How to automatically share new YouTube videos on Twitter

If you're active on YouTube, you know that your job's not done when your video is finished uploading. Getting your video online is one thing, but if you want to get more views on your videos, you need to share them across different social channels. 

Doing it manually can feel tedious and like a mundane distraction from the creative work you'd rather be doing. Now you can refocus on important projects by using Zapier to automatically publish a Tweet for each YouTube video you upload.

Once you link your YouTube and Twitter accounts to Zapier, the job is easy. Just upload a new video, and the Tweet will generate on its own. You can even format the Tweet so that each one looks just how you want it.

Automatically share YouTube videos on Twitter

With Zapier, you can create automated workflows—called Zaps—that send data from one app to another. You can build a Zap from scratch or use one of our templates to get started.

To start with a template, click on it below, and you'll be taken to the Zap editor. If you haven't yet, you need to create a Zapier account. Then, follow the directions below to set up your Zap.

Set up your YouTube trigger step

First, you'll set up a trigger. This is the event that starts your Zap. Search for and select YouTube as the trigger app and New Video In Channel as the trigger event, then click Continue.

Next, connect your YouTube account to Zapier. If you've connected your account before, you can select it from the dropdown menu. If not, click + Connect a new account and sign in to YouTube through the pop-up window.

Click Continue.

Now, enter the channel ID for the channel from which you want Zapier to look for new videos. To find your channel ID from the YouTube homepage, click on your profile icon in the top right corner and select Your channel. Your channel ID will be everything that follows youtube.com/ in the URL. 

For example, if the URL when you're on your YouTube channel is youtube.com/channel/UClKO7be7O9cUGL94PHnAeOA, your channel ID is channel/UClKO7be7O9cUGL94PHnAeOA.

Click Continue.

Now it's time to test your trigger. Click the Test trigger button. Zapier will then pull a video from your YouTube channel to use as sample data while setting up the rest of your Zap.

Once your test runs successfully, click Continue with selected record.

Set up your Twitter action step

Time to set up step two of your Zap—the action step. This is the event that occurs when your Zap is triggered. Select Twitter as your app and Create Tweet as your event. Click Continue.

Like your trigger step, you'll be asked to connect your Twitter account to Zapier. Click Choose an account… and either select an account from the dropdown menu or click + Connect a new account.

Next, you'll customize your Twitter action step. That is, the Tweet Zapier creates. In the Message field, type what you want your Tweet to say. You can pull in data from your YouTube trigger step—like the title, description, and URL of the video—and add it to your tweet using the Insert Data dropdown.

Make sure to include the URL to your YouTube video in the Tweet because that's how you get the video to play on Twitter.

Once you've customized your Tweet, click Continue.

Click Test action to have Zapier create a new Tweet based on how you set it up. We'd always recommend checking the format on Twitter to make sure it looks how you'd like it to.

If everything looks good, go ahead and turn on your Zap. If some of the formatting looks off, go back and adjust it and run another test until you've got it right.

Cross-post your YouTube videos to Twitter automatically

Stop worrying about promoting your YouTube content on Twitter, and start doing it automatically. Then, once you set up your YouTube to Twitter Zap, browse other ways to automate YouTube to start streamlining even more of your content promotion.

This article was originally published in September 2017 by Melanie Pinola. It was most recently updated by Will Harris in July 2023.