Sometimes the pictures we take require a few tweaks to get them ready for the eyes of our followers. Why not save time by making those tweaks right within your Buffer composer?
Before we get started...
💡Just need a point in the right direction?
There are a number of ways to get your images looking fit to send to your followers on any social channel by using different Buffer features and products available to you. In this article, we're discussing the use of simple editing functionality right within the Buffer composer to enhance the look of your images (not videos or GIFs).
If you're curious to learn about other, more in-depth editing options, you can check out these articles:
This article contains the following sections:
- Editing an image in the same way for one or multiple social channels
- Editing an image differently for each social network you're posting to
Editing an image in the same way for one or multiple social channels
While you’re able to create beautifully edited images within the Canva integration when uploading the image into Canva itself, it isn’t possible to use Canva to edit an image that was added from Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, or directly from your computer into your Buffer composer. In these cases, you have the option to edit your image right there within the composer.
To begin editing an image, you'll go through the following steps.
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Select the social channel you'd like to compose a post for.
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Click Create Post.
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Upload your image from your computer or via the Dropbox, Google Drive, Google Photos, or OneDrive integration.
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Click on the editing button, which is a pencil icon.
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From there, you’ll be able to choose from several editing options.
- Crop (see "Notes" below).
- Rotate 45 degrees.
- Mirror.
- Flip (upside down).
- Blur.
- Sharpen.
- Enhance.
- Grayscale.
- Invert (the colors).
📝 Notes
- When using the crop function, you'll see that you have the ability to crop your image free-hand for all platforms except for Instagram.
- You also have preset image size options for each platform to help you find the best image size for the platform you are scheduling the post to.
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Once finished editing, click Add, and your image will be added to the composer.
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From there, you can add the text for your post if you haven't done so already. For LinkedIn posts, you can add a caption for your photo, then add the text for your post.
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If this is the only social channel you'd like to publish your post to, click Add to Queue or choose another scheduling option within that drop-down.
- If you'd like to publish your post to multiple social channels, and if the image you edited is going to be the same across all of those social channels, you can now select all of the other social channels you'd like to send your post to, edit the text for each to make it authentic for each platform, and click Add to Queue.
- However, if you'd like to publish your post to multiple social channels, but you'd like the image to be different for each social channel, drop down to the next section.
📝 The image editor doesn’t include some options you might enjoy, such as brightening, contrast, custom image sizes, and filters. The Canva integration does resolve all of these, but note that when using Canva, the image will need to be uploaded from your computer into Canva either through your native account or through the Canva Buffer integration.
Editing an image differently for each social network you're posting to
If you edit an image before you’ve clicked Customize for each network or before you click on additional social channel icons to send your post to, the image you just edited will attach to all of the social network composers. There isn't a way to alter these images at that point, so if you'd prefer to edit the image differently for each social network, it's best to first select all of the social channels you'd like to post to and then edit the image within each of the respective composers.
It's always healthy to provide unique content for each social network, so if this feels like editing each in their own unique way could work for your design, go for it!
The GIF below shows you how you can upload an image one time, edit it, and then head to the next social network composer to either select the same edited image or to select the original image that you can then edit from scratch.
As you might notice, even when you take the time to customize your image for each social network, the editing process is pretty quick!
