How I Keep Track of Blogging & Instagram Using a Digital Tracker

---

Let’s talk about anything bookish!

 

I’ve been whining (yes whining) about my ultimate slump and I think I should shut up about it. That ultimate slump resulted in amazing thing, by the way, and I don’t think I’m sorry it happened.

I wrote a post about automating my blog posts to make it easier for me to format each post. Those tools are awesome, but the Google Calendar option doesn’t give me what I really need.

 

What is this amazing thing you ask? Well, it’s this amazing online tool that I am currently using to organize my blog posts and Bookstagram posts! It’s helping me get my creative juices going and keeps me on track!

This amazing thing is called Airtable! It’s basically like Microsoft Excel, but dummy-proof with easy to use tools! This isn’t a promo post, by the way, but I just love this tool so much!

I discovered this tool when I joined Romanceopoly by Under the Covers Book Blog. They use it for organizing the challenge. I signed up for Airtable last year, but I never really used it. NOW I DO and it’s the best thing ever.

I only have the free version of Airtable and while I can’t fully use all their tools, the free version works with what I need at the moment.

The only downside to the free version is that you are only limited to the colors and icons you can use. I LOVE color and this a bummer, but I can work with it – FOR NOW.

 

 

Favorite Tools on Airtable

Calendar Feature

Because I don’t restrict myself to a set schedule (sort of), I love that Airtable has an awesome calendar feature where you drag and drop your “posts” to the date that you prefer. I use this to move around my discussion posts when arranging topics around.

 

This feature is also an amazing way to plan your Bookstagram posts. While I use Later to schedule my Instagram posts, the free version is only limited to a 2-week view and that doesn’t really work for me. Even if I only take photos during the weekend, and usually for topics for the following week, I like to plan them in advance, so I can manage it better and know when to schedule or sign-up for promo posts.

 

I also participate in a couple of Bookstagram challenges and I prefer to lay out all the themes of the day or week and plan my whole month. This has been really helpful for me!

 

Content View

I love that there are multiple views that you can set-up. I have this content view as the base view. I use this to build all the other views and to add all the content that I need. I have a content view for my blog and one for Instagram.

For example, for those ARCs that I signed up for, I have them entered here so I know when the tour is and the current status. There is also an option to add book cover images, which I like just for aesthetic purposes, but you can remove the column.

 

Additional View Options

Another nifty thing tool that I love about Airtable is the multiple views you can set-up for your table!

 

Here is what you can do with the additional views.

• You can set up different views for EACH table
• You can set up a view for EACH filter that you constantly use
• You can rename each view

These are the different views I use for blogging

 

I set-up filters and different types of views for what I want. For example, I used the Kanban view to group the post status. This is what that view looks like.

 

There is an App for that!

I love that Airtable has an app available for both Android and Apple! I have tested the app on both platforms and it does the job of quickly looking at your scheduled and future topics for blogging and Bookstagram. I glance at this every time I see a blog tour that I want to participate so I can select the best days for me.

You can also add entries via the app so that you don’t have to worry about adding it later.

The downside to the app (both Android and Apple versions), is that you are unable to see the calendar view. This is one of the downsides of the app and I hope the developers are going to make an update on this soon.

My hack for this is opening Airtable on your phone browser and selecting Desktop View. This will enable you to see the calendar view!

 

Linked Records

Another tool that I use a lot is the Linked Records tool. In my case, I use it to see an overview of both Instagram and blog tours.

In both my Blog Table and Instagram Table, I have a tours column which basically pulls all the entries there and shows it in my Blog Tours table. Pretty neat, huh? I don’t need to make duplicate posts or entries on Airtable for this!

 

Collaboration Tool

I love that there is a collaboration option! Unfortunately, some of the tools for the collaboration option are not available under the free mode, but I think it can help you organize your team, especially if you have multiple bloggers.

I personally haven’t used this tool myself, but I love that there is an option for this. I may use it when I collaborate with my WTF besties if we restart our blog again!

 

Get a Sample of My Digital Tracker

Do you want a sample of my base digital tracker? Click the icon below to see my sample base. You can copy it or use it as a base for your own tracker!

 

There are still other things to explore on Airtable, and I can’t wait to discover more!

 

How do you keep track of your blog or Instagram schedule?

 

---

Do you have any bookish discussion suggestions? Please submit them here!

shared on