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4 ways to automate Bitly with Zapier

By Hannah Herman · November 5, 2024
A hero image of the Bitly app logo connected to other app logos on a light blue background.

If you work in social media or content marketing, you know how valuable shortened links are. With a tool like Bitly, you can quickly create shareable, shortened links—and more easily track how people find your content. 

But bitlinks don't exist in a vacuum. You need to generate and track them based on activity in other apps like your blog, email marketing tool, and more. Instead of trying to create and manage your bitlinks manually, you can use automation to streamline the process. 

Zapier lets you create automated workflows (called Zaps) that connect Bitly to the other apps you use every day. Here's how.

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Table of contents

  • Automatically shorten content links

  • Track Bitly links in a spreadsheet

  • Create shareable Bitly links for marketing campaigns

  • Get notifications for new Bitly links

To get started with a Zap template—what we call our pre-made workflows—just click on the button. It only takes a few minutes to set up. You can read more about setting up Zaps here.

Automatically shorten content links

Bitly is a great tool for shortening links, but normally, you have to manually copy-paste the original URL into Bitly to shorten it. That doesn't sound like a lot of work, but it's one more task to do—and if you create a high volume of content, shortening each and every link can quickly eat up a lot of your day. 

Thankfully, you can use automation to take manual work out of the process. Use one of these Zaps to automatically create bitlinks every time you publish a new piece of content.

Create Bitly bitlinks for new RSS feed items

Create Bitly bitlinks for new RSS feed items
  • RSS by Zapier logo
  • Bitly logo
RSS by Zapier + Bitly

Create a new Bitlink each time you post to Wordpress

Create a new Bitlink each time you post to Wordpress
  • WordPress logo
  • Bitly logo
WordPress + Bitly

Create Bitly links for new Wix blog posts

Create Bitly links for new Wix blog posts
  • Wix logo
  • Bitly logo
Wix + Bitly

Create bitlinks for new Tumblr blog posts with Bitly

Create bitlinks for new Tumblr blog posts with Bitly
  • Tumblr logo
  • Bitly logo
Tumblr + Bitly

Track Bitly links in a spreadsheet

Of course, creating bitlinks is just the first step. You also need to track those links and keep them handy so you can use them later—usually by pasting them into a doc or spreadsheet. But manually copying and pasting doesn't work at scale.

With automation, you can streamline the process of tracking new bitlinks so you always have an up-to-date list of your links. With these Zaps, you can automatically add new bitlinks to a spreadsheet or database as a new row so they're cataloged in a central place. 

Add new Bitlinks to Google Sheets rows

Add new Bitlinks to Google Sheets rows
  • Bitly logo
  • Google Sheets logo
Bitly + Google Sheets

Create records in Airtable for every new bitlink in Bitly

Create records in Airtable for every new bitlink in Bitly
  • Bitly logo
  • Airtable logo
Bitly + Airtable

Add new Bitly bitlinks to Microsoft Excel as rows

Add new Bitly bitlinks to Microsoft Excel as rows
  • Bitly logo
  • Microsoft Excel logo
Bitly + Microsoft Excel

You can also do the opposite. If you keep a list of new content URLs in a spreadsheet, for example, you can use a Zap to automatically generate bitlinks every time you add a new row. 

Create bitlinks from new Google Sheets rows with Bitly

Create bitlinks from new Google Sheets rows with Bitly
  • Google Sheets logo
  • Bitly logo
Google Sheets + Bitly

Create bitlinks in Bitly for new Airtable records

Create bitlinks in Bitly for new Airtable records
  • Airtable logo
  • Bitly logo
Airtable + Bitly

Create shareable Bitly links for marketing campaigns

Bitlinks often play a crucial role in marketing campaigns, giving you an easy way to direct your audience to read new content, sign up for an email newsletter, and more. But if you're running multiple campaigns across several channels, it can be challenging to keep up with the number of bitlinks you need.

That's where automation comes in. You can create automated workflows that seamlessly generate bitlinks for new campaigns, social media posts, and other marketing initiatives. 

Create a new Bitlink each time you send a Mailchimp campaign

Create a new Bitlink each time you send a Mailchimp campaign
  • Mailchimp logo
  • Bitly logo
Mailchimp + Bitly

Create new Bitlinks in Bitly with new posts to Instagram

Create new Bitlinks in Bitly with new posts to Instagram
  • Instagram logo
  • Bitly logo
Instagram + Bitly

Generate Bitly link for new Facebook Page posts

Generate Bitly link for new Facebook Page posts
  • Facebook Pages logo
  • Bitly logo
Facebook Pages + Bitly

Get notifications for new Bitly links

Automating your bitlink creation is a great way to reduce manual work—but how will you know when there's a new bitlink ready? The answer might surprise you: by using a little more automation!

For example, you can create a Zap that automatically notifies you about every new bitlink. You can choose to receive those notifications wherever you spend the most time—like in a Slack channel or in your email inbox.

Create Bitly bitlinks and send Slack channel messages for new links

Create Bitly bitlinks and send Slack channel messages for new links
  • Bitly logo
  • Slack logo
Bitly + Slack

Send Microsoft Teams message for new Bitly links

Send Microsoft Teams message for new Bitly links
  • Bitly logo
  • Microsoft Teams logo
Bitly + Microsoft Teams

Send emails in Gmail whenever new bitlinks are created in Bitly

Send emails in Gmail whenever new bitlinks are created in Bitly
  • Bitly logo
  • Gmail logo
Bitly + Gmail

Send Discord channel messages for new Bitly bitlinks

Send Discord channel messages for new Bitly bitlinks
  • Bitly logo
  • Discord logo
Bitly + Discord

Streamline your content marketing with Bitly and Zapier

Marketing teams need to move quickly, so eliminating manual work can really streamline everyday processes that slow you down. By connecting Bitly to your other critical apps with Zapier, you can make link shortening and sharing a breeze—so you can focus on your content strategy.

Related reading:

  • Get more from your URL shorteners with automation

  • How to save URLs to Google Sheets without leaving your browser

  • How to shorten Google Drive links with Zapier

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A Zap with the trigger 'When I get a new lead from Facebook,' and the action 'Notify my team in Slack'