Automate viral content creation with Zapier Agents

Staring at a blank screen, trying to come up with your next viral video idea? It’s no surprise if—between researching topics, writing scripts, creating captions, and managing all the moving pieces—the perfect moment to capitalize on a trending topic slips away from you.

With Zapier Agents, you can build an AI agent that helps you avoid those missed opportunities. It’ll automatically handle your entire pipeline, so instead of spending hours on research and first drafts, you can focus on filming great content and connecting with your audience.

Watch the video below to see how this agent works, or keep reading for step-by-step instructions.

How to set up a viral content creation system with Zapier Agents

Let’s start with a ready-to-go template for Zapier Agents. This agent auto-researches trending topics in your business niche, creates viral video scripts for you, and compiles everything into a shareable document.

The agent uses the Schedule by Zapier trigger to run daily. During each workflow run, the agent searches for three trending topics in your niche, evaluating each for viral potential on platforms like TikTok. It then creates attention-grabbing hooks and full scripts, generates supporting assets like captions and hashtags, and adds everything to a Google Doc. When it’s done, you’ll get notified in Slack.

Keep in mind that this agent is designed to provide first drafts of content. You should always validate any points it makes and verify that you agree with the ideas it presents. Use it as a powerful brainstorming assistant rather than a one-and-done content creator.

To get started, click on the button below, then follow the steps to customize your agent.

Step 1: Activate the template

1. Navigate to the Viral Content Creation Agent template.

2. Click Use Template to start building in Zapier Agents.

3. Review the summary of the agent’s instructions and trigger.

4. Click Use this template.

Step 2: Connect Slack, Google Docs, and Google Drive

After reviewing the template summary, you’ll need to connect the tools that’ll execute the agent’s functionality.

1. Connect your Slack account. You can use a previously connected account from other Zapier automations or connect a new account.

2. Connect your Google Docs account for document creation.

3. Connect your Google Drive account to share permissions and manage files.

4. After all your accounts are connected, click Create.

Step 3: Review and customize your agent’s trigger

The trigger is set to Schedule by Zapier by default, configured to run daily. This automatic scheduling ensures you get fresh trending content ideas every day without manual intervention.

Want alternative options? Just modify the trigger’s schedule. For example, you can set it to run:

• Every hour for more frequent content generation

• On specific days to align with your content calendar—for example, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, or targeting key dates that fall on product launches, holidays, or industry events

• At custom intervals to match your publishing schedule—for example, every three days, twice weekly, or at a flexible interval that’s based on your workflow and audience engagement patterns

Step 4: Review and customize the agent’s instructions

The agent follows a content creation workflow in which there are three main phases:

1. Topic research and selection: The agent searches online for trending topics in your business niche, evaluates viral potential, and selects the best topic.

2. Content scripting: The agent creates five-second hooks, 80-second short-form scripts, five-minute long-form scripts with B-roll suggestions, captions, and hashtags, and newsletter posts.

3. Documenting and notifying: The agent compiles everything into a Google Doc, sets sharing permissions in Google Drive, and sends Slack notifications to keep you in the loop after each successful workflow run.

The agent uses several connected actions, including Google Docs: Create Document From Text, Google Drive: Add File Sharing Preference, and Slack: Send Direct Message—and it has automatic access to Google Search for trend research.

You’ll also notice widget icons next to each tool that allow flexible configuration. The agent can generate values automatically, or you can set specific parameters.

Here are a few ways you could customize this agent:

• Content formats and lengths: Adjust video lengths, caption styles, or newsletter format to match your brand.

• Platform focus: Replace TikTok with Instagram, YouTube, or other platforms relevant to your audience.

• Document organization: Set specific naming patterns or folder locations for consistent file management.

Step 5: Test and deploy your agent

1. Click Test agent to run a sample workflow and see how the content creation process works.

2. The agent will walk you through each phase: topic research results, script generation, and document compilation.

3. Review the proposed actions and click Approve to see each step execute. You’ll only need to go through this approval process when testing your agent, not when it’s running live.

4. You must manually enable the agent after testing using the Enable agent toggle. Keep in mind that this is required for scheduled triggers, unlike on-demand agents, which are automatically enabled.

Once deployed, you can monitor the agent’s daily output through the Activity tab, which shows workflow runs, selected topics, generated scripts, and links to created documents.

Customize your viral content creation agent

This template gives you a powerful foundation for automated content creation that you can adapt to your specific niche and workflow needs. It’s all customizable. Change up the research sources, adjust content formats for different platforms, or integrate with additional tools for a more complete content management system.

Whether you’re running multiple versions of this agent for different aspects of your business or customizing this one extensively for your unique workflow, the key is experimentation. Iterate. Find what works best for your brand’s distinct content strategy.

And this is just one example of what Zapier Agents can do. For more inspiration on ways to build agents, head to our Zapier Agents guide.