module, Facebook and Twitter will choose an image for you (typically your header image or another image from your content area).
So, please be sure to add some type of image (either a News Feed image, a singular image within the module or a header/featured image) so there is an image shared along with your post.
Once you have selected a new image hit the green "Publish Now" button to post your item to your site and Twitter/Facebook.