Engaging with Community comments in Buffer

If you're in our Beta program, you now have access to the most fluid way to respond to Threads, Instagram professional accounts, and Facebook page comments in Buffer!

Community makes it quick and easy to engage with your audience in a more direct and conversational way. By actively participating in the social conversation, you build stronger connections with your community, foster trust with your followers, and create more opportunities for meaningful dialogue.

đź“ť Looking for Engaging with Community comments on the Buffer mobile app?

Have you seen our Instagram announcement? Feel free to join the conversation! 👇

Instagram post from Buffer announcing the new Community tab that allows beta users to respond to comments on Facebook and Threads.

In this article: 
  1. Replying to comments
  2. Saved replies
  1. Getting notified about new comments
  2. Understanding your Comment Score
  1. Using Insights to better understand your audience
  2. FAQ

Replying to comments

📝 Only users with Full Posting access for the channel selected can see that channel’s comments. Here’s how a Buffer organization Owner or Admin can change user permissions in their organization.
  1. Go to the Community tab at the top of your Buffer dashboard.
  2. On the left sidebar, select the social channel you’d like to engage with. At this time, Community supports Facebook pages, Instagram professional accounts, and Threads.
  3. Find the comment you’d like to reply to.
  4. Click into the “Reply…” field beneath the comment.
  5. Type your response or get off to a quick start by using the reply suggestions, followed by adding your own thoughts. Paid plans include unlimited suggestions, while Free plans include 5 suggestions per week. 
  6. Press Enter or click the Reply button to post your comment.
That’s it! You’ve responded directly to your audience, and a connection is formed!

GIF of replying to comments in Community

Saved replies

Saved Replies help you respond faster to common questions or comments, like your refund policy or shipping details. Instead of typing the same message over and over, you can save it once and reuse it anytime, making your workflow more efficient and your responses more consistent.

Why use saved replies?

  • Save time when replying to FAQs or recurring comments.
  • Keep your messaging consistent across your team.
  • Easily customize saved replies before sending if needed.

How to save a reply

  1. Click this link (https://publish.buffer.com/settings/saved-replies) or follow the steps 2-4 below to navigate there. Then, move on to Step 5.
  2. Click the profile icon in the upper right corner of the web dashboard.
  3. Choose Settings from the dropdown or click this link. 
  4. Scroll down to Features and click Saved Replies.
  5. In the Title field, add a name for your reply (e.g., “Refund Policy”).
  6. In the Write your saved reply field, type the message you want to store.
  7. Click Save to store it for future use.

Buffer Account Settings - Saved Replies

đź“ť Good to Knows: 
  • Each plan is allotted a different number of Saved Replies:
    • The Free plan includes 1 saved reply.
    • The Essentials plan includes 5 saved replies.
    • The Team plan includes unlimited saved replies.
  • Saved Replies are shared across your organization. Anyone with Full Posting access on any channel available in the Community tab will have access to your Saved Replies.

How to insert a saved reply

To add a saved reply to your comment: 
  1. Click the speech bubble icon in the lower right corner of the composer. 
  2. Select the saved reply you want to use. 
  3. Click Reply and you’re all set!

How to edit or delete a saved reply

To edit or delete a saved reply:

  1. Click on the speech bubble icon in the lower right corner of the Community composer or click here: https://publish.buffer.com/settings/saved-replies.
  2. Look for the Saved Reply you'd like to edit or delete.
  3. Click the pencil ✏️ icon to edit the Saved Reply or the trash can 🗑️ icon to delete it.
  4. Follow the last prompt on the screen to either save your edits or confirm the deletion.

Here's what it looks like in action:

GIF of where to find the options to edit or delete a saved reply

Getting notified about new comments

To help you stay on top of community engagement, Buffer offers email notifications when new comments come through on your connected channels.

Email notifications are sent hourly for new comments on Community-supported channels during the first 24 hours after a post is published. They're a great way to stay updated without having to check the platform throughout the day!

