Running multiple social media accounts while creating and scheduling content manually was a huge drain.
Our team was constantly jumping between Notion, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter—copying, pasting, formatting, adjusting image sizes… It was chaos.
So we built an AI-powered content distribution system using Notion + OpenAI + Make to automatically publish and repurpose content across all major platforms.
It saved us 20+ hours per week, increased our posting volume by 10x, and boosted engagement across the board.
Here’s the full breakdown—step by step.
🎯 The Goal
We wanted to:
- Organize all content ideas in Notion
- Auto-generate platform-specific variations using AI
- Schedule or publish content across LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram
- Track performance, and never miss a post again
🧰 The Tools We Used
| Tool | Role |
|---|---|
| Notion | Content calendar & management |
| OpenAI (ChatGPT API) | Repurpose content for different platforms |
| Make | Automation engine |
| LinkedIn + Twitter + Instagram APIs | Content distribution |
| Google Sheets (optional) | Performance tracking |
| Canva (optional) | Create templates for visuals |
🔧 Step-by-Step Setup
Step 1: Create a Content Dashboard in Notion
We designed a simple Notion database with these columns:
- Post Title
- Long-form Content
- Short Version (Twitter)
- Image Link
- Platform Tags (e.g. LinkedIn, Twitter, IG)
- Status (Idea, Ready, Scheduled, Posted)
- Scheduled Date
💡 You can easily duplicate this layout and add filters for each platform.
Step 2: Use OpenAI to Repurpose the Content
Instead of rewriting everything manually, we connected Notion to ChatGPT via Make to auto-generate:
- A tweet from the long-form post
- A more professional version for LinkedIn
- A shorter, visual caption for Instagram
🧠 Prompt Example for OpenAI (Make API Call):
plaintextCopyEditTurn the following long-form content into:
1. A tweet (max 280 characters)
2. A LinkedIn-style post (professional, story-driven)
3. A short, catchy Instagram caption
Content:
{{Notion content field}}
The output is saved into Notion fields (Short Version, LinkedIn Version, etc.).
Step 3: Auto-Schedule & Post via Make
We set up Make scenarios that:
- Check Notion every day for content marked as “Ready” and scheduled for today
- Use conditional filters to:
- Post to Twitter using its API
- Post to LinkedIn Company Page (or personal)
- Send Instagram posts to Buffer or Later for image-based scheduling
- Update the post status in Notion to “Posted”
💡 You can also send a Slack notification when a post goes live.
Step 4: Optional – Automate Visuals with Canva or BannerBear
If your posts need visuals:
- Connect Make to Canva or BannerBear
- Auto-generate quote images, testimonials, or branded content using templates
- Insert the image link back into Notion or auto-upload it to Instagram
Step 5: Track Engagement (Optional)
Want to get nerdy?
- Pull engagement stats (likes, comments, shares) from LinkedIn and Twitter into Google Sheets using their APIs
- Sync it back to Notion so each post shows how it performed
🚀 Real Results
Here’s what changed for one of our clients (a business coach with 5,000+ followers):
| Metric | Before Automation | After Automation |
|---|---|---|
| Posts per week | 3 | 30+ |
| Weekly hours spent | 12+ | <1 |
| Engagement rate | 2.1% | 4.7% |
| LinkedIn reach | ~4,000/mo | 20,000+/mo |
Their LinkedIn profile visits increased 5x, and they booked 9 discovery calls in a week just from content.
🧠 Lessons Learned
- AI is your writing assistant, not your replacement. Use it to speed things up, but always review the tone.
- Notion is a game-changer when used as a central content hub—especially when automated.
- Platform-specific content matters. A good post on Twitter may flop on LinkedIn without tweaks.
✅ Final Thoughts
This system turned social media from a chore into a growth engine.
And the best part?
Once it’s set up, you barely need to touch it. Just keep feeding new ideas into Notion, and the machine handles the rest.