Guide for AutoPost: Social Media AI Post

Table of contents

• Home page and quick setup
  General information about the app and quick setup guide.
• Connecting your social media accounts
  Required step: Connect the app with your social media accounts.
• Templates
  Explore in-built or create custom templates for your social media posts.
• Posts
  Create social media posts:
  • Create a new post:
  • Use standard template for your new post
  • Use AI-powered template for your new post
• Automations
  Publish posts about specific products on a schedule or by a trigger.
• Settings
  Specify the language for AI-generated text.
• FAQ

Welcome to the user guide for AutoPost: Social Media AI Post — an application designed to streamline your social media management by automating the posting process on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). This guide will help you navigate the app's features, ensuring you maximize its potential to enhance your online presence.

Getting Started

To ensure a smooth setup and optimal use of AutoPost, we recommend configuring the app in the following order:

1. Connect Your Social Media Accounts.
2. Create and Customize Post Templates.
3. Create Posts.
4. Set Up Automation Rules.

The app’s Home page serves as a central hub for managing social media activities, offering features for account connection, template creation, post management, and automation.

Use the Quick setup guide on the Home page for one-click access to key settings and faster configuration.

Let’s look at each step in detail.

Connecting your social media accounts

After installation, the first step is to connect your social media account.

Navigate to the Accounts page or click on the "Open Accounts" button in Quick setup guide. 

Here you can view the list of supported social media platforms and any connected accounts.

Find the platform you wish to connect (Instagram or X). Click Add account next to the selected platform. You will be redirected to the respective social media authorization page.

Log in using your social media credentials. Click on the “Authorize app” button to grant AutoPost permission to manage your account. It's necessary for publishing posts on your account.

Your connected account will now appear in the Accounts section on the home page and in the list under the corresponding social media platform in the Accounts page.

Note:

The application supports one account for each social network platform. If you try to connect another account to a platform where an account is already connected, the connected account will be replaced.

Templates

Open the Templates page to create templates for your future posts.

By default, there are built-in templates - standard and AI - that are ready to use. You can also create custom templates to meet your business needs.

To create a new custom template, click the Create button.

Note
If the Create button is disabled, it means you haven't connected the app to any of your social media accounts. Posting is not possible without this connection. Please return to the Accounts page and connect your social media account.

Specify the Name of the template and select the type of template:

• Standard template - a template created using variables and the text you add.
• Advanced AI template - a template created using variables and the text generated by AI for your posts.

Content - write content for your template and add variables to display relevant information in your posts.

For an Advanced AI Template, an additional variable AI_Result is available. Add it to the content, and AI will generate relevant text in its place. 

To ensure the AI output aligns with your needs, edit the AI Prompt field (appears when Advanced AI template is selected) to share your instructions on content generation. 

When a template is configured, don’t forget to Save it.

On the right, you’ll find a Preview of the sample post created using your template. Switch between modes to view how the post will look like on each social media platform.

After that, you’re ready to start creating posts using your template.

Posts

Open the Posts page to create and manage your social media posts. 

In the upper-left corner, you'll find a tab switcher to navigate between your connected social media accounts. Each platform displays its own list of created posts.

Select the platform and click the "Create" button. 

In the dialog window, select the product you want to describe in your post and click "Create".

Note
Once a post has been published, it can't be published again. If you want a post to be republished or posted multiple times, you can do this with automations.

A post creation page will open, allowing you to select a template for the post.

Let's look at the available configurations for standard and advanced templates separately.

Post configurations using standard template

Template - select the template you want to use for this social media post.

Include media (available for X) - choose whether to include the product image in the post. The main product image will be used or you can upload custom image in the right column by clicking Add image button.

Media type (available for Instagram) - choose whether to create an Instagram post or story. If you select story, text fields will be disabled, and only the image will be displayed.

Post template - the text based on the selected template will be displayed here. You can modify it and change variables for this specific post.

Image resizing - resize your images to ensure they look good on social media platform. 

