How do I create a CSV file for bulk scheduling?
To schedule posts in bulk, you can use our Bulk Schedule feature. For that, you would need to create a CSV file in a proper format.
You can manually create many posts using SocialPilot, like a Link Post, Image Post, GIF Post, Video Post, or Carousel Post. But through Bulk Schedule, you can create Link and Image Posts only.
A Link Post is the one wherein you include a link in your post but doesn't select/upload an image. In a link post, we get the title, image, and description along with the post content.
An Image Post is the one where you select/upload one or multiple images to go along with your post. You can also include the web link along with the post content, but the image you selected will be shown when your post gets published.
Follow these steps to create a CSV file:
Note: You can download a sample CSV here.
If it's a Link Post:
1st Column: Type your post content/description with the post URL.
Example: 8 Awesome Ways to Create Engaging Tweets in 280 Characters http://bitly.com/2pztHvy.
- 2nd Column: It must be empty.
3rd Column: Enter a date and time you want to schedule the post for. If you're going to schedule the posts according to the time slots you have already set, leave it blank.
Note: You can choose any date and time format as mentioned in Your Profile > Date and Time
- 4th Column: Enter the unique Account ID of the social media account you want the content to be published from. You can get the unique account ID from the Accounts >> Manage Account page.
If you want to share your post as an Image Post:
- 1st Column: Type your post content/description with the post URL (From where we'll get the image preview).
- 2nd Column: Add the URL of one or multiple images. Ensure you add image URLs and not a web page URL. The image URL should be a public image URL i.e when you open it in a browser, it should open an image only and not the website.
Note: To accept multiple images, the images added in the second column of CSV must be separated by the delimiter “;” semicolon.
- More Information: How to create a public URL of your images while creating a CSV?
3rd Column: Enter a date and time you want to schedule the post for. If you're going to schedule the posts according to the time slots you have already set, leave it blank.
Note: You can choose any date and time format as mentioned in Your Profile > Date and Time
- 4th Column: Enter the unique Account ID of the social media account you want the content to be published from. You can get the unique account ID from the Accounts >> Manage Account page.
How to save a CSV file?
Now, if the file is created in excel, go to the top left corner and click on “Save as”, now press on “Save as type” dropdown box and choose “ CSV ( comma delimited)”
Your CSV file is ready!
Also, If you are creating a CSV on your text editor or Notepad, use a comma (,) to separate the fields and also ensure that your post description is written in double inverted commas ( ), and save it in UTF8 format
Note: If the images you want to add are saved on your computer, you'll need to create a public link for these images by uploading them to your Dropbox. You must use Public URLs for images during bulk scheduling.
Also, there can be instances when you see a replacement character or a set of replacement characters while uploading your CSV. The � character is a replacement character and the reason of this can be:
1) The MS office/Excel used may be an outdated one
2) The CSV may not be in the UTF-8 format
You need to do the following activity in order to ensure that the uploading happens correctly:
1) Open the Excel/CSV file as a notepad like this (select the file and right click to get the option as under):
2) Once the file opens as notepad, please rename the file name and add .csv as an extension. Here also ensure that you are selecting UTF-8 as the encoding:
Once this is done, you can upload this file in Bulk Scheduling and the issue of the replacement character will be resolved.