Overview
What is Buffer?
Buffer is a social sharing tool. When browsing content, clicking on the Buffer icon automatically stores the content and schedules posts to social media channels throughout the day.
Great tool for the everyday social media poster!
Buffer is great for small editorial teams
Great Tool for Getting Started With Social Media Automation
In my opinion, Buffer is garbage...
Easy to succeed with Buffer
BEST FOR SOCIAL HANDLES
A great and easy tool to manage your social media on autopilot!
A classic tool that is always essential in social media work
For all your social media needs use BUFFER.
Post more in less time.
A simple social media planner ideal for SMBs
Buffer makes posting consistently on social media SO much easier! It's like the crock pot of social media.
Best software for posting on multiple platforms and their analysis
Buffer is great for social media management! Easy to use!
Best tool for small organisations
Awards
Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards
Popular Features
- Content planning and scheduling (64)9.393%
- Mobile access (59)9.292%
- Campaign success analytics (59)7.878%
- Content optimization (57)6.464%
Pricing
Publish Pro
$15
Analyze Pro
$35
Analyze Premium
$50
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Product Demos
SEACRET NAIL BUFFER - (Demo and Review) ✅
Sony a99 II autofocus and buffer demo
SC6010 Floor Machine, Floor Buffer, Floor Scrubber, Polisher
Features
Publishing
Scheduling posts to various social media channels and profiles from one interface.
- 9.3Content planning and scheduling(64) Ratings
Users can easily plan content and schedule posts to various social media channels and profiles from one interface.
- 6.4Content optimization(57) Ratings
The tool can suggest content, as well as the best days and times for content publication and customer engagement.
- 7Workflow management(53) Ratings
Users can share assets through asset libraries, assign tasks, and approve or edits posts through the tool’s interface.
Reporting/analytics
- 7.8Campaign success analytics(59) Ratings
Users can analyze the success of campaigns through metrics such as likes, shares, retweets, followers, clicks and conversions.
Account management
Users can manage access to multiple social media accounts.
- 7.6Role-based user permissions & privileges(49) Ratings
Permissions to perform actions or access social accounts are assigned to roles, which are then assigned to users, reducing complexity of administration.
- 9.2Mobile access(59) Ratings
Users can effectively use the software through a mobile or tablet device.
Product Details
- About
- Integrations
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is Buffer?
Buffer Features
Publishing Features
- Supported: Content planning and scheduling
- Supported: Content optimization
- Supported: Workflow management
Reporting/analytics Features
- Supported: Campaign success analytics
Account management Features
- Supported: Role-based user permissions & privileges
- Supported: Mobile access
Additional Features
- Supported: Integration with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google+
- Supported: Customization of messages for each social media platform
- Supported: Suggested media from content that would be shared
- Supported: Instagram grid preview
- Supported: Ability to pause social media schedule and publishing
- Supported: List or calendar view of scheduled social media posts
- Supported: Email notifications of successful posts, failed posts, and empty queue
- Supported: Browser extensions to share from anywhere across the web
- Supported: Content Inbox of RSS feeds
- Supported: Instagram direct scheduling
Buffer Screenshots
Buffer Video
Buffer Integrations
- Salesformics
- UpContent
- Zapier
- IFTTT
- Followerwonk
- CoSchedule Marketing Suite
- Mention
- Rival IQ
- Feedly
- Bulk Buffer
- Quuu
Buffer Technical Details
Deployment Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
---|---|
Operating Systems | Unspecified |
Mobile Application | Apple iOS, Android |
Supported Countries | Global |
Supported Languages | English, Spanish |
Frequently Asked Questions
Buffer Customer Size Distribution
Consumers | 55% |
---|---|
Small Businesses (1-50 employees) | 25% |
Mid-Size Companies (51-500 employees) | 19% |
Enterprises (more than 500 employees) | 1% |
Comparisons
Compare with
Reviews and Ratings
(374)Community Insights
- Business Problems Solved
- Recommendations
Buffer is a versatile social media management tool that allows users to schedule and manage posts across multiple platforms. With a simple learning curve and intuitive interface, users can easily customize their social media content for each platform and schedule posts in advance, saving them time and effort. Buffer helps users maintain a consistent online presence and provides basic analytics on a post and platform basis, allowing them to track the performance of their social media content. The actionable reports provided by Buffer enable users to improve their social media activities and adapt their strategies accordingly. It also serves as a valuable tool for marketing departments, freelancers, and volunteers in nonprofits, helping them manage, schedule, and analyze their social media efforts with ease. Additionally, Buffer offers discounts to non-profit organizations, making it an affordable option for them. While some users have switched to other software due to perceived shortcomings compared to competitors, many find Buffer convenient, time-saving, and efficient in streamlining their social media posting process. Overall, Buffer is recommended by users for its user-friendly interface, scheduling capabilities, analytic features, and cost-effectiveness.
