Buffer

Buffer is amazing, we switched from Hootsuite due to the better pricing models, ease of use and the customer support - which is better than all other Saas businesses, not just social media ones. Can set up multiple profiles on the account, even if using the free version. Allowing you a chance to try properly before committing to paid versions.

Monitoring and analytics could be better, as I am used to more advanced reporting from other platforms. Think they are working on that, but for now, it’s quite at the standard, as at DFY Links we would like for reporting to the clients.

Overall, I love the platform and they are always making improvements and they have a section where users can submit ideas, where they can be voted up by others, enough votes in total will impact on them to research and develop these ideas.

As SEO Magician at Amazon SEO Consultant, below are views regarding Buffer software.

Pros:

• Customer service team is second to none, are always upbeat, and always go above and beyond in solving their problems
• The ability to drag and drop your social posts is great and allows you to see your posting schedule at a glance to check that it is all good.
• Editing the individual posts for each social network in the same window is very useful, efficient and allows you to craft individual tone/message for each of your social networks, as one size doesn’t fit all for your social audience, as they have different expectations.

Cons:

• They removed the library, where you could store default messages, such as - review us, customer service hours, regular posts. Meaning you have to
• Individually create these every time, using up more valuable time than was previously necessary

Overall:

Simple and intuitive to use and if you hit any snags then customer service is always on hand to dig and sort out the issues asap. Always adding more features to the list, and for the cost of the service, value for money is fantastic.

PROS:

We really like the reminder Buffer gives us to post.

Managing the conversations we have with customers is a nice add on too.

CONS:

I think there’s no real advantage to using software like Buffer. We can now schedule a post on Facebook from the platform and Instagram doesn’t like any third party to mess with their software so it’s easier to just post directly. At SHIFT Agency, the analytics we usually have access directly on the social media we are using.

Pros:

(a) It has a very simple UI which makes it extremely easy to use and appealing.

(b) Effective team collaboration on drafting, scheduling, publishing, replying and analyzing insights.

(c) Variety of pricing options and specific plans for specific tools including Reply, Publish and Analyze.

Cons:

(a) Limited social channels/networks as compared to other popular social media management apps.

(b) Less-effective features as compared to competitors.

Overall Experience:

Buffer is certainly one of the most widely used social media management platforms and there are many good reasons for it. My experience with buffer is actually good, however, when it comes to social channels and more sophisticated reporting, Buffer could not satisfy my needs. Overall, Buffer is good and as CMO of Stratigia, I do recommend it, especially to beginners and small business owners. It is still a part of my marketing stack and it is worth it!

Pros: easy to set-up, fair monthly pricing, saves a ton of time when creating posts, scheduling works reliably.

Cons: can’t tag within Facebook posts (yet), some of their newer features take longer to integrate -- or require a price bump to use.

Overall: As a Director of Marketing at Smarthouse Creative, I love using Buffer for scheduling because it’s easy to connect current clients to the tool and the user interface is very straightforward. Plus, their Instagram posting feature is the best I’ve seen; you can connect your Instagram account for direct posting for single photos, and if you have multiple photos or a video, you’ll get a push notification on your phone which will auto-copy the text for your post so all you have to do is open Instagram, filter, and then paste that caption in. I also really love their multiple channel feature - you can select Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. - start with the same copy, and then alter for each channel and schedule all at one time.

Buffer Pros: What I like most about Buffer is that it integrates with other tools such as Feedly. As a CMO of Market Expertise, I feel that it means you can efficiently curate, schedule and share content, whether it's for your own business on behalf of clients. 

Buffer Cons: I do find Buffer is sometimes temperamental. Connections to social accounts and pages periodically break. This is particularly the case with LinkedIn, in our experience. It's an annoyance but not difficult to fix.

Experience is as follows:

Pro's

 - The ability to have content ready to go for up to a month which means for some clients you can really plan out and structure

 - Insights into what posts performed well

 - I love the chrome extension, having the ability to find an image online then schedule it straight in without having to save/upload

 - Ability to be able to post 1 piece of content to multiple platforms.

Cons

 - Unreliable, especially with Instagram. 

 - Have had issues with image sizes if it does not meet dimensions requirements (Instagram) 

 - Does not like posting video & if posting more than one image, it will give you a reminder to post rather than posting it automatically (Instagram) 

 - Was not posting at one stage because I was using location. Unaware that it was not going through which then impacted the clients' account (Instagram)

 - Unable to edit posts that are going out to multiple platforms, required to edit/remove individual posts if needed. 

Overall experience: Use with caution. I still feel that between my wife and I who use this, it's great to plan out, schedule content however we often need to "check up on it" to make sure it's running as it needs to.

I like Buffer. As a Founder of Carma The Social Chameleon, I find it as a solid tool at a reasonable price which is great for businesses who run their own Social Media accounts. I don't use it that much anymore because I needed a more robust tool for my clients. I often recommend Buffer to business owners and managers to help them organize their posting because it allows reliable, easy to use scheduling and some light analytics - which is all most business owners need if they're DIYing. I have had minimal issues with it over the years - and when something has gone wrong their support is really good.