There is one word that can take you on a walk down memory lane. Actually, it’s not only one word – make it two words. We don’t need more than those two words to make you create an image in your head. 

We’ll start off with a hint, but only one. It’s something that is still used on social media, for starters. Even though you might not immediately deem it as applicable or important nowadays. Have you already chosen your two words? 

Now, as we’d do in a guessing game, let’s say it out loud in three, two, one…

RSS Feeds

Now that you’ve heard these two words, you’ve probably pictured the RSS orange logo in your head. 

You might’ve even thought about the process of getting the RSS feed URL. Or you might’ve thought that it’s such a 2000-something feature. There might’ve been other thoughts that crossed your mind when you read those words.

Either way, RSS feeds are not planning on going anywhere and are still considered a fitting tool for social media.

We’ll take a look at how you can save time on social media with RSS feeds. We will also take a look at how you can find the RSS feed URL to make everything work from an automation perspective.

Let’s jump right in and get a hold of the RSS feed.

What Is an RSS Feed?

Running Short Script, Restored Short Stories, Random Silly Snaps. The list of acronyms is endless, and we could spend an entire day coming up with the significance of RSS. Shortly, though, RSS means Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary.  It was first introduced in 1999 but only started gaining attention in 2002, because of The New York Times.

Speaking from a technical perspective, RSS is an XML file type that is used to share content on the web. Or, a protocol that is available on some of the websites you visit. The most common examples are websites that run on WordPress. Thus, when a new post gets published on your website, different types of tools, such as social media tools, become aware of it. To import the RSS feed, you only need the RSS feed URL. And that’s where the magic happens.

In simpler terms, RSS takes the “guilty as charged” title for the automatic updates from your favorite website. Picture it like a news feed – it gives you all the latest updates from a website as soon as they are available. In this case, these updates follow a standard format, so it will be easy for you to recognize an RSS feed. This format usually includes the title of a specific page and its description. All for making it easy to follow, yet offering you enough information.

An RSS Feed is a simpler version of the content you have, that is ready to be distributed. Even though it’s more used in news industries, social media platforms can also take advantage of it.

How Do You Get the RSS Feed URL?

There are a few methods through which you can get the RSS feed URL, and they aren’t too complicated. You need the website you want the RSS feed from. We’ll list them below and discuss these methods: 

1. Browser extension
2. RSS icon 
3. Page source
4. Typing the link

Now, let’s have a short discussion about each of them.

1. If you don’t want to spend time finding the RSS feed URL, the easiest way to get it is through a browser extension. There are many examples of such extensions that one can use.
2. The RSS icon won’t be available on all the websites you visit. But, if you do spot the iconic orange logo, you can click on it and let the magic unfold.
3. The page source can also give you the RSS feed URL. All you need to do is to right-click on the page you want to get the RSS feed URL from and click on “View page source”. Once taken to the page source, use the “Find” option to locate the RSS. Once located, copy the RSS feed URL.
4. Last, but not least, there is the option to type the link to go directly to the source. Usually, the RSS feed URL can be obtained by having the main domain and a few options such as /RSS/ or /feed/. 

Once you’ve obtained the link, you can choose a social media management tool like SocialBee to start setting up your feed.

We’ve covered all the options in this article, so make sure you check it out for the full list. We’ve also put together a helpful article on how to add an RSS feed on SocialBee, so make sure you take a look at it here.

Content Curation

After you’ve obtained the RSS Feed URL, all you have to do is to navigate to the RSS tab inside the SocialBee app. You’ll find the RSS tab in the Content menu.

Once you get there, click to add a new RSS and you can start defining your RSS.

Now that we’ve taken a look at all these details, let’s dive into the honey pot and talk about content curation. We’ll further discuss how it can help you save time on social media. An RSS feed is a great tool for content curation and there is a reason behind this. But before we get into that, we’ll take a look at a few aspects of content curation.

What Is Content Curation?

Content curation is great content that you share with your audience through a number of channels. By great content, we refer to content that is valuable and consistent for your followers. It can range from the opinion of an expert to a post that is informative and well-written.

An industry usually has not one, but several authoritative sources and important names. And this is where content curation comes in handy. All sources have something valuable to share. Information is power and each source has a specific point of view in what is their niche or area of expertise. Thus, content comes in from all places, and sharing useful content is something that needs to be done for your followers.

Content Curation and RSS

So, how does content curation work from the RSS perspective? Think about it this way: you have a specific source that you select, an authoritative source in your field. Every new post from that source’s website is published, as the feed automatically updates. The magic already lies in this automatic update process.

RSS feeds are popular among people because they allow them to be up to date with any preferred website. The best part about it is that you don’t have to check them one by one. Imagine having 20 websites that you check on a regular basis. Doing that every single day could become a hassle. RSS feeds let you select the websites, and this saves your audience a lot of time.

There is a trick, though. There are not one or two sources that provide you with content on the Internet. We’re talking about thousands of sources, and you will need to carefully select the ones for you. Make sure that you choose the sources that not only provide good quality but are also applicable to your audience. A trustworthy source that has a reputable domain as well will put you more in the spotlight than a shady one. Also, if you come across any source that provides unique information, go for it all the way!

Automatic Posts

We’ve already agreed that an RSS feed is a great tool for finding content and being kept in the loop. However, manually adding the posts to that feed would be too much of a hassle. Imagine having over 20 sources to share content from and at least 6 social media accounts. This would take you hours on end to do, which is not ideal.

This is why automatic posting is your holy grail. All you need is the RSS Feed URL and you can leave the rest to SocialBee. We can cover the automatic posts with just a few details from your side.

By automating posts, you can choose to have the updates shared according to a plan. You can choose all the social profiles you want to share the RSS on. The automation process doesn’t stop here, though. You can choose whether you want the posts to expire or not.

Thus, you ensure that the content you have at hand is valuable to your public. You have the option to set them to expire after some days, which is recommended for news sites. Another option would be to choose to archive posts after they’ve been published a certain amount of times. 

Alongside that, trimming the text you have for your Twitter account or avoiding link shortening are other options for your posts. You can also add a picture if you want to make your post more visual.

Once the RSS feed has been previewed and added, new posts will be scanned each hour, so they might not show in a matter of just seconds. But not to worry, as the automatic posts will still show up. One more important detail to know is that the latest ten posts in the RSS feed will be fetched. 

Final Words

RSS Feeds are a great way to curate content and automate posts, even if it might not seem like that at a first glance. It’s true, RSS Feeds have been around for more than twenty years and they might be viewed as a thing of the past. We live in a fast-paced world, and paying attention to many articles at the same time might not be possible.

This is how RSS feeds help you save time: you add all the details and let the magic unfold. Your audience gets to skim through all the posts you’re sharing without having to browse through many websites. 

All you need is valuable content that holds a degree of authority in the domain. Add to that a tool like SocialBee to take care of the automation of your posts.

All you need to do is set it up according to your needs and you will have all the feeds in one place. Content curation and automatic posts are two things you can do with RSS, and they’re both great for your business.