Do you manage social media at an arts organization that has an online presence on multiple social channels? If so, have you found yourself in one of the following scenarios?

·         You need to promote an upcoming event on your organization’s social media platforms. To do so, you go to each social media site and post or share the same content on each platform.

·         You are an employee in your organization’s marketing department where you are responsible for managing social media in addition to several other duties. You stop your other work every two or three hours to post things online since you don’t want to overwhelm your audience by posting too much content all at once.

·         To design an effective social media schedule, you spend time observing and analyzing the best time of the day and/or the best days of the week to update your organization’s social media.

If you struggle with the situations described above, it is time to try Buffer! This social media management tool will help you tackle all these issues and provide many other fantastic features as well.

First, Buffer allows you to connect up to 8 different networks, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Whenever you make an update on Buffer, you can choose to post it in one or multiple networks across different channels simultaneously.

Second, Buffer offers customized scheduling, which allows users to pre-set time-sensitive updates, spread out retweets and other posts, and create buffering patterns. With this feature, a social media manager can spend a few hours to create updates for the next several days, and then let Buffer take care of the rest. If a buffering pattern has been created, when you add a new update without setting a time for it, the update will automatically be scheduled in the next time slot. Just be sure to set the right time zone you want to use at the beginning so that your posts go out at the right time.

Third, Buffer can be integrated with Followerwonk, a Twitter analytics tool, to help users identify the optimal time to tweet. In addition, Buffer provides numerous apps and extensions that allow users to “buffer” an update on whatever device they are using. Whenever you find great content, whether it’s an article, quote, or picture, you can click the Buffer button to set it up as your next update.

As to pricing, Buffer offers affordable plans. You can sign up for free to add one profile for each social media platform and store up to ten updates at a time. For $10/month, you can upgrade to the Awesome Plan, which allows up to 12 social profiles, unlimited Buffer space and varied schedules. The Awesome Plan also allows users to invite two team member accounts to manage some or all of their social profiles together. For arts organizations in need of more professional services, the Business and Agency Plan is available with more social accounts, team members, and additional features. The price of the Business and Agency Plan ranges from $50 to $250 per month, depending on the numbers of connected accounts and team members.

Having no major flaws, Buffer is a helpful and user-friendly tool backed by an enthusiastic team that wholeheartedly supports its customers. If you have a question, shoot them an email. Buffer promises to answer 80% of emails within 6 hours. As for features, the only one that appears questionable is its content suggestions. While the suggested topics are interesting in general, they are not tailored to fit an organization’s mission and brand, and therefore should be considered carefully before adopting.

Whether you are a small arts organization with only one person tending to your social media channels, or a large arts organization overwhelmed by the demands of social media marketing, Buffer is a valuable tool for managing multiple social media channels.