Resize Type:

• Shopify cropping - use a default Shopify resizer that automatically crops and downscales images to fit the platform's recommended layout or your custom specifications.
• Smart resizing - use an AI-powered tool that detects the main objects in the image and automatically crops it to your custom specifications to maintain the same alignment as the original image, ensuring the subject stays properly framed.

Image size:

• Platform-specific - automatically resize images according to the platform's recommendations.
• Custom - specify the width and height for resizing, and adjust the Crop alignment.

Note: 

Shopify resizing won’t apply to uploaded custom images. To optimize them, use Smart resizing instead.

In the right section, Preview how the post will look.

Below the preview, you can upload a custom image. Otherwise, the main product image will be used in the post.

Once the post is created, you can either Publish it immediately or Save it for later.

After a post is published, you can view it from the app on the post configuration page by clicking the Open post button, or directly on your social media profile.

Post configurations using AI-powered template

Template - select the template you want to use for this social media post.

Template flexibility - choose between strictly following the template or opting for flexible generation:

• Strictly according to template - AI will generate text strictly following the variables in the template, with the generated text placed at the {AI_RESULT} location.
• Flexible Variable-aware generation - AI will consider all the variables in the template, but their order will be flexible.

Include media (available for X) - choose whether to include the product image in the post. The main product image will be used, or you can upload custom image in the right column by clicking Add image button.

Media type (available for Instagram) - choose whether to create an Instagram post or story. If you select story, text fields will be disabled, and only the image will be displayed.

Generated post content - here, you can view and edit the post content. Click the Generate button to generate content for the social media caption and replace variables with relevant information.

Note:

At the top, you'll see a notice showing how many times you can generate or regenerate AI content. Typically, you can generate AI content for one post up to 5 times.

Note
You can specify the language for AI-generated text in the Settings section.

Image resizing - resize your images to ensure they look good on social media platform. 

Resize Type:

• Shopify cropping - use a default Shopify resizer that automatically crops and downscales images to fit the platform's recommended layout or your custom specifications.
• Smart resizing - use an AI-powered tool that detects the main objects in the image and automatically crops it to your custom specifications to maintain the same alignment as the original image, ensuring the subject stays properly framed.

Image size:

• Platform-specific - automatically resize images according to the platform's recommendations.
• Custom - specify the width and height for resizing, and adjust the Crop alignment.

Note: 

Shopify resizing won’t apply to uploaded custom images. To optimize them, use Smart resizing instead.

In the right section, Preview how the post will look.

Below the preview, you can upload a custom image. Otherwise, the main product image will be used in the post.

Once the post is created, you can either Publish it immediately or Save it for later.

After a post is published, you can view it from the app on the post configuration page by clicking the Open post button, or directly on your social media profile.

Automations

If you want to publish posts about specific products on a schedule or automatically post typical social media updates whenever any product in your catalog is released or updated, you can do this with automation rules.

Note:

The Automations section is not available for the Free plan. To use it, upgrade your Subscription.

To create a new automations rule, navigate to the Automations page or click Create automation rule button on the Home page.

In the upper-left corner there is a tab switcher for navigate between your social media accounts. Each platform displays its own list of created automations.

Select the social media platform and click the Create button.

You can choose between targeting a specific products, collections or setting conditions for your automations:

• All products. A product is chosen at random from your store. You can optionally narrow this down by setting conditions.
• Specific products. Select one or more products manually using the product picker that appears. No additional conditions are available for this option.
• Specific collections. Choose products from one or more collections using the collection selector that appears. You can refine your selection with conditions.

When using All products or Specific collections, you can refine your selection with the following conditions:

• Any product. Posts will use any product from your store.
• Product creation time (within the last x hours)
• Product update time (within the last x hours)
• Product title contains (enter text)
• Product status (active / draft / archived)

Note: If you manually select products, any collections, or conditions you set will be ignored. The rule will only apply to the products you explicitly chose.

Note: Up to 250 products can be added per queue generation — applies only to products matched by conditions, not manual selections.

Click Next.

Set the Rule Name, choose a Template for all posts created through automation.

You can also choose whether to include media in the posts.