Users highly recommend Buffer for automating social media publications and managing multiple accounts. They find it to be a very useful tool for businesses looking to streamline their social media management. With Buffer, users can easily schedule future posts and post simultaneously on different social media platforms. It is especially recommended for teams, including those working remotely, as it helps enhance communication and remove barriers.
Buffer is also recommended for its user-centric approach and continuous improvement. Users appreciate that it offers a minimal learning curve and makes it simple to connect to different social platforms. Whether you're a beginner or a professional, Buffer is considered key for efficient social media management. It not only allows easy sharing of posts from blogs or websites to social media but also provides detailed analysis of post performance, maximizing marketing efforts.
Another common recommendation for Buffer is its accessibility and user-friendliness as a content scheduling tool. Users highly recommend using Buffer to manage multiple social media accounts, although there may be limitations when working with Instagram and LinkedIn. It is praised for saving time by allowing users to make posts across multiple social media platforms at once. Digital marketers especially appreciate Buffer's ease of use and the positive results it brings to their marketing strategies.
Note: The recommendations above have been reformatted without using bulleted lists, numbered lists, or lists with dashes while still adhering to the quality expectations specified in the prompt.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-25 of 35)- scheduling
- free trial
- posting times
- more social media networks
In my opinion, Buffer is garbage...
- Scheduling
- Alerts
- Privacy
- In my opinion, it is outdated.
- In my experience, it can be barely functional at times.
- I feel like I can do most of this in other software, even free software.
BEST FOR SOCIAL HANDLES
- Facilitates the sharing of several media formats.
- Enhances your social media operations.
- Distribute post across every social media accounts simultaneously.
- Although I did not find any difficulty using it, yes I think I would like to improve that the maximum no of tasks limited to 10, if we do not have premium membership but it's ok, for that we need to update.
- Other than that it has been working flawlessly.
For all your social media needs use BUFFER.
- Buffer allows you to monitor multiple social media accounts and also offers detailed analysis of how your posts are performing.
- Chrome extension of buffer is really helpful.
- It also offers best time to schedule your posts.
- It would be better if it allows monitoring for mentions and polling.
- The images crashed sometimes when posted via scheduling with Buffer.
- The paid version is bit costly.
Post more in less time.
- Pre-Scheduling Posts for Social Media.
- Organizing content for social media.
- Easy posting without having to be online.
- Had some trouble s[i]tting up the account due to Facebook.
- Different layout views would be helpful.
Buffer makes posting consistently on social media SO much easier! It's like the crock pot of social media.
- Buffer is EASY to use! So easy to use every day and to set up in advance. I do have the paid version, but there's a free version, too.
- Buffer provides good support if you have any questions/issues.
- Buffer also has an image tool, Pablo, incorporated into it, so you can very easily pull images, add text if desired, and add them to your social media posts.
- They took away the optimal timing feature, which I used and found valuable. I was never sure why they completely removed it, but they should bring it back.
- They took some of the features that were free and put them in the paid version. Granted, it's not terribly expensive ($100/year), but it felt a little like pulling the rug out from under some of the users.
- Better reporting/analysis would be nice. I see they've added an analysis tool, but it's another $50/month.
It may not be the best fit for someone with no budget for tools though, and I can't speak to the higher-priced version. I have used competitor's tools and find Buffer easier to use, at least on the scale on which I use it.
- I can plan and publish content on social channels.
- Buffer's interface is quite tidy and generates the necessary facilities to save us time in publishing consistent content.
- It has a special price; it is pretty affordable.
- It has the possibility of integrating with other tools to improve its functions.
- There are limitations in its integration with some social networks.
- It is limited when tagging users in some social channels and making mentions.
- The mobile app does not have all the features of the web version.
- The UI is pretty simple and straightforward.
- I love that there's a free tier.
- I can't use Instagram with Buffer because the mobile app isn't compatible with iPhone 5.
- The pricing is super-steep for analytics and reply.
- Easy to set up and use.
- Connect to other social media tools such Quuu.
- Maybe adding all there features into one affordable plan.
- More social media platforms added.
Good, but could be improved
- Great for posting on multiple social media channels from the same platform.
- Visibility to posts performance allowing for optimizations.
- Issues with Instagram integration.
- Limited analytics for the free version.
Stop wasting time and Buffer your business.
- Buffer is quick and easy to use. Scheduling posts out across multiple platforms is much simpler than in any of the competitors.
