Buffer

What is Buffer?

Buffer is a social media scheduling tool. There is no central login system to Buffer, we can invite 6 users to use Buffer. If you need access, ask the Communications Director to send you an invite.

Channels connected to Buffer

There are 3 different accounts connected to Buffer:

1. DVS (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn)
2. Outlier (Instagram, Twitter)
3. Information is Beautiful Awards (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram)

If you do not see these channels, then the Communications Manager must assign them to you. Follow the instructions here from Buffer on how to give channel access to users.

Adding content to Buffer

Content is pulled from the social media planner, which is put together by the Communications Manager. The Virtual Assistant provides support by scheduling content into Buffer. To schedule a new post, follow these instructions from Buffer.

Don't forget to add alt-text to images where applicable.

You cannot tag people or other LinkedIn pages on LinkedIn. The workaround for this is to post directly on LinkedIn and mention them. LinkedIn has a native scheduling feature so you can queue posts. To access the DVS LinkedIn page, you need to be added as an admin. Contact the Communications Manager to gain admin access. Visit this page to post to the DVS page.

When posting to Instagram, make use of the Shopgrid feature Buffer offers.

Social media best practices

When you create a post, consider the following principles:

• Audience: Think about why the post would interest them and how they can gain value from it.
• Engagement: Add interesting images or use thought-provoking copy to get their attention
• Discoverability: Use hashtags to increase reach. Incorporate the hashtag into the copy where it makes sense
• Call-to-action: What do you want them to do now that you've got their attention? Is it to click on a link to learn more? Or is it asking them to stay tuned?
• Accessibility: Add alt-text to images. "Alternative text (alt text) is used to describe non-textual elements, like photos, icons, and data visualizations." (source).

Here are some tactical tips to optimize posts:

• Tag people's accounts when mentioning them. You can do this by using the '@' symbol followed by their account names
• Add alt-text when an image is included (How to add alt-text on Twitter, How to add alt-text on LinkedIn)
• Put the most interesting and important text at the start. For example, LinkedIn cuts text off after ~200 characters. Put as much information as possible without line breaks in the first 200 characters so people will want to click on '...see more'