Scheduling posts
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Video walkthrough
In the video below, watch a quick tutorial on how to schedule posts in your Buffer dashboard.
Scheduling posts
- To get started, click the + New button in the top navigation bar and select Post. This will open up the composer, which is where you can craft your post.
- From there, select the social channels you'd like to include by clicking on the avatars at the top of the composer.
📝 Please note, it's only possible to select one X/Twitter account at a time, due to X's/Twitter's guidelines.
- If you'd like to add a tag to the post, choose the appropriate one at the top of the composer. Learn more about creating and managing tags (campaigns) here.
- You're able to customize your post for each social network that you're sharing to. If the message is going to be similar for each one, we would recommend starting with a base for your posts, which you can type in or copy and paste.
📝 Having trouble coming up with content? Let Buffer's AI Assistant help!
- From there, click Customize for each network. A separate box will appear for each type of social network that you've selected. For example if you're sharing to Facebook, X/Twitter, and LinkedIn, you'll have three boxes available. If you're sharing to multiple social channels of the same network, e.g. multiple Facebook accounts, you'd still only have one box per social network.
- You can then modify the text for each one however you'd like. When it comes to adding media to your posts, the options you'll see will vary depending on the social network you're sharing to. Please refer to this table to find more information about the options for each social network.
Did you know you can copy/paste images into the web composer? You can also drag and drop images to reorder them. Try it out!
- For multi-image posts, images that you attach to your post will appear in the order that you uploaded them. You can rearrange the images by clicking the X on the images. The images will then appear in the “Suggested Media” area below. You can then click on each image in the order you would like them to appear and they will be attached in that order.
Notes
- Carousel posts for Instagram and Facebook: Please note that you can upload and schedule up to 10 images for Instagram and Facebook. However, if you'd like to schedule a post to multiple social accounts at once and click the Customize for each network button, only the number of images permitted for that social channel will populate. For example, if you're scheduling both Instagram and LinkedIn posts and upload 10 images when you click Customize for each network, you will see that only nine of your images shows within your LinkedIn composer while all 10 display for your Instagram composer. This is because it is only possible to publish nine images at a time through LinkedIn.
- LinkedIn Document Scheduling: We are able to schedule PDFs on LinkedIn (one per post with a maximum file size of 100MB and 300 pages).
- Link shortening: On the Free plan, all links will be shortened using the buff.ly link shortener. On our paid plans, you're able to decide which link shortener to use by heading to Settings. Pinterest does not allow link shortening, so be sure to use a full URL in the destination URL box.
- Facebook page and X/Twitter mentions: To mention a Facebook page or X/Twitter profile, simply type the @ symbol and start typing the first few letters of the page or profile you'd like to mention. Matching results will be returned and you can select the one you'd like to include. Learn more here.
- Image descriptions: Descriptions added to images that are shared on X/Twitter, Mastodon, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Facebook are added as "alternative text", which is read aloud by software that users with visual impairments use to navigate the web. To add alt text to your image being shared to these channels, click on the image to expand it and then add your image description in the text box. Learn more here about adding alt text.
- TikTok mentions and hashtags: Any mentions or hashtags in a caption will display as plain-text and not a clickable hyperlink. Mentions of mutual followers is only supported at this time. Additionally, captions have a maximum length of 150 characters.
- Hashtags: You're able to include hashtags in your posts for any social network (except Pinterest) and they will be hyperlinked once published.
- First comment: On our paid plans, you're able to schedule a first comment for LinkedIn
Previewing posts
As you create and customize your post, Buffer will generate a preview to show you what your post will look like once it's published on each channel.*
*Link previews aren't currently available for posts over 280 characters on X/Twitter due to API limitations.
Scheduling Options
Once your posts are ready, you'll have a few scheduling options:
- Add to Queue (default) will add your post to the next available time slot from your posting schedules (this is usually the bottom of your queue).
- Share Next will save your post at the top of your queue and be the next one to be published. Other posts in your queues will be bumped down one time slot. This option is not available on the Free plan.
- Share Now will publish your post immediately, essentially skipping the queue.
- Schedule Post allows you to schedule your post for a specific time and date. A calendar will appear and you can choose a custom date and time in the future for the post to be shared.
⭐ Free users can have up to 10 scheduled posts queued at a time. Paid users can have up to 2000 scheduled posts queued at a time.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I delete a scheduled post from my queue?
You can click Delete on any scheduled post and it will be deleted from your queue. Please note that once a post has been deleted, it cannot be recovered.
Can I view all of my scheduled posts in one place?
Yes, you can view all of your scheduled posts in one list using the All Channels view (currently in Beta). This view allows you to filter your scheduled posts by channel and tag. Learn more about How to use the All Channels view in Buffer here.
How can I delete or edit a published post?
At this time, we are unable to edit or delete a post once it's been published through Buffer. Instead, you'll need to edit or delete the published post directly on the social network. You can find a history of your published posts within the Sent tab of the Publish dashboard.
Can I share evergreen content with Buffer?
At this time, it is not possible to create a post once and have it repeat indefinitely. However, you can use our Duplicate feature to repeat a post.
Do you support bulk scheduling? Can I upload my posts in bulk? Can I import my posts in bulk?
Buffer does not have a bulk scheduling feature at this time. If you would like to upload posts in bulk or upload posts in bulk using a csv file or spreadsheet, you can use Bulk.ly or Bulk Buffer, which are two tools that integrate with Buffer.
If you'd like us to consider supporting a native bulk scheduling feature in the future, you can upvote this suggestion on our feature request board.
I've created a post for multiple channels and need to edit my post. Can I edit scheduled posts in bulk?
At this time, we don't have a way to edit posts in bulk. If you're creating the same post for multiple channels, once it's been scheduled, we consider each post to be its own separate post. Therefore, you'll have to edit each post separately. If you'd like to see us support bulk editing in the future, you can upvote this idea on our suggestions board.
Can I use custom fonts or formatted text in my scheduled posts?
Buffer does not have a formatting text option within our composer. To add formatted text to your scheduled posts, you can use an online text formatting tool to format your text and then paste it into the Buffer composer and schedule your post.