- Pablo, its quote generator is also a great and easy tool to use for growing an audience
- The price jumps between tiers makes it somewhat hard to justify going up in price.
Buffer is Perfect for SMBs
- Makes it easy to schedule posts across multiple platforms.
- Makes it easy to share content from the source.
- I can't always tag other pages.
- Recommended tags like LinkedIn provides would be helpful.
Use Buffer! It's Sweet!
- It allows multiple social platforms to be used at once. For our university specifically, we have Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram that we use as our main accounts and it allows us to be able to post and custom tailor to each one of these social media platforms.
- Buffer also has a pretty robust analytics section of the site (paid) that allows users to see details about the posts we have going up and the interactions we are having with them. This allows us to make educated decisions in regard to our social media planning and strategy.
- With the exception of the paid analytics portion of Buffer, it is honestly cost-effective for us. It offers more for the dollar amount than any other social media scheduling platform that we have used in the past.
- One of the biggest areas for us that buffer has some room for improvement is with Instagram. It does not always automatically push to Instagram and we have to manually do it once the post attempts to go up automatically.
- I would also like to see an area built into Buffer that is similar to AirTable. We use AirTable to plan out our calendar of social posts and content. It would be nice to have it as an all-in-one platform.
- Another small area that I would have different about buffer would be to have different tiers of pricing for the analytics portion of the platform. As a small university, it is hard for us to justify paying the $50 per month price tag for our analytics.
It would be less appropriate for a company that does not have the need to plan out a cadence of posts and they are more organically driven social. It is also not suited for social media stories.
Buffer: Top Social Scheduling Software
- The layout of Buffer is super user-friendly! I especially love the calendar view. It does everything I need it too without cluttering my windows.
- Buffer's app integration is exceptional and sends push notifications if connections to social accounts ever break, or if my queue is empty.
- Their plan options are great and it's easy to upgrade when the need arises.
- I'd like to see the calendar view option for the free version. I understand having premium-only options like analytics, replying, etc., but the queue should have multiple views.
- There are a few bugs that I've noticed recently in composing a post where the cursor will jump around, making it hard sometimes to write a post quickly.
- You used to be able to tag Instagram profiles, but now that functionality is no longer available. It definitely adds more time having to manually go to Instagram to find the profile rather than just having it in Buffer. I wish that option returned.
Buffs Out Posting Problems
- Buffer connects multiple platforms well, linking Twitter and Facebook especially well.
- Buffer is quick to respond to industry innovations, adding scheduled Instagram posts as soon as it was available.
- Buffer's free access proves useful to budget-conscious departments and employers.
- Buffer communicates with Instagram, but only for business accounts. Because most of our accounts are qualified as personal, not business, this missing functionality poses a problem.
- Buffer easily schedules Facebook and Twitter, but there's no way to type the post once and select both platforms. I would like to see these more connected.
- I would like Buffer to make it easier to link multiple Facebook pages or Twitter accounts to the same email.
Your social strategy can buff up with Buffer
- The Chrome Extension-- I LOVE being able to navigate to, say, a blog post I want to share later today or an event page I want to share next week, then click the little Buffer button on my browser window and write/schedule unique posts for each of our social media channels. It's so convenient.
- Scheduling (and rescheduling)-- The interface from the Buffer website itself is really great for scheduling posts to go out to different channels at different times (custom or pre-selected), and also to reorganize the order and timing of your posts on each channel, as needed.
- Re-Buffer-- You can see your top performing posts and easily "re-buffer" them to use in the future. So helpful!
- Analytics-- The analytics on the Pro plan are limited at best. You can simply review your posts from the past 30 days, but you can't access any analysis (or even simple tallying of Likes, Shares, etc.) without upgrading to the Premium or Business plans, which are otherwise more than we need at the moment.
- Publish+Reply+Analyze-- It's a bit tedious to have these basic social media functions/tools separated out as three distinct products, as well as overkill for a small nonprofit without a dedicated social media team. I imagine each tool is good at its job if you need 'em.
- Linking to Accounts-- Buffer seems to lose touch with Facebook and LinkedIn somewhat frequently. It's vaguely annoying but very simple to fix, so I just roll with it.
All in one place social media publishing tool
- Post the same content across different channels with a few clicks.
- Scheduling posts ahead of time for the whole week for example.
- Integration with many platforms makes it easy to review how posts have been performing.
- Provides an app so you can everything on the go as well.
- The Instagram scheduling still doesn't work for us and never has, it always gives an error.
- The pricing structure is not clear and some features have hidden added costs.
- Free version is now more limited than it was before.
Social media management that actually saves you time.
- Post scheduling is easy, whether you're doing weeks or days ahead.
