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Buffer

Social media has become an integral part of our daily lives, providing a platform for individuals and organizations to connect, share, and engage with one another. Utilizing social media well can foster a sense of belonging, increase promotion of events and initiatives, and create a space for community-building amongst participants and stakeholders of specific programs.

Our primary goal is to connect our constituents to the total, overall experience of being part of the Y. Our Branch Social Media pages are a powerful connection point for this goal, and a great way to engage people throughout the community.

Meet our tool…

Welcome to Buffer! This is the new all-in-one social media management tool. Buffer allows branch staff, our marketing team, and support center staff to organically grow an audience efficiently.

To get started with Buffer, pass the quiz at the end of this module to receive an email invitation from our marketing team to create account.

How do we create a post?

After you have finished the quiz and have received an invitation to join Buffer, watch this video to learn how to schedule a post.

Website for Buffer publish.buffer.com

You will have access to the channel of your branch.

A post you schedule will sit in the ‘Drafts’ tab until you select ‘Request Approval’.

Once marketing approves your post, it will be scheduled on the calendar!

Exploring Buffer’s AI Feature

In this video, we walk you through Buffer's AI feature, which allows us to generate and customize social media posts. This video demonstrates how to use the AI assistant, enter a prompt, and generate options. We also go over how we can customize the text for different social media networks like Instagram and Facebook. Watch this video to learn how to save time and create engaging posts with Buffer's AI feature.

How do we create a post on our phones?

If you would like to learn how to post content through Buffer using your phone, please click here.

Who should be creating social media posts?

Any Director, Senior Director, or Executive may have access to post their Branch Specific Social Media Pages. Only current staff may have access. Please notify marketing for adding or removing staff to social media pages

Marketing creates the page and has Admin access, while the Support Center receives comments, messages, and posts. This ensures no outreach is left unanswered. Staff may not post directly to social media pages without Marketing’s approval.

What should we be posting to social media?

It’s up to you to post relevant, timely, and engaging content! Organic content is more effective than promotional content. Examples of this include casual or candid pictures and videos of programs, ‘meet the staff’ posts, and stories from participants. Staff can post 1-3 organic messages, images, or videos per week. Please wait at least two hours between posts.

Images and videos displaying Youth should not be posted until at least two hours after they are captured. Do not post announcements, closures, and cancellations — constituents likely will not see these in time. Engagement emails and texts are more effective for this! Marketing & Communications may remove content as necessary, in the case that this happens, rationale and coaching will be provided to help staff! Remember, no live videos!

Quiz Time

Now that you have read and watched all of the content on this page, it is time for a short quiz! Once you pass the quiz, our marketing team will get notified, and send you a email invitation to create an account for Buffer.

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