The Complete Guide to Integrating Buffer and Post Planner for Social Media + Content Curation workflows.
Stop manually shuttling data. Connect your system of record directly to your workflow to automate content pipeline in real-time. This guide details the architecture of passing payloads natively between Buffer and Post Planner.
Integration Architecture
Buffer
Trigger AppFunctions as the primary system of record. The Social Media automation begins when an event initially takes place here.
Post Planner
Action AppThe destination workflow. Automatically funneling data into Post Planner rapidly accelerates your social media processes without needing manual CSV exports.
Why Integrate Buffer and Post Planner?
Social media managers face two distinct challenges: figuring out *what* to post (content curation) and executing *when* to post (scheduling). While Buffer is widely considered one of the best scheduling and analytics engines on the market, it relies entirely on the user to supply the content. Post Planner, on the other hand, is built specifically to solve the content discovery problem. Its algorithm crawls Facebook, Twitter, and RSS feeds to identify proven, highly-engaging posts (images, quotes, articles) with a high probability of going viral. However, its native scheduling tools sometimes lack the multi-network depth or team collaboration features found in dedicated platforms like Buffer. Integrating Buffer and Post Planner creates a best-of-both-worlds scenario, forming an incredibly potent social media engine. You use Post Planner as your 'Discovery Engine'—searching for proven, high-engagement content relevant to your niche. Once you find a piece of viral content, instead of scheduling it via Post Planner, you push it directly into your Buffer queue. This workflow ensures that your meticulously crafted Buffer schedule is constantly fed with statistically proven, highly engaging content, maximizing your reach while maintaining the reliability and analytics reporting of the Buffer ecosystem.
Top Use Cases
Curating Statistically Proven Content
The primary use case is leveraging Post Planner's 'Star Rating' system. A social media manager can log into Post Planner and search for a keyword like 'Digital Marketing'. Post Planner surfaces hundreds of recent posts from across the web, ranking them by engagement. The manager finds a 5-star infographic. Using a browser extension or native integration, they click a button and send that specific image, along with its source link, directly into their Buffer queue to be published to their audience tomorrow morning.
Maintaining a High-Volume Posting Schedule
Platforms like Twitter and Pinterest require incredibly high posting frequencies (often 5-10 times a day) to maintain visibility. Generating that much original content is nearly impossible for a small team. By integrating the discovery power of Post Planner with the scheduling capacity of Buffer, a single manager can sit down for one hour on Monday, find 50 highly engaging third-party articles and images, and push them all to the Buffer queue, filling the entire week's schedule with minimal effort.
Evergreen Content Recycling
If you use Buffer to manage your core evergreen promotional posts (e.g., links to your landing pages, webinars), you can use Post Planner strictly for 'Engagement Filler'. The integration allows you to intersperse viral memes, motivational quotes, or trending industry news (found via Post Planner) between your core promotional posts in Buffer. This strategy keeps your audience highly engaged with the 'filler' content, making them more likely to see and click on your promotional posts when Buffer sends them out.
Centralizing Analytics in Buffer
By pushing all content—both original content and Post Planner curated content—through Buffer, you centralize your analytics. If you were publishing half your posts from Post Planner and half from Buffer, you would have to merge CSV files to understand your overall account performance. The integration ensures that Buffer acts as the single source of truth for clicks, likes, and reach, allowing you to easily see if the curated content is outperforming your original brand content.
Connection Capabilities
Prerequisites
- An active Buffer account with your social profiles connected.
- An active Post Planner account.
- The Buffer Browser Extension (Chrome/Firefox) installed, as this is often the most reliable method for bridging the two platforms if a direct API connection is unavailable.
Step-by-Step Implementation Guide
Install the Buffer Browser Extension
Because direct API integrations between two competing social media tools are rare, the most efficient way to connect them is via the browser. Install the official Buffer extension for Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. Ensure you are logged into your Buffer account on the extension. This extension allows you to grab images and links from almost any webpage and instantly open the Buffer Compose modal.
Discover Viral Content in Post Planner
Log into your Post Planner account. Navigate to the 'Find' section and type in a keyword relevant to your industry. Sort the results by 'Top Performing'. Post Planner will display a feed of articles, images, and statuses that have already achieved high engagement elsewhere on the internet. Identify a 5-star piece of content that aligns with your brand voice.
Execute the Handoff via the Extension
This is where the integration happens. If the content is an article, click the link to open it in a new tab, then click the Buffer browser extension icon. Buffer will automatically grab the article title and link. If the content is an image within Post Planner, hover over the image. The Buffer extension often adds a small 'Share Image' overlay button directly on images. Click it, and the Buffer compose modal will open, pre-loaded with the viral image.
Customize and Queue in Buffer
Once the Post Planner content is loaded into the Buffer modal, you must customize it. Never just share an image or link blindly. Add your brand's unique perspective, tag the original creator (crucial for social etiquette and reach), and add your own set of hashtags. Select which social networks you want to publish to, and click 'Add to Queue'.
Alternative: RSS Feed Integration
If you don't want to use the browser extension, you can sometimes route content via RSS. If Post Planner allows you to export a specific feed of curated content as an RSS link, you can take that RSS URL and plug it directly into Buffer's 'Content Inbox' (if on a paid plan) or use a tool like Zapier to say: 'When a new item hits this RSS feed, push it to Buffer.' This is highly automated but removes the human quality control step.
Analyze and Adjust
Let the workflow run for two weeks. Then, log into your Buffer Analytics dashboard. Compare the performance of the posts you curated from Post Planner against your standard posts. If the Post Planner content is driving significantly higher engagement, consider dedicating a larger percentage of your weekly Buffer schedule to curated, viral content.
Ready to implement?
Begin by authenticating your instances. If a native integration is unavailable, utilize a webhook relay with the API credentials from both platforms.
Get Buffer API Keys →