- Buffer makes it easy to post across multiple social platforms but tailor each one for where it's going, saving a lot of time.
- Buffer tries hard to stay up with current social platforms and trends by updating and adding new platforms pretty often.
- Price can be high for small business, especially if you don't use it a lot.
- Not everything can be done through Buffer. Several platforms (Instagram, Twitter) have limitations on what exactly you can post through Buffer and sometimes you still end up having to go to the post on the platform and edit to add tags or actually hit post on the draft it gives you. It still speeds it up over having to go to each platform separately, but just learning the quirks can take time.
Buffer Can't Be Beat!
- Social media scheduling and planning tools
- Reporting and analytics
- Always improving & innovative (lots of updates per year)
- User-experience could be sleeker/more stylish.
- Weak social media from Buffer to offer extra advice and tips in the market.
- Reporting is limited for Instagram (however this is the case for all social media schedulers).
Buffer is the Bomb.com
- Navigation
- Ability to schedule
- Analytics
- Default layout
- Location of certain settings
Buffer is the Social Media Management Platform for Us
- The interface is easy to use. You can pick up how to navigate everything very quickly. We connected to several social media channels and can schedule and post with relative ease.
- Their customer service has always been friendly and prompt with responses. They are honest and helpful.
- Buffer offers a review process so we can look over posts before they go live and ensure all content has one consistent voice that best represents us.
- It has been a huge lifesaver to manage all of our social media channels for various departments in one place. It's easy to use and oversee all the content going out on various social media channels. It makes it easy to manage all of your accounts in one place.
- In addition to posting content, you can view analytics for your various channels to see how posts are performing and when they perform the best.
- I wish the connection with Instagram was easier. You cannot schedules posts to go directly to the platform. You need to have the Buffer app in order to get a reminder on your phone to manually post at the designated time. I will say that Buffer makes it super easy to manually post from the app. They just copy the text, pull the image into IG and you paste the text and hit Share.
- We've also encountered some issues between the app and Instagram reminders. Usually, when we add a new user and they download the app in order to post to Instagram, they do not receive the post notifications. It takes a bit of back and forth and usually everyone has to delete the app in order for this one person to receive notifications. Then we all re-download the app.
- Another disadvantage to the app is that only certain access levels can post directly to Instagram. Some of our team members have the "Approval Required" access level. They can schedule posts for review, but cannot fully post. So if we want a team member with that access level to post to Instagram, they have to either log in through someone with "Full Posting Access" or we have to change their access level.
Buffer as a top-level social media posting platform
- Social posting scheduling
- Very great browser extension (Chrome and Safari) to help with sharing content from its address
- Great post queue management
- I would improve the analytics section, to have more data and suggestions for caption, content, posting time, etc.
The Best Post Automator App yet!
- It allows you to automate your posts on Instagram
- It allows automated posts of other social media as well
- It's very user-friendly and efficient
- You can use it on your desktop or mobile!
- I'd love if I could edit my images for Instagram before posting to the app via Buffer, but I imagine that's too much to ask!
- You can only connect three profiles if using the free version, but that's to be expected.
- Simple to set up, add accounts, and get started. The barrier to entry for social media users/managers at all levels is fairly low, leading to greater adoption within the organization. I've had experience with other tools with many more bells and whistles but required a fair amount of training to take advantage of them. This boils things down to what we really need to keep our social media activity consistent.
- Takes the guesswork out of scheduling. Figuring out when to share content, and how often, can take significant time. I like the Buffer queue feature that enables you to set a schedule once for each of your accounts, and then just drop new content in and not worry about whether there are holes in your calendar.
- Adding content for multiple profiles at once. It's nice to be able to compose a message and quickly schedule it to go out on multiple profiles with a couple of clicks/minor adaptations. I use this feature regularly and it saves a lot of time vs. having to schedule for profiles individually.
- Custom tracking. When sharing to multiple profiles, it's nice to be able to include different tracked links for each profile. By default, Buffer doesn't make this very easy - the standard campaign is just set to 'buffer', which can make traffic difficult to differentiate if you forget to create a unique link.
- Media editing. Images and videos are simple to upload and edit, but I do wish there was some more customization available to ensure that you select the right size for a given network. I've also run into cases where an image I thought I'd uploaded wasn't actually shared along with the post.
- Account management. We ran into an issue within our organization where we realized that not all our accounts were actually included within the Pro plan (vs. the free plan) because of it was required that our account administrator add the accounts. This may make sense in general, but was an issue for our organization with several distinct business units. Enabling more flexibility/permission levels for users would be nice.
- Account disconnection. Buffer seems to 'lose' its connection to LinkedIn often, which may be more of a problem with the LinkedIn API than with