10 Ways to Automate Slack with Zapier to Improve Your Business Operations, Fast

Zapier is an automation tool that is changing the way companies do business. Using "Zaps", as they are known, you can automate tons of apps and tasks that your business normally uses people to handle, freeing up resources and time and slashing your expenses and payroll. Imagine streamlining lead intake, customer database entries, payment processing, and even invoicing and billing for your clients—you'll have more free time than you know what to do with and your business will grow because you're managing it better.

Slack is a messaging and file-sharing tool that's designed to help remote teams collaborate. It's also great for in-house teams, but it was created specifically for those working in the digital space who needed a way to keep in touch. With Slack, you can set up messaging channels and groups, assign users to certain channels, and keep in touch in real-time. You can also share files and access your boards from any device, thanks to web access and mobile apps for iOS and Android, as well as other iterations.

According to some, Slack is basically a beefed-up messaging app—it's designed for team collaboration more than just the occasional chat. However, it's also got a lot of potential when it's integrated with Zapier. For small teams that need to stay connected without doing the work themselves, integrating this tool with their tech stack through Zapier is going to improve operations in several different ways.

Zapier has thousands of integrations and hundreds of pre-built workflows that are ready to deploy as soon as you get started. Slack itself comes with dozens of ready-to-go options and the team is adding more on a regular basis. Plus, you've got an open API that makes it easy to customize any pre-built workflow or design your own so that you can streamline and automate as much as possible to save time, effort, and money.

An automated business is a productive business. If you want to maximize your efficiency, you've got to get on board with automation. Doing that is easy when you combine the power of Slack and Zapier, allowing you to improve collaboration and teamwork along the way. Let's take a closer look at 10 of the best ways you can do that with the dynamic duo of Slack and Zapier.

And if you want to be part of a dynamic duo, ask how a partnership with the virtual receptionists at Smith.ai can improve your business operations by taking all the mission-critical services off of your hands.

1. Get notifications for new Google Forms responses    

Google Forms is a tool that a lot of businesses use for form filling, whether it's for clients and customers or even as a way to screen new applicants when there is an option position. Regardless of what you're using Google Forms for, you can use Slack and Zapier to create a workflow to notify you via the Slack platform whenever new responses are submitted. You can also use a workflow like this to publish the entire response to Slack, rather than just notifying you that it's available. That way, you're always getting the right information to the right people and there's less data transfer on your part.

2. Find out when new Drive files are shared      

Thanks to Zapier, you don't even have to keep tabs on things yourself. With this integration, you can get a notification in Slack as soon as new files have been shared on Google Drive. You can even set up the automation to notify specific teams or team members so that they can take the appropriate action and more. It's easy to miss file drops when you're not paying attention, but Zapier takes all the concern out of that with this integration. You choose the channel, you choose the Drive folder, and let the Zap do the rest.

3. Get notifications for new emails from Gmail    

Push notifications, app notifications, and reminders have our phones going off hundreds of times each day. It's nearly impossible to guarantee that you'll catch every single message that comes through. With this integration for Gmail and Slack, you can select a channel or person that's notified every time a new message comes through in Gmail. You can even set it for specific senders, subjects, and more to create a totally custom integration that keeps you informed of when the most important messages come rolling in.

4. Send Google Calendar events to Slack channels    

Tired of your team forgetting about events or claiming that they just "didn't know"? With this integration, you can add a Calendar event notification (or the event itself) to a dedicated Slack channel. You could notify the entire team, set up a Zap to add events as their own channel when you create them in Google, and so much more. Google Calendar is one of the most popular calendars used today, even by busy professionals, so these automated workflows get a lot of flex.

5. Send Slack messages when your Google Sheets are updated    

Google Sheets makes sharing and collaboration a breeze. Of course, even with the built-in notifications, it can be difficult to keep track of all the changes that are made throughout the week. Whether you're looking for something specific or just want to know when your sheets are worked on, you'll be able to set up this Zap so that every time a specific row is updated or information is changed, you will get a notification on Slack. Or, you could have notifications posted to a specific channel or sent to a certain team member-- the choice is yours and the automated workflow is ready to go.

6. Share Typeform responses in Slack channels    

Forms and data entry are tedious, but they don't have to be. Tools like Typeform make it easy for you to gather information, collect details, and even enter people for contests and events. You can use this workflow to generate a Slack notification or a direct share in the channel of your choice when you get a new Typeform response. As with the other integrations, you can customize it any way that you like, but the workflow will notify your chosen channel of any responses that are received based on the rules you set.

