Sharing content on social media networks has become big business, with hundreds of third-party solutions and apps popping up every day claiming to simplify your life and streamline the process. One of the additions to the content sharing and scheduling game that’s been gaining attention and steadily growing a dedicated user base is Buffer.
The idea behind Buffer is to take the work out of scheduling updates as well as spacing out your posts to avoid overloading your audience, and ultimately improving engagement. The web-based app focuses on those specific tasks, without trying to be a full-fledged feed browser. Rather than requiring users to individually schedule each individual post in advance, Buffer recommends the best times to post content based on your past successes (which can be manually customized or even integrate data from other sources such as SocialBro), and creates a queue of time slots, to which users can simply drop in updates at their convenience. Each post then publishes to the appropriate networks when its appointed time rolls around, and URL’s can be shortened automatically (and integrated with your bit.ly or j.mp account) and added to the queue through a variety of handy browser plugins, the Buffer app for iOS or Android, or a growing list of other options. Content can post to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn at this point, with other networks on the roadmap.
Bloggers, marketers, and social media pros have been singing Buffer’s praises high and low, and the startup recently acquired popular WordPress sharing bar, Digg Digg, further solidifying their growing foothold in the sharing space.
Buffer Co-Founder, Leo Widrich, was kind enough to join us for a quick Q&A about the upstart’s growing success, its fervent fans, and where sees it all heading.
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