When multiple products are selected by your rule, you can control the order in which they appear in your posts using the Product sorting order setting:

• Random order: Products will be published in a random sequence.
• Newest first: Products created most recently will be published first.
• Oldest first: Products created earliest will be published first.
• Best sellers first: Products with the highest sales will be published first.

Click Next.

The next step is to configure how your product images will appear in your posts.

Image Resizing - choose the method for resizing your image.

Resize Options:

• Shopify cropping - use a default Shopify resizer that automatically crops and downscales images to fit the platform's recommended layout or your custom specifications.
• Smart resizing - use an AI-powered tool that detects the main objects in the image and automatically crops it to your custom specifications to maintain the same alignment as the original image, ensuring the subject stays properly framed.

Image size (available for Shopify cropping and Smart resizing):

Platform-specific - automatically resize images according to the platform's recommendations.

Custom - specify the width and height for resizing, and adjust the Crop alignment (available only for Shopify cropping).

Click Next.

In the Publishing strategy section, you can decide how and when your posts will be published. Use the dropdown to select publish on schedule or by trigger.

• On schedule. Schedule your posts to go out on specific days and times. A schedule builder will appear, where you can select the days of the week and time for posting..
  In the Publishing strategy section, you can decide how and when your posts will be published. Use the dropdown to select publish on schedule or by trigger.
  Note: The app uses UTC+0 timezone.
  An additional setting — Actions after publishing all product posts — will also appear, allowing you to define what happens after all eligible posts are published:
  
  • Disable automation: After each product in your queue is published once, the automation for this rule will turn off.
    
  • Keep posting on schedule: Products that meet your criteria will be continuously published and republished according to the schedule you've set. This cycle will repeat indefinitely until you manually disable the automation.
    
  • Post once, then skip: Each product in the queue will be published one time. Once all current products have been posted, the rule will pause. If new products that meet your conditions appear later, the rule will automatically reactivate and publish them (each new product once). Previously published products will not be posted again.
    
  • Post twice, then skip: Each product in the queue will be published two times (once in each cycle). After a product has been published twice, it will not be posted again. Once all current products have been posted twice, the rule will pause. If new matching products are added later, they will be published twice.
    

• Immediately on trigger. Posts will be published automatically as soon as a specific condition is met.
  Note: If multiple products meet a trigger condition simultaneously (e.g., several products in a single order going out of stock, or multiple new products created at once), only one of the qualifying products will be randomly selected to generate a post. This ensures your social media feed isn't overwhelmed by too many posts at once.
  A Trigger dropdown will appear, where you can choose from:
  • Product on sale. Posts when a product with a previously set “compare at price” goes on sale.
  • New product creation. Posts when a new product is added to your store.
    Note: Available only for condition-based selections: specifically "Any product" or "Product title contains", not for other conditions and selection methods.
  • Low stock. Posts when a product's inventory drops to a specific quantity. You’ll need to specify the quantity (required field).
    Note: Applies only to products with inventory tracking enabled.
  • Back in stock. Posts when a previously out-of-stock product becomes available again.

Click Done.

When a new automation is created, an Overview page will open. Here you can edit the automation, disable it, check the Publications and the Queue, or start it manually instead of waiting for an event to trigger it.

Settings

Here, you can specify the Language for AI-generated text.

Set the Queue Creation Behavior - this setting lets you control when the list of products for your automated posts (the queue) is created:

• At launch time (Default): The product queue will be generated each time your automation is scheduled to run. This ensures that your posts always feature the most up-to-date selection of products based on your current rules.
  Note: This is particularly useful if you have delayed schedules or your product catalog changes frequently.
• Immediately: The product queue will be created as soon as you set up or save your automation rule. You can then view this queue in the "queue" tab.

What happens when you save your automation rules:

• For existing automations that already have a queue: If you resave the automation settings (for example, if you change the name), the existing product queue will remain as it is. It will only be updated if you make changes to the product selections (manual products, categories, collections) or the conditions themselves.
• For new automations and when restarting existing ones: The "Queue creation behavior" setting you choose will be applied.