Effective social media marketing requires posting fresh, new content on all your social media profiles on a regular basis. Most brands that are successful on social media, post content a few times a day.

However, the real benefits of social media depends on the engagement your content generates. This includes comments, shares, clicks & visits, Facebook Likes,  followers and reTweets on Twitter, etc .

How to Boost Engagement and Reach on Social Media?

Brands and marketers employ several tactics to boost engagement and increase their reach. Sharing quality information from a variety of sources and scheduling posts are some of the most effective ways to do this.  This is where Buffer comes into play.

Buffer is social media tool that makes sharing seamless and improves your results by spreading your posts at optimal times through out the day. Businesses all over the world are using it to drive engagement and increase reach.

A recent study that analysed Buffer users has found that people that start to Buffer their tweets increased clicks on links (Click-through rate) they posted by 200% within 2 weeks and attracted many new followers. Other studies have found similar increases in click through rates and shares on Facebook and LinkedIn.

What Are The Benefits of Using Buffer?

Buffer maintains a post queue for you. Simply keep your Buffer queue topped up and Buffer automatically posts them for you through the day at the best posting times.

You have a consistent social media presence all day round, all week long without worrying about filling up your followers’ inboxes with too many messages at one time.

Buffer connects with leading networks including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. Support for other networks is expected soon.

Why is Buffer Better Than Other Social Media Posting Tools?

There are several free social media posting tools and dashboards that let you post to multiple social networks. One feature that sets Buffer apart from others is its ability to schedule posts automatically at the best times.

There are other tools that allow you to schedule posts. However Buffer makes this process much easier and more efficient. Instead of you picking the date and times for each post, they are already pre-set. Simply add content to your Buffer and the rest is taken care of for you.

How to Start Using Buffer – Step By Step Instructions?

It is very easy to use Buffer. You can be up and running within minutes. Step by step instructions are given below

Step 1: Create A Free Account

Create a free account on Buffer with the simple registration form or sign-up with your social media account to save time. Buffer offers a free and paid account. Free account should be sufficient for most needs. One of the limitations of the free version is that you cannot post to multiple profiles on the same network but this should not be a problem for most businesses.

Step 2: Connect Your Social Networks

Once you have signed-up, you will need to update your settings and connect your LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook accounts so Buffer can post to it. I would advise on adding all networks.

You can do this from the settings menu. See image below.

Step 3: Install the Buffer Ad-on On Your Browser.

You can start to use Buffer without installing the browser add-on and share content via your Buffer Dashboard. However installing a browser plugin makes sharing much easier as you don’t even have to leave your browser to post content to your social networks. Simply click on the Buffer icon in your browser toolbar when ever you discover content worth sharing. You don’t even have to go to leave your browser or login to your Buffer dashboard.

See image below.

This is how most people use Buffer. Browser plugins are available leading browsers including Firefox, Chrome and Opera.

Installing the browser plugin couldn’t be easier. You simply have to drag the Buffer share button available on their website to your browser toolbar.

Further Customisation

Track Your Results:

You can use the built-in analytics to monitor your results and see how many clicks or shares your posts are generating. Accordingly you can adjust schedule as required.

See image below:

Customise your Posting Schedule:

By default, Buffer will automatically spread out the posts from your queue at pre-set times of the day. This will be separate on each social network. If you wish you can adjust the times your content is scheduled for posting on respective social networks.

This can be done from the settings menu. See image below.

Conclusion

Using Buffer to share content to your social network profiles will improve your productivity and efficiency. It will make sharing easy but most importantly, it will schedule your posts for maximum engagement, resulting in more followers, fans and shares. increased Likes on Facebook, more Followers and ReTweets on Twitter as

Furthermore, increase in click through rate will result in more traffic to your blog or website.

What do You Think Of Buffer?

Please share your response by leaving a comment below.