7. Share new Twitter mentions    

Are you trying to build brand awareness? Twitter mentions can be a great way to get your name out there, and it's also a great way to point out to your team just how well things are going or what needs to be addressed. Let's say you've got a customer with a concern and their preferred option is to mention your company on Twitter, expecting a fairly rapid response. Unless you've got someone manning the social media 24 hours a day, that's going to be difficult. Let Zapier do the monitoring and when a new mention happens, have it posted automatically to Slack, either to a specific feed or a channel of your choosing.

8. Share Facebook posts in Slack    

Whether you're sharing Facebook posts so that your team can address comments or you're just looking for a way to stay on top of your social media, this workflow is a great choice. Every time that you send a Facebook post, you can send that post right to Slack. You can even set up custom workflows to notify you on Slack when comments are made or when your team posts on Facebook. Plus, you can choose between sharing the notification and sharing the entire post and more. Forget checking Facebook updates or making sure everyone's paying attention because now you can keep tabs on everything right there.

9. Save Slack messages and add them to Todoist as tasks    

Stop giving yourself more work. If you come up with things that need to be done while chatting in Slack, take those messages and save them. Zapier makes it easy to turn those messages into tasks that you can send to other tools, such as Todoist and other to-do list apps. When you save the message, you can pick how it's saved. Then, you can activate this pre-built integration and allow the message content to be added to your to-do list based on the details of the message. No longer will you have to update your to-do list on your own, thanks to this integration.

10. Create tasks in Asana from your saved Slack messages    

Have a great conversation with your team about the next way to launch a new marketing effort, but don't want to go through the legwork of setting it up yourself? Use Zapier to create a task in Asana regarding your projects, including all of the details that you want, and then all you have to do is delegate the tasks and let them get started. Being able to use your saved messages in Slack to trigger other tasks is a great way to save repeating information or steps and that always improves productivity.

Why automate?

If you're one of the few who still aren't sure about automation, there is no more time for that. It is no longer about why you should automate but what you can automate and how much it will benefit you (as well as in what ways). With any of the integrations above, as well as the hundreds upon thousands of others, it will be easy to see the benefits when you take a look at just how much work they are taking off your hands.

For starters, look at how much reminding you'll have to do and how much less likely it will be that you'll forget something important because you've got it all set up to take care of itself. You will also save a lot of time and effort, as well as manpower, because you're taking the human element and the hassle out of everything. The reasons for automating are nearly endless, but the biggest and single-most important reason?

You simply cannot afford NOT to.

With Zapier, automation comes easy and it comes for almost every tool and software solution that you could imagine. Plus, you can pick and choose the tools and Zaps that you use to streamline things your way and take care of the tasks that you deem most important.

Automation:

·      Reduces human capital

·      Reduces human error

·      Frees up your time

·      Saves money

·      Standardizes processes and repetitive tasks

·      Leads the way to further automations

·      Streamlines business operations

·      Keeps everyone on the same page

·      Improves service/product quality

·      Improves safety

·      Reduces product waste for product-based businesses

·      Shortens lead times

·      Optimizes the benefits of all processes and procedures

Take a page from the Smith.ai playbook and add virtual receptionist support

Zapier and automation are two of our favorite things. We also love being part of what makes your business run more efficiently and profitably. When you hire our virtual receptionists, we will act as the face of your brand for several different needs, from after-hours calls to live chat on your website, and so much more. Plus, we’ll even help you create the ideal strategy to field all of those needs, no matter what your business has in mind.

Zapier is a favorite of ours because it allows everyone and anyone to create smart workflows that integrate their business software programs. And, thanks to Zapier, Smith.ai can integrate with more than 3,000 apps so that every call, text, and chat gets logged in the right software, right away, from your CRM to marketing platforms, and more.

Check out all the ways we connect to Zapier by exploring our apps! You’ll also enjoy checking out Smith.ai’s Answering Service app on Zapier, and explore Smith.ai’s Website Chat app on Zapier.

Schedule your consultation now to learn more about our 24/7 phone and chat solutions, including everything from after-hours answering to live website chat and more. You can also find us at hello@smith.ai or (650) 727-6484.