Connecting your channels to Buffer
📝 If you see that your social channel is marked as "Unavailable" (like this), checkout our article: Why channels are appearing as "Unavailable" when attempting to connect them to Buffer
Connecting your channels is the first step to taking full advantage of your Buffer account, as it opens the gates to publish your posts, analyze results, and engage with comments.
In this article:
The social channels Buffer supports
| Channel | Publishing | Analytics | Engagement |
| Facebook Pages | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Facebook groups | ✓ (notification publishing only) | ||
| Instagram Business and Creator accounts | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Instagram Personal Accounts | ✓ (notification publishing only) | ||
| X/Twitter profiles | ✓ | ✓ | |
| LinkedIn Pages | ✓ | ✓ | |
| LinkedIn profiles | ✓ | ||
| Pinterest business and personal accounts | ✓ | ||
| TikTok business accounts | ✓ | ||
| Google business profiles | ✓ | ||
| Start Pages | ✓ | ||
| Mastodon | ✓ | ||
| YouTube Shorts | ✓ | ||
| Threads | ✓ | ||
| Bluesky | ✓ |
📝 Notes:
- Interested in another channel? See who else is talking about it on our Suggestions Board.
- It's not possible to connect Facebook personal profiles to Buffer, as Meta prefer users not automate posting to these types of channels.
- While our Free plan supports connections for up to three channels at once, there is a lifetime channel connection limit of of 8 channels per social network. This means that, on the Free plan, we track the number of unique channels you’ve connected per social network, even if they're not longer connected (e.g. a user on the Free plan would only be able to connect 8 distinct TikTok accounts). This lifetime limit does not apply to our paid plans.
❓ Can our Customer Advocacy team answer any questions for you? Feel free to reach out via hello@buffer.com.
Connecting your channels
- To connect a channel to Buffer, let's first ensure Buffer knows exactly which social channel you'd like to connect (especially if you're connecting more than one channel from each social network). To do this, log into the channel you'd like to connect. For example, if you're connecting your Facebook Page, start by logging into the profile that is an Admin of that Page at https://facebook.com.
- In another tab, click the + New button in the top navigation bar and select Connect a New Channel.
- Click on the type of channel you'd like to connect. (If you already have channels connected, click Connect New Channel and then click the channel you'd like to connect.)
- While the connections process is usually straight forward, we have tips for certain social channels. If you experience issues connecting one of the channels below, click on its link.
- Connecting your Facebook Page to Buffer
- Connecting your Facebook group to Buffer
- Connecting your Instagram account to Buffer
- Connecting your LinkedIn profile or Page to Buffer
- Connecting your TikTok business account to Buffer
- Connecting your Mastodon account to Buffer
- Connecting your Pinterest personal or business account to Buffer
- Connecting your Bluesky channel to Buffer
- Connecting your Threads account to Buffer
- To change the order your channels appear in the channel menu, you can drag and drop into your desired order by clicking on a channel, moving it with your mouse, and then releasing it.
📖 Once you've connected a channel, we'd recommend hopping over to your posting schedule and setting up the times you'd like to post content. Learn more about the posting schedule here.
⚠️ Important things to note
- For users on a team (including Admins): If you are able to view all of your connected channels in Manage Channels, but cannot see certain channels when you're in your Publishing tab, it is likely because you do not have the appropriate permissions to access that channel. This can be fixed by the owner of your organization's account by following the steps in: Changing user permissions in your organization.
- The access token for your social channels will expire from time to time, which may require a few steps. Learn how to refresh a channel in Buffer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Once I connect my channel(s) to Buffer, do I need to be logged into my social channel(s) every time I want to post using your tool?
No. The way third-party social media scheduling tools like Buffer work is by routing you to the social network to log in and grant permission. Then, the social network generates an access token for Buffer to connect and post on your behalf, which is then stored and used for sending posts.
A simple way to think about it is that you (and the people that you'll be posting for) have the "master key" to the social accounts. The access token that Buffer has is like having a copy of the master key. So long as the login information and permissions are valid, our copy of the master key can be used to send posts, so you won't have to stay logged into the accounts in your browser to post with Buffer.