Beyond Publishing: How to Make The Most of All Buffer’s Features

When people think of Buffer, scheduling is often the first thing to come to mind, but did you know there are a ton of other ways to use our platform that go beyond publishing?

In this blog, I’ve highlighted all of the extra ways to use Buffer in addition to publishing. You’ll learn about creating a landing page for your brand, increasing customer engagement, and generating beautiful analytics reports. Let’s dive in!

Buffer is a flexible, multi-use social media tool

For creators, entrepreneurs, and small businesses, Buffer is not just a toolkit; it's a lifeline. Designed with a keen focus on growth, Buffer promises and delivers tools to not just create but thrive in the online space. Our goal is to give you access to features that’ll not only allow you to stay on top of your various social accounts but also elevate your content.

Engage with your Facebook and Instagram audience all from one place

Conversing with followers is one of the most effective ways to grow a brand on social media, which is why we have created easy-to-use engagement tools. You’ll be able to connect your Instagram and Facebook accounts so that you can reply to comments on all of your posts from right within Buffer. By responding to social media comments, your community will appreciate that you’re hearing them out, and you’ll be building valuable connections.

Use smart alerts to prioritize comments

It can sometimes seem overwhelming to tackle notifications, so we’ve created smart alerts. Instead of receiving notifications in chronological order, smart alerts prioritize and flag your most important Facebook and Instagram comments, guaranteeing you’ll never miss a pressing inquiry.

Smart alerts also help you tap into your customers’ feedback by providing an overview view of all comments. Once your notifications are clearly laid out in our engagement dashboard, you’ll be more likely to notice certain patterns. Maybe most of your followers are requesting a new color or are having a similar issue allowing you to easily collect this user data.

Use keyboard shortcuts to engage efficiently

We’ve built keyboard shortcuts and smart emojis right into our engagement tool so you can answer questions quickly and efficiently. Every interaction you have with a follower is also displayed neatly in our dashboard – providing you with an accessible and organized way to view all of your conversations.

Analyze your social media strategy with post breakdowns and reports

It’s one thing to post to social media and another to figure out whether your marketing strategy is actually working. Not all content is effective and deciphering which posts resonate strongest with your audience can be tricky. But that’s where our analytic tools come in. We study important data regarding important channels like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn — ensuring your social media game is on point.

Once you link a social channel to your account, the analytics are populated immediately. We’ll backfill up to six months of historic data, meaning you don’t need to wait to build a posting history to get useful insights. Our comprehensive dashboard tracks key metrics for each of your social accounts, including likes, comments, impressions, reach, and engagement. Our analytics tool has a special feature that pulls key data from your Instagram stories, too.

Through the analytics tools, we also share post breakdowns on your top-performing content, providing data-driven recommendations on when to post, the best content to post, and how often to post, taking the guesswork out of scheduling content. If you’re interested in exploring paid marketing opportunities, our analytics tool compares and contrasts the difference in performance between your boosted and organic content as well.

Understanding your audience

Creating the most compelling content means understanding your target demographic, which is why we’ve embedded ‘audience overview’ into our Facebook and Instagram analytics. With this feature, you’ll be able to pinpoint the gender, age, and location of the followers who interact most with your posts. This will allow you to gauge whether your posts are resonating with your target audience and if there’s a different demographic that seems to be attracted to your content.

Professional reports

If you want to get super in-depth, we also provide professional reports in our analytic tools. You have the power to choose how often you create reports and which data sets they’ll include. For example, you can have a weekly Instagram report and also create a separate report that includes data from all of your social channels together. Reports can give you a more detailed view of your social strategy, allowing you to assess exactly which aspects of your content are hitting your marketing goals.

Spotlight your brand with Start Page

While running active social media accounts is important for brand exposure, most folks can also leverage a landing page that exists independently from other channels. Website development can be expensive and time-consuming, which is why we’ve created Start Page — your brand’s one key link. Start Page is a mobile-friendly link-in-bio.

Creating a Start Page takes only a few minutes thanks to its modifiable and user-friendly templates. Your URL starts with your custom name — ensuring your business is front and center. From there, easily build your page with Giphy integration, text, images, and link blocks. You can also embed a YouTube video or Spotify song on their page to add some extra personality. From the backend, you’ll be able to track the click rate and other metrics just like you would on an actual website.

