Create an Automated Blog + Image + Social Workflow (No Coding Required!)

Ever wish you could take a blog idea and—almost instantly—turn it into a full blog post, beautiful images, and social media content? With the right tools (and a set-it-and-forget-it workflow), you can! In this guide, you’ll learn how to go from idea to published post—with custom images and social content—by hooking together ChatGPT, MidJourney, n8n, and Google Sheets. It’s not just for coders, either: most steps require no programming, just simple setup and tweaking. Let’s see how it works!

Why Automate This?

Publishing regular, high-quality content is critical for small businesses—but it’s time-consuming. You have to brainstorm, write, make images, post on your blog, and share everywhere. If you automate this entire pipeline, you get:

• Speed: Go from idea to live post in minutes, not days.
• Consistency: Keep your content calendar full without burning out.
• Quality: Get SEO-optimized writing and stunning images—no designer or copywriter needed.
• Reach: Auto-share fresh content on every network you care about.

So, automation helps you do more—with less effort. Now, let’s break down how all the moving parts fit together.

Step-by-Step Setup

Here’s how you can go from an idea, typed into a simple form, to published content and social media posts—painlessly.

Step 1: Capturing Ideas with a Form

First, make giving the system input as easy as possible. Use Google Forms or the built-in Form Trigger in n8n to capture:

• Your blog topic or keyword
• Target audience
• Any extra notes or requirements

Every time you fill out this form, the rest of the pipeline starts automatically.

Workflow Visual: Imagine a single form field—the moment you hit submit, your idea zooms off for processing.

{
  "keyword": "content automation",
  "audience": "small business owners",
  "notes": "How to save time on blog writing"
}

Pro tip: Keep your form simple at first; you can add more fields later for category, image style, or anything else.

Step 2: Storing Data in Google Sheets

Google Sheets acts as your workflow’s “command center,” storing each idea, tracking status, and logging when posts go live. n8n’s Google Sheets integration makes updating (or fetching) rows super easy.

Each new submission gets added as a row like:

{
  "submitted_at": "2024-06-05T16:03Z",
  "keyword": "content automation",
  "status": "new"
}

Customization tip: Add columns like post_url, image_url, or social_status so you always know what’s done and what’s pending.

Step 3: Writing Blog Content with ChatGPT

n8n calls the OpenAI (ChatGPT) node to generate your actual blog post. You can use detailed prompts for best results (“Write a 800-word, SEO-rich post on [keyword] for [audience]…”). It outputs structured data ready for publishing.

{
  "title": "How Small Businesses Can Automate Blog Content",
  "slug": "automate-blog-content-small-businesses",
  "content": "
Staying visible online...
"
}

Customization tip: Adjust your prompts to get longer articles, include FAQs, or even suggest calls to action. Iterate for your brand’s tone and voice.

Step 4: Creating Images with MidJourney

This is where the magic happens! n8n connects to MidJourney (or a similar AI art tool) and sends a prompt based on your blog topic. It then downloads the result and (optionally) moves it to Google Drive for storage or resizing.

{
  "prompt": "colorful isometric illustration of automated blogging workflow",
  "image_url": "https://midjourney.com/gens/image_abc123.jpg"
}

Workflow Visual: Blog topic ideas fly in on one end, and just minutes later, you get unique, matching images—no more chasing stock photos!

Pro tip: Refine your MidJourney prompts over time (include style, mood, and color info) to keep your brand visuals on point.

Step 5: Publishing to WordPress Automatically

n8n uses the WordPress REST API to turn your article and image into a formatted, ready-to-publish post—including setting the featured image, custom slug, and SEO metadata. Posts can go out live or save as drafts for your review.

{
  "title": "How Small Businesses Can Automate Blog Content",
  "content": "
Staying visible online is crucial...
",
  "featured_image": "https://midjourney.com/gens/image_abc123.jpg",
  "status": "draft"
}

Customization tip: Tweak the workflow to assign categories, tags, or schedule posts for the best publish times.

Step 6: Sharing Content on Social Media

After your post is published, n8n can use tools like ChatGPT (or Gemini) again to write optimized captions, hashtags, and calls to action for each social platform. Then, it auto-posts to X/Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and more.

{
  "platform": "LinkedIn",
  "caption": "New blog: How to automate your entire content pipeline in minutes. 🚀 Read now!",
  "image_url": "https://midjourney.com/gens/image_abc123.jpg",
  "blog_url": "https://yourblog.com/automate-blog-content"
}

Pro tip: Create unique captions per platform—what works on LinkedIn might bomb on Instagram. Use emojis, hashtags, or mentions for extra reach.

Step 7: Logging Performance and Status

n8n writes back to Google Sheets (or Airtable) every time a post is published or shared. Track links, timestamps, and engagement to spot what works best.

{
  "published_at": "2024-06-05T16:45Z",
  "blog_url": "https://yourblog.com/automate-blog-content",
  "fb_post_url": "https://facebook.com/posts/987"
}

Workflow Visual: Your Google Sheet is always up-to-date—no more guesswork or forgotten follow-ups.

Real Example: How It Looks in Practice

Imagine you run a marketing agency. On Monday, you jot down an idea in your Google Form: “How to build a landing page that converts.” You hit submit and go grab coffee. Here’s what happens automatically:

1. Your idea lands in Google Sheets, ready to track as it moves through the pipeline.
2. n8n triggers, sends the topic to ChatGPT, and gets back a complete, SEO-focused article draft.
3. The workflow feeds your topic and key points to MidJourney. Ten minutes later, you have a stunning image tailored to your subject.
4. n8n packages everything and posts to your WordPress site as a draft. You get a Slack ping: “New post is ready for review!”
5. Once live, n8n crafts social posts for LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, matching each network’s style and audience, and publishes them with your blog link and image.
6. Engagement links + metrics are logged in your Google Sheet so you can report, tweak, and repeat.

No manual copying, formatting, or image hunting—just pure, automated productivity.

Tools You’ll Need

• n8n (automation engine; free for self-hosted, affordable cloud plans)
• Google Forms and/or Google Sheets
• ChatGPT / OpenAI API key
• MidJourney account (with Discord API or supported integration)
• WordPress (self-hosted or Jetpack-enabled.com sites)
• Social media accounts with API access (Twitter/X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)
• (Optional) Airtable for advanced content tracking

Related Articles

• n8n Workflow Template Library
• n8n Example Workflows on GitHub
• YouTube: Automate Your Blog with AI and n8n
• n8n Community Forum: Automation Help
• Google Sheets API for Developers

Final Thoughts

Automating your content workflow—from idea to images to blog to social media—is one of the best investments you can make as a small business. Not only do you free up hours each week, but you also give your business consistent, professional content output at a fraction of the manual time (and cost!).

Getting started is easier than ever. Start with the basics and layer on power as you go. Most importantly, iterate for your audience and brand. Happy automating!