Scheduling posts
📝 Looking for the mobile version of "Scheduling posts"?
In this article:
Video walkthrough
In the video below, Katie, from our Customer Advocacy team, will walk you through the steps to schedule your posts through Buffer.
Scheduling posts
- To get started, click the blue + New Post button, located on the to the top right of your queue. 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 the table below and find more information about each option here.
| Link preview | Suggested media | Image upload | Video upload | PDF upload | |
| ✓ | ✓ (*10) | ✓ (*10) | ✓ (1) | ||
| ✓ | ✓ (*10) | ✓ (*10) | ✓ (1) | ||
| X/Twitter | ✓ | ✓ (4) | ✓ (4) | ✓ (1) | |
| ✓ | ✓ (9) | ✓ (9) | ✓ (1) | ✓ (1) | |
| ✓ (1) | ✓ (1) | ✓ (1) | |||
| TikTok | ✓ (1) | ✓ (1) | |||
| Start Page | ✓ (1) |
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.
Scheduling Options
Once your posts are ready, you'll have a few scheduling options:
- Add to Queue (default): Your posts will be added to the next available time slots from your posting schedules (this is usually the bottom of your queue).
- Share Next: Your posts will be saved at the top of your queues and be the next ones 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: Your posts will be published immediately, essentially skipping the queue.
- Schedule Post: You will be able to choose a custom date and time in the future for the posts 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.