Start Page can serve as the perfect Instagram or TikTok link-in-bio as it houses your most important links, but it’s also flexible enough to function as your brand’s homepage. Whether you want a microsite for selling products and services or a simple link that contains all of your contact info, Start Page can do it all.

But Wait … There’s More.

Buffer started way back in November 2010. It became one of the first social media management tools on the block. Today, with over a decade's worth of investment and innovation, Buffer now has a whole host of extra features to support newcomers to social and old-timers.

• AI Assistant: Struggling to come up with new ideas? Let the AI Assistant generate posts, repurpose old content, and brainstorm innovative ideas. Your engagement rates and follower count will thank you!
• Ideas: Whether you're on the go or brainstorming in your workspace, capture your inspiration using Buffer’s mobile app, browser extension, or directly in the Buffer app.
• Tags: Track multi-channel campaigns efficiently and ensure a balanced content strategy with tags.
• Content Space: Store your ideas, plans, and content all in one place. Plus, draw inspiration and assistance from our integrated AI.
• Browser Extension: Share captivating links, images, and videos directly from your browsing experience. No need to return to the Buffer dashboard; make sharing instant!
• Drafts: Not ready to publish? Save your content drafts, be it on mobile or desktop.
• Posting Schedule/Queue: Allocate specific slots throughout the week and ensure your content is timely and relevant.
• Buff.ly Link Shortener: Make lengthy URLs a thing of the past. All your links are automatically shortened for a cleaner look.
• Hashtag Manager: Efficiently create, save, and optimize your hashtags. Reuse them across channels and ensure maximum reach.
• Shuffle Queue: Not sure about your post sequence? Give it a shuffle and keep things fresh!

Buffer’s Seamless Integrations

The true power of Buffer isn't just in its standalone features but in the way it smoothly integrates with various platforms to provide a holistic social media management experience. Let's dive into some of Buffer's most remarkable integrations:

• Canva: Got a knack for designing on Canva? Now, you can create and directly import your designs from Canva to Buffer. Craft stunning visuals and make your posts shine.
• Dropbox: No more tedious downloading and uploading. Access your Dropbox files from within Buffer and directly embed them into your social media content.
• OneDrive: Connect your OneDrive to Buffer and add files with ease to all your social media posts.
• GIPHY: Add a gif directly to your post! Seamlessly integrate GIFs into your social media posts directly from GIPHY's extensive library.
• Unsplash: Looking for high-quality images for your content? Source and import them directly from Unsplash via Buffer.
• Bitly: Don't let long links clutter your posts. With Buffer’s Bitly integration, not only can you shorten your links, but also keep an eye on click-through rates and engagement.
• OpenAI: Make your posts smarter and more engaging. Harness the power of OpenAI's natural language processing with Buffer's AI Assistant for engaging content.
• Google Photos: Dive into your Google Photos library without leaving Buffer. Choose the perfect image to complement your content.
• Google Drive: Streamline your content creation process. Connect Buffer with your Google Drive and directly add files and visuals to your social media content.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg check out all 42 Buffer integrations here →

More Free Buffer Tools

In addition to our generous free plan, we’ve also developed a few free tools that make it easy to create efficient and appealing visuals for your social media in a matter of minutes.

Remix

Remix by Buffer allows you to take any link – including a Tweet or product page – and instantly create an aesthetically pleasing graphic that can be posted onto your Instagram grid or other social platforms.

Stories Creator

Our Stories Creator is a quick way to generate the perfect Instagram or Facebook story! You can upload your own images, use existing templates, and add a CTA all within the app.

UTM Generator

Never lose track of your campaign performance again. With our UTM Generator, a complimentary tool, effortlessly generate UTM parameters for all your campaigns. Monitor sources, mediums, and campaign names with ease and gain insights into your most effective strategies.

Hopefully, this article has inspired you to use Buffer for more than scheduling posts like building community with your followers, crafting your Start Page, and generating new content for your social accounts.

Have a favorite Buffer feature? Let us know on Twitter or Instagram!