How to create a Telegram bot (RSS-Feed for channel)?

Telegram is a messenger that has more than 500 million active users. The program was created by Pavel Durov, the founder of the “Russian Facebook” VK (ВКонта́кте). Although the program only offers server-side encryption in the default settings instead of end-to-end encryption (E2E), the company behind the messenger service is headquartered in Dubai and is known for barely cooperating with government authorities. Therefore, Telegram is used by protesters worldwide and provides an important reach channel – not only for resistance fighters. In this article I focus on the practical aspect of how to market content with a Telegram channel including an RSS bot.

What do we need?

The aim is to create a Telegram bot running in a Telegram channel to display a RSS feed.

• RSS-Feed of a webpage, e.g. https://mischatech.de/feed/
• Telegram account (mobile phone number required)
• Telegram channel, e.g. https://t.me/mischatech
• Telegram bot, e.g. https://t.me/mischaTech_bot

In this instruction i showcase how i created my MischaTech Telegram channel with RSS-bot.

There is a saying in marketing: Be where your customers are. Unlike Telegram groups, which are limited to 200,000 participants, Telegram Channels can reach an unlimited number of people.

With Telegram, you can send messages, photos, videos and files of any type […], as well as create groups for up to 200,000 people or channels for broadcasting to unlimited audiences. (FAQ)

Displaying your website’s RSS feed in a Telegram channel gives you the following advantages:

• Free traffic (reach new customers, grow audience)
• SEO ranking improved (links to your webpage)
• Tool for interaction (discussions, improvement)
• …

The most subscribed Telegram channel “Telegram Tips” currently has a reach of 8 million users. On this page you find some interesting statistics. Long story short: With a Telegram channel, you can be closer to your customers and build a user base or draw attention to your services for free with little effort. The channels will be a part of Telegram monetization strategy in the future.

How to create a Telegram channel?

First of all, a Telegram account is required. For this, you have to verify your mobile number. After downloading the app and registering, you click inside the program on “new channel” and “create channel.” Choose a channel picture, name and description. Set the channel to “public” and choose a channel link that suits you best. My Telegram channel link is: https://t.me/mischatech (obvious!).

Now we create a bot. Who do we ask for this? The BotFather! He will make an offer you cannot refuse. In Telegram’s search box, search for the bot, named “BotFather”, to easily create your own bot. In the chat with the BotFather himself you enter the following command for bot creation:

/newbot

In the next step you will be asked to name your bot (“Alright a new bot. How are we going to call it? Please choose a name for your bot.”). After that you are asked to choose a username for your bot. It must end in “bot” (e.g. MischaTech_bot). Now you have your own bot. Congratulation!

The BotFather will give you an authentication token (e.g. 9272573:QSX98AGHJ264574DT). Please be careful and never share your authentication token. It grants control over your bot.

In the next step, we’ll teach your bot to share articles from a RSS feed. For this we use ManyBot. Therefore, search in Telegram for “Manybot” and start a chat. Enter the following command:

/addbot

Copy the authentication token, that the BotFather gave you and copy it into the chat with the “teacher” ManyBot. If you did everything correctly, the following message appears: “Token for @[botname] accepted!” Your bot can now do everything that the master ManyBot also can do.

Go back to your bot (in other words enter the chat with your own bot) and type the following:

/autoposting

No you “can setup autoposting from Twitter, YouTube, VK or any RSS-feed.” Click on “+RSS feed” and add your RSS-feed. I choose the RSS-feed of my own website (https://mischatech.de/feed/).

Your bot will post the given RSS-feed. It only needs to know where. What is missing is the stage of the bot – a Telegram channel. To change it, we add the bot as an admin in the Telegram channel. This is done in the settings of the Telegram channel under “administrators”, “add administrator”.

Telegram is crucial in the messenger market. Thus, in this article we have learned how to create a Telegram channel with RSS bot. With the tools “BotFather” and “ManyBot” you can do it in a few minutes. An investment that can drive your brand and increase interaction with your audience.

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Picture: https://pixabay.com/de/vectors/telegramm-app-logo-symbol-5662082/