Playbook
Social posts queued in Buffer
Direct answer
A social scheduler for a small business should queue posts you have already approved. Claude can turn one true note into a Google post, an Instagram caption, and a LinkedIn post. Buffer's free plan, on 25 October 2026, held three channels and ten scheduled posts each. You press publish. This has not been live-tested.
- Time to set up
- About an hour to connect the channels and write the rule
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Monthly cost, USD
- $0 on the free plan
- Monthly cost, GBP
- £0 on the free plan
- Last tested
- Not yet tested
- Updated
- 25 October 2026
On 25 October 2026 Buffer listed Free forever for up to 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel, and 1 user. Essentials was $5 a channel a month on yearly billing, shown as $60 a year, about £4 at £1 = $1.33, with a 14-day trial. The monthly toggle was not copied. Claude's free plan can draft. Pro is optional and priced on Anthropic's page.
GBP figures are a budgeting conversion at £1 = $1.33 and €1 = £0.86, rounded to the nearest pound, fixed for this edition on 24 October 2026. They are not a live rate and not a quote. Vendor list prices are usually quoted before tax.
Primary tool: Buffer · Also uses Claude
Who it is for
A cafe, salon, or shop that already knows what it did this week and skips posting because the queue, not the sentence, is the fiddly part.
Writing the three posts is already a guide: one note, three drafts. Come here when the queue is the part you skip. Review replies stay manual, on the Google review page.
A post is not a chatbot. Questions on the website are the Tidio guide, and only after the answers exist.
What you need
- One note about work that actually happened, with no invented offer.
- The channels you already use, up to three on the free plan.
- A decision that you approve the queue. Nothing auto-publishes from the model.
Step by step
01
Write the note before any tool is open
Three lines are enough: what you did, what is available, and what is not. If there is no price and no discount in the note, the posts must not add one. A special you have run out of does not get queued. This is the same rule as the Claude repurposing playbook. Buffer does not relax it.
02
Draft three posts in Claude, then stop
Ask for a Google Business Profile post, an Instagram caption, and a LinkedIn post, each faithful to the note. Tell it to mark BLANK rather than invent a detail. Read them. Delete a sentence you would not say in the shop. The free plan of Claude is enough to try. You are not pasting customer names or a child's photo into the chat.
03
Connect at most three channels on the free plan
Buffer's pricing page listed three channels and one user on Free. Pick the three you will actually open. A fourth channel was a paid Essentials channel at $5 a month on the yearly view. Do not connect a fourth 'just to see' if it takes you onto a paid plan you have not read.
04
Queue the posts and approve them one by one
Paste the drafts into Buffer yourself. The free plan listed 10 scheduled posts per channel, refilling when a post publishes. That is a queue length. Schedule only what you have read. Do not turn on a setting that publishes a draft the moment the model writes it. If you cannot find an approval step, you are in the wrong screen. Stop.
05
Look at what went out, and what the queue refused
After the first week, read the live posts against the notes. If a price appeared that was not in the note, the draft step failed and you should delete the post. If the queue hit ten and you still had true notes, either wait for a slot to refill or decide whether Essentials is worth $5 a channel on the yearly price. Read the monthly toggle before you pay.
What can go wrong
An offer that was not in the note
A model likes a call to action. A discount you did not authorise is an advertisement you have to honour. Delete it before it is queued.
A fourth channel on a whim
Free stops at three. Essentials is priced per channel. Count the channels before you connect them.
Using the queue for review replies
A review reply is posted by you in Google Business Profile. A scheduled post that answers a complaint is the wrong tool. Use the review playbook.
UK notes
Costs, including VAT
£0 covers three channels and a short queue. Essentials at $5 a channel a month on the yearly view is about £4 at the planning rate of £1 = $1.33 fixed on 24 October 2026. The page showed that as $60 billed yearly and mentioned a 14-day trial. Monthly billing was a toggle we are not inventing a figure for. VAT may be extra. The rate is not a quote.
Data flow
A post about your own work is not personal data until it names a customer, shows a face, or includes a review you did not have permission to quote. Do not tag a client, and do not upload a photo of a child. The note you paste into Claude is processed by Anthropic. The queue is processed by Buffer. Both are processors. Read their privacy pages if the note contains anything beyond the work itself. Marketing claims in the post are your responsibility. The ASA's advertising codes are the UK reference, not a slogan from the model.
HMRC and Making Tax Digital
A scheduler subscription is usually a small business cost if you use it to promote the trade. It does not record takings and it does not file a return. A post that states a price should match the price you actually charge, including whether VAT is included, because that is a trading question rather than a software one. This page will not calculate it for you.
Practical orientation for a UK reader. Not tax, legal, or accounting advice.
Test log
Status: Pending first test
25 October 2026 · pending
Pending first test. The steps were compiled from Buffer's pricing page and have not been run on a live channel.
Sources
- Buffer pricing — accessed 25 October 2026
- Anthropic pricing — accessed 25 October 2026
- ASA advertising codes — accessed 25 October 2026
- Anthropic privacy policy — accessed 25 October 2026
Disclosure
AgentShed is independent and this playbook is not sponsored. There is no affiliate link on this page. If that changes, the link will use rel="sponsored" and a sentence beside it will say so. The verdict is not for sale.
Questions people ask
Do I need Buffer if I can paste three posts?
No. The Claude repurposing playbook is the writing, and you can paste them by hand. Buffer is for the queue, once skipping the paste is the reason posts do not go out.
Is the AI assistant inside Buffer required?
The free column listed an AI Assistant. This guide still drafts in Claude from a note, so you can see the source. You may ignore Buffer's assistant. Do not let either tool publish unattended.
What happens at ten scheduled posts?
The pricing page said the slot refills when a post publishes. Wait, or pay for a larger queue if the page you read that day sells one. Do not open a second account to dodge the cap.
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When this page is re-tested
One email when the log changes. No sequence of lessons.