Using Buffer's AI Assistant

Buffer’s AI Assistant helps you generate fresh, engaging content in just a few seconds (without drudging through writer's block!). Give it a single prompt and it’ll help you craft captions with endless variations, even repurposing your content in a click.

Think of Buffer AI Assistant as a powerful sidekick, ready to help make your ideas shine!

In this article:

1. Ways to use Buffer’s AI Assistant
2. How to generate a suggestion
3. Tips for creating a great prompt
4. Known limitations with AI

Ways to use Buffer's AI Assistant

For tips on how to get started with AI, check out our beginner’s guide to using AI on social or see the AI Assistant in action below, as it generates an idea in the Create space. 

How to generate a suggestion

Buffer’s AI Assistant is integrated in both the Publishing dashboard as well as the Create space (as shown in the video above), so you can use it as a brainstorming buddy to help you dream up your next idea, or in the Publishing composer to help craft the perfect post.

You can also use the Content Ideation tool to generate ideas based on your industry and target audience.

Start with a prompt

If you have a general idea of what you want to convey in your post, but need help writing it, you can give AI Assistant a prompt that is at least 4 words and under 10,000 characters and it will create a draft for you. 

1. Click on AI Assistant or click Use the AI Assistant and the AI Assistant will open on the side of the composer.
2. Type a prompt that is at least 4 words long into the box and click Generate. Check out our tips for creating a great prompt below.

3. AI Assistant will do some thinking and come up with a post caption for you. If you like what you see, you can Insert into your post. If you want to make adjustments, you have a few options to adjust the text and tone:
   • Regenerate, Rephrase, Shorten, or Expand the text
   • More Casual or More Formal tone
4. When you’re happy with the result, click Insert to add the text to your post. That’s it!

Start with a draft

Know what you want to say, but just need help tweaking the language?

1. Type your caption into the composer and then highlight the text and click Refine with AI.

2. The AI Assistant will open on the side of the composer and you’ll see the following options:
   • Regenerate, Rephrase, Shorten, or Expand the text
   • More Casual or More Formal tone
3. When you're happy with the caption, click Replace to update your caption.

Start with your business or audience

Buffer's AI Assistant can also help you brainstorm ideas, based on your industry and targeted audience. (This feature is only available within the Content area of Buffer).

1. Head to the Create section of Buffer and click on Generate Ideas 🪄 .

2. To start, tell us a little about your business and who your target audience is. Once you’ve filled in both fields, click on Generate Ideas to see your suggestion.
3. If you’re happy with the suggestion, click Use it to save it as an idea. Otherwise, you can click Try Another to generate a new suggestion.
4. If you want to make a change to the description of your business or your target audience, click Customize to tweak the information and then click Generate Ideas to generate a new idea.

Tips for creating a great prompt

When using our AI Assistant, your prompt should be at least 4 words long. To create an effective prompt, you can ask yourself a few questions:

• Objective: What is the goal of the post? Are you promoting a product, sharing information, driving engagement, or something else?
• Target Audience: Who are you writing for? Understanding your audience helps tailor the tone and style accordingly. 
• Content: Please provide the main idea you want to include in the post. It could be a specific message, a call-to-action, or any other specific details you'd like to share.
• Keywords/Hashtags: Adding relevant keywords can improve visibility and engagement.
• Tone and Style: How do you want your post to sound? For example, friendly, informative, formal, casual, etc.
• CTA (Call-to-Action): If you want to direct the audience to a website, landing page, or any specific action, please provide the link or details in your prompt.
• Platform: Which social media channel will this post be published on? Different platforms have different character limits and audience expectations. (Note: Buffer's AI assistant takes care of network customized prompts automatically once you've clicked Customize for each network in the composer)

Known limitations with AI

• Accuracy: The AI may occasionally generate incorrect information about people, places, or facts.
• Hallucinations: The AI can sometimes "hallucinate" or generate information that appears plausible but is entirely fabricated.
• Up-to-date knowledge: The AI's knowledge is not real-time and may not include the most recent events or developments.
• Bias and harmful content: In rare cases, the AI might produce biased content or potentially harmful instructions. If you encounter such content, please report it to us at hello@buffer.com.
• URL processing: The AI cannot open, read, or directly access any URLs provided to it.
• Ethical considerations: The AI doesn't have inherent ethical judgment. You should ensure AI-generated content aligns with your own ethical standards.