Social Media Keywords - General Bots Documentation

General Bots provides native social media integration through BASIC keywords for posting content, scheduling, retrieving metrics, and managing posts across multiple platforms.

Platform Support

Supported platforms include Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter/X. Each platform requires appropriate API credentials configured in your bot’s config.csv.

POST TO

Publish content to one or more social media platforms.

Single Platform

POST TO INSTAGRAM image, "Check out our new feature! #AI #Automation"
POST TO FACEBOOK image, caption
POST TO LINKEDIN image, caption
POST TO TWITTER image, caption

Multiple Platforms

Post to several platforms simultaneously:

POST TO "instagram,facebook,linkedin" image, caption

The keyword returns a post ID that can be used for metrics retrieval or deletion.

Example: Product Announcement

image = "/products/new-release.jpg"
caption = "Introducing our latest innovation! Available now. #NewProduct #Innovation"

post_id = POST TO "instagram,facebook" image, caption
SET BOT MEMORY "latest_post_id", post_id
TALK "Posted to Instagram and Facebook"

POST TO … AT (Scheduled)

Schedule posts for future publishing at a specific date and time.

POST TO INSTAGRAM AT "2025-02-01 10:00" image, caption
POST TO FACEBOOK AT "2025-02-15 09:00" image, "Coming soon!"

Campaign Scheduling

' Schedule a week of posts
images = LIST "/campaign/week1/"
dates = ["2025-02-03 09:00", "2025-02-04 09:00", "2025-02-05 09:00"]

FOR i = 0 TO LEN(images) - 1
    POST TO "instagram,facebook" AT dates[i] images[i].path, captions[i]
NEXT i

TALK "Campaign scheduled: " + LEN(images) + " posts"

GET METRICS

Retrieve engagement metrics for published posts.

Platform-Specific Metrics

' Instagram metrics
metrics = GET INSTAGRAM METRICS "post-id"
TALK "Likes: " + metrics.likes + ", Comments: " + metrics.comments

' Facebook metrics
fb_metrics = GET FACEBOOK METRICS "post-id"
TALK "Shares: " + fb_metrics.shares + ", Reactions: " + fb_metrics.reactions

' LinkedIn metrics
li_metrics = GET LINKEDIN METRICS "post-id"
TALK "Impressions: " + li_metrics.impressions

' Twitter metrics
tw_metrics = GET TWITTER METRICS "post-id"
TALK "Retweets: " + tw_metrics.retweets + ", Likes: " + tw_metrics.likes

Metrics Report

SET SCHEDULE "every monday at 9am"

post_id = GET BOT MEMORY "latest_post_id"
metrics = GET INSTAGRAM METRICS post_id

WITH report
    .post_id = post_id
    .likes = metrics.likes
    .comments = metrics.comments
    .reach = metrics.reach
    .engagement_rate = ROUND((metrics.likes + metrics.comments) / metrics.reach * 100, 2)
    .report_date = NOW()
END WITH

SEND MAIL TO "marketing@company.com" SUBJECT "Weekly Social Report" BODY report

GET POSTS

List posts from a platform.

' Get all Instagram posts
posts = GET INSTAGRAM POSTS
FOR EACH post IN posts
    TALK post.id + ": " + post.caption
NEXT post

' Get Facebook posts
fb_posts = GET FACEBOOK POSTS

DELETE POST

Remove a scheduled or published post.

DELETE POST "post-id"
TALK "Post removed"

Conditional Deletion

' Delete posts with low engagement
posts = GET INSTAGRAM POSTS
FOR EACH post IN posts
    metrics = GET INSTAGRAM METRICS post.id
    IF metrics.likes < 10 AND DATEDIFF("day", post.created_at, NOW()) > 30 THEN
        DELETE POST post.id
        TALK "Deleted low-engagement post: " + post.id
    END IF
NEXT post

Campaign Examples

Welcome Campaign

ON FORM SUBMIT "signup"
    name = fields.name
    email = fields.email
    
    ' Welcome email immediately
    SEND TEMPLATE "welcome", "email", email, #{name: name}
    
    ' Schedule social proof post
    IF fields.share_permission = "yes" THEN
        caption = "Welcome to our community, " + name + "! 🎉 #NewMember #Community"
        POST TO INSTAGRAM AT DATEADD(NOW(), 1, "hour") "/templates/welcome-card.png", caption
    END IF
END ON

' social-campaign.bas
SET SCHEDULE "every day at 10am"

' Rotate through content library
content_index = GET BOT MEMORY "content_index"
IF content_index = "" THEN content_index = 0

content_library = [
    #{image: "/content/tip1.png", caption: "Pro tip: Automate your workflows! #Productivity"},
    #{image: "/content/tip2.png", caption: "Save hours every week with automation #Efficiency"},
    #{image: "/content/tip3.png", caption: "Let AI handle the repetitive tasks #AI #Automation"}
]

current = content_library[content_index MOD LEN(content_library)]
post_id = POST TO "instagram,linkedin" current.image, current.caption

SET BOT MEMORY "content_index", content_index + 1
SET BOT MEMORY "last_post_id", post_id

TALK "Posted content #" + (content_index + 1)

Engagement Monitoring

SET SCHEDULE "every 6 hours"

posts = GET INSTAGRAM POSTS
total_engagement = 0
post_count = 0

FOR EACH post IN posts
    IF DATEDIFF("day", post.created_at, NOW()) <= 7 THEN
        metrics = GET INSTAGRAM METRICS post.id
        total_engagement = total_engagement + metrics.likes + metrics.comments
        post_count = post_count + 1
    END IF
NEXT post

avg_engagement = IIF(post_count > 0, ROUND(total_engagement / post_count, 0), 0)

IF avg_engagement < 50 THEN
    SEND MAIL TO "marketing@company.com" SUBJECT "Low Engagement Alert" BODY "Average engagement this week: " + avg_engagement
END IF

Configuration

Add social media credentials to your bot’s config.csv:

key,value
instagram-access-token,your-instagram-token
instagram-account-id,your-account-id
facebook-access-token,your-facebook-token
facebook-page-id,your-page-id
linkedin-access-token,your-linkedin-token
linkedin-organization-id,your-org-id
twitter-api-key,your-api-key
twitter-api-secret,your-api-secret
twitter-access-token,your-access-token
twitter-access-secret,your-access-secret

Best Practices

Schedule posts strategically. Analyze your audience engagement patterns and post when your followers are most active.

Use hashtags effectively. Include relevant hashtags but avoid overloading—3 to 5 well-chosen tags typically perform better than 30 generic ones.

Monitor metrics regularly. Set up scheduled reports to track engagement trends and adjust your content strategy.

Handle rate limits gracefully. Social platforms enforce API rate limits. Space out bulk operations and implement retry logic.

Store post IDs. Save post identifiers in BOT MEMORY for later metrics retrieval or deletion.

post_id = POST TO INSTAGRAM image, caption
SET BOT MEMORY "post_" + FORMAT(NOW(), "yyyyMMdd"), post_id

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