Here’s how it works:

  • Free plan: You'll receive an hourly email showing the number of comments received in the last hour.
  • Paid plans: In addition to the comment count, you’ll also see previews of some of the actual comments, so you can quickly gauge tone and urgency without logging in.

You can toggle these notifications on or off at any time via the "Community Notifications" preference within your email notification settings.

💡 Tip: These alerts are especially helpful if you’re managing active communities or time-sensitive posts and want to respond quickly.

Understanding your Comment Score

Your Comment Score rates how engaged you are with your audience. It’s a helpful way to track how consistently and quickly you're responding to comments, which are key actions for building strong relationships with your community.

What are the Comment Score levels? 

  • Getting Started: 0-20 points
  • Finding Your Voice: 21-40 points
  • Replying Regularly: 41-60 points
  • Conversing Consistently: 61-80 points
  • Community Champion: 81-100 points

What factors are included in your Comment Score?

Your Comment Score is calculated based on three core engagement metrics:
  • Response rate: The percentage of comments you’ve replied to.
  • Response speed: How quickly you respond after a comment is posted.
  • Consistency: How regularly you engage with your audience.
Together, these metrics give you a clear picture of your engagement habits and highlight areas for improvement.

Why it matters

Replying to comments helps you build trust, spark ongoing conversations, and strengthen your community. A higher Comment Score means you're staying present and responsive—something your followers will notice and appreciate.
Even small improvements can make a big difference in how your brand is perceived. Whether you're aiming for faster replies or more consistent check-ins, your score is here to help guide you.

Look! We're working to improve our Comment Score, too! 👇

the Comment Score for the @lunasneakers Threads account. The score is 82/100, which is in the green range with the Response rate at 100%, Response speed at 88%, and Consistency at 25%.


Using Insights to better understand your audience

Insights uses AI to analyze your recent posts and comments (automatically passed through our system) to show what’s resonating most with your audience. This helps you make smarter, data-informed decisions about your content strategy.

đź’ˇTip: Try running Insights on your top posts weekly to track changes in sentiment and engagement over time.

To use Insights:

  1. Navigate to the Community tab.
  2. Choose the social channel you'd like to view Insights for on the left side of Buffer. Each channel will have its own set of engagement data and trends.

  3. Click the Insights button.

    Buffer Community - Insights

    Enter a prompt.

    You can ask specific questions like:

    • “Which of my recent posts sparked the most discussion?”
    • “What topics are getting emotional responses from my audience?”
    • “Are my posts attracting new commenters?”

  4. Click Generate Insights.

    Review the AI-generated summary.

    The Insights panel will provide a response that may highlight things like:

    • Emotional tone (e.g. humor, curiosity, empathy)
    • Common themes or repeated questions
    • Signs of audience growth or loyalty

Insights are especially helpful for identifying content that encourages community interaction, sparks debate, or aligns with your brand values. You can use this information to shape future posts, respond more meaningfully, or double down on what’s working.

Note: Insights are powered by AI and may occasionally include errors or miss context. We recommend double-checking the results and using them as a starting point—not a final verdict. If something doesn’t look right, try rephrasing your prompt or reviewing the original comments directly.

FAQ

Can’t See Comments? Here’s What to Check

  • If new comments aren’t coming in, there may be an issue with the connection between Buffer and your social channel. In that case, we recommend refreshing your channel using these steps. 
  • Only users with Full Posting access for the channel selected can see that channel’s comments. If you have Approval Required access, you won’t see comments for that channel. To change that, the Owner or an Admin of your Buffer organization can adjust your permissions. Here’s how to change user permissions in your organization.
  • If you're still not seeing comments come through after trying these things, feel free to email us at hello@buffer.com, and we’ll be happy to help!

Which social networks are supported? 

At the moment, you can reply to comments on Threads, Instagram professional accounts, and Facebook pages through your Community tab. We plan to add more channels to Community in the future!
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