How to Use Buffer App to Share Jesus Online While You’re Sleeping

Have you ever wanted to use social media to share Jesus with others?

Are you someone who sees Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ as an outlet to tell others that Jesus can change their life?

Whether you feel that way now or  even if you’ve never given it much thought, I’d like to encourage you to keep reading because there is something really valuable in this blog post for you.

Why you should care about sharing Jesus on social networks?

You probably remember when Jesus said, “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has.”

As Christians, we should want to be found faithful on the day that we meet our Maker and the way we do that is by doing our Father’s business.

And what is our Father’s business?

Our Father is in the soul-saving and discipiling business.

Christians who are good stewards are those that see their social networks from an eternal perspective, it’s opportunity to get people saved.

It’s one more resource that God has given us to use for Kingdom-building

Christians who aren’t good stewards are those that use their social networks and make it all about them.

They share everything about them when it really should be ALL about the Savior.

So the question is, when it comes to your social networks, are you being a good steward or…?

God knows that I spent a long time being a bad steward of many resources that He gave me.

I wasted time not being serious about my walk with Jesus and it really was a waste of time.

However, I quickly learned that it’s never to late to make a u-turn.

So if you’re not being a great steward of your social networks, the good news is that you can become a great steward starting today.

The Advantage of Using Buffer to Share Jesus

Buffer is a social network management app that helps you schedule your updates to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google + in advance.

It’s kind of like HootSuite if you’ve used it before only with a twist.

The cool thing is that you can schedule your Jesus posts on your social networks at anytime.

You can make it a 24 by 7 evangelism and discipleship ministry so that you are touching people’s lives even while you’re sleeping!

Here’s How the Buffer App is Unique

I’ve written about the advantage of using HootSuite before to manage your social networks and the main reason is that you can schedule your posts in advance.

You can create an update and have it post to all of your social networks at a certain time of the day like say, 2 pm.

The only thing is that you have to schedule each post in advance which can be very time-consuming.

Not so with Buffer and this is the genius behind it!

Creating a Schedule with Buffer

Think of Buffer like you would a recurring appointment on your calendar.

Let’s say you serve in the greeters ministry every Sunday at 8 am.

Instead of going to your calendar and scheduling your calendar appointment every week, you just create a one time appointment that recurs every Sunday at 8 am.

That’s the same thing with Buffer.

Instead of scheduling every single Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ update in advance, you create a schedule in advance when you want your posts to go out.

You can choose to have a different schedule every day, or you can follow the same schedule during weekdays only and have a different schedule on the weekends.  The possibilities are endless.

For example, check out my schedule for one of the Twitter accounts that I manage.  I have different times of when my posts go out on Saturday, Sunday, and the weekdays.

Once you’ve got your schedule all set up, all you have to do is create an actual update to your social networks.  When you do, you’re presented with a dialog box like the one below.

You write the text, can include a link or an image, and then you choose which social networks you want to post to.

Buffer will then add that update to the posting schedule that you’ve already created for those social networks.

That’s why it’s a HUGE time saver.

What your left with is a “buffer” of all of your social network updates that looks like the screenshot below.

This is a list of my schedule posts that are going to go out today on Twitter.

I can re-arrange them in any order that I want just by dragging and dropping the updates.

Insights to Your Buffer Updates

And if that weren’t enough, Buffer shows you a beautiful layout of insights about your posts.

You can find out how many people clicked on your links, shared your update, etc.  Here’s one from one of my Twitter accounts.

Buffer’s insights tells me:

1. This tweet got re-tweeted by 30 of my followers
2.  4 people mentioned me in response to that tweet
3. Buffer calculates the number of followers I have plus all the followers of those who re-tweeted this tweet and reports back that this tweet has the potential to be seen by 219,000 people.  Yes, that’s 219,000 and not a typo!
4. 13 of my followers marked this tweet as a favorite

You can get similar insights about your Facebook likes, shares, and comments too.

Next Action Step

So now do you see how awesome Buffer is?  You can sign up for your free account here.

Also to get the most out of Buffer, you should install their browser extensions and their smartphone app so you can share anything with just one click.

You can either read their help guide or check out this page that show’s you which browsers and apps integrate Buffer.

Once you’re set up with Buffer, you’re going to need some inspiration on some great Christian material to share with others.

Here is a list of great bloggers and websites that will help you tell the world about our AWESOME God!

Yes He Is

Here is a great online community that has great short videos that reach out to the lost, backslidden, and those struggling with all sorts of issues.  I regularly share resources from Yes He Is all the time.

 

Going After One

Rigo Campos’ Going After One blog has some great sharable posts for Facebook, Twitter, Google +, and even Tumblr.  Rigo has a “shareables” area on his website where you can with just one click, share something inspirational about Christianity.  Here is an example.

 

Just Stop and Think

A video by Francis Chan to help you spark the dialogue with anyone who isn’t a Christian and is thinking about the meaning of life.

There are lots of more resources but I don’t want to overwhelm you with too many resources.  I hope this blog post was helpful and if you have any questions or comments, don’t be a stranger :-).

 

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