Buffer is an excellent tool for anyone interested in social media marketing. Other tools have their strengths and weaknesses. However, we use Buffer a lot and feel a tour is helpful. You can get a free account at buffer.com and join us as we walk through the menu options.
Buffer Manages Multiple Accounts
The first thing you need to do is add an account. The free version of Buffer allows you to add one per social platform so at least add a couple. We use LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter for nearly all of our posting. Each platform handles authentication a little differently. In most cases, select a platform, login to your account, and you will have it added to Buffer. Add a couple before moving on.
Before moving on, let’s make sure we have our settings correct. The settings menu at the top right has several options that we don’t need to review. They are self-explanatory or “Buffer for Business” options. We do want to select “Link Shortening” and make sure it is turned on. The service used is not highly important to most people, just make sure it is turned on. You can use the default service.
At the bottom of the “Link Shortening” page is a section on Google Analytics. Go ahead and hook that up if you use GA. The analytics will help you get better tracking information about your site visitors and what is driving them.
Buffer Needs a Schedule
The first place to go for a platform is the schedule page. Thus, let’s click on that tab and see what it provides. Note that there is a Schedule Timezone. Go ahead and set that to your desired time zone. Without it configured correctly, the post times can become very confusing.
Next, click on the “New Posting Schedule” button. You can set a time, or times, to post your articles. Better yet, click on the “Try our Optimal Timing Tool” link. This link provides a utility where you pick the number of times to post each day, and it generates the best times. The times initially are based on traffic patterns. However, once you have a history, it can adjust times to your audience and the best performing posts. The ability to quickly post and re-buffer almost worth the price of the $10/month in itself.
Content Drives It All
The next step is the Content tab. There are three sub-tabs on this page. There is Queue, For Review, and Content Inbox. So let’s look at them one at a time.
The Queue page is where we add posts or manage the past or future ones. There are two views available (list and calendar). Thus, let’s take a look at each of those. Start with the calendar view. This view is pretty self-explanatory, you can see a weekly or monthly view. Initially, the cells will be empty. However, as you add content, they will fill up with posts that have been sent or are scheduled. You can try it out by entering text in the “What do you want to share” field.
A click in the text entry field will pop up a window. The window will have icons for each of your connected accounts, an area to enter text, a link to add a photo, and a button. The button has options to post now, schedule, or next. The “next” option finds the next scheduled slot and posts there. Conveniently, everything else in the queue moves back to the next slot. The “now” option posts immediately. That brings us to “schedule” which finds the next available open scheduled slot and fills it. Thus, next posts to the front of the queue while “schedule” appends it to the end or fills a gap.
The Content Inbox
I must be honest. The content inbox is my favorite tool in Buffer. Click on the “Add & Remove Feeds” button to add an RSS feed for this tab. The feed will load your articles. Then, click on dismiss to ignore the item or “Add” to load it onto your schedule. The list provides an excellent way to scan through a bunch of articles, link, and comment on them. Then queue them up. I use this on a regular basis to pull my latest posts and scan through other news that might be useful. This tool is perfect for filling up a queue days, or weeks, at a time.
Analytics
The analytics page is only available to paid subscribers, but still worth covering. This page provides an excellent summary of how every post you enter has done. The data included is also customized to the platform. For example, twitter data includes retweets. LinkedIn just has likes, comments, and clicks.
The listing for each post provides a “rebuffer” button. Use this to quickly repost favorite content. Even better, several platforms include a “reach” attribute that helps you determine how many people have “seen” the post on their stream. Thus, you can see how retweets, likes, and other activity impacts the visibility of your posts. This data is a great first step in finding ways to expand your reach. Increase your baseline audience wherever possible.
The Analysis and Insights options are available for business subscribers. These pages add more details to the grading of your posts. Although you can get by with just the post analytics, these other tools are highly recommended if you want to improve your business.
Free Trial
The free tier of Buffer is a good tool in itself. Additionally, you can try out the paid features for a limited time. This offering is a perfect way to try it out for yourself. There are other tools out there, and you should probably settle on only one or two for your needs. Just do not pass by a chance to evaluate Buffer as part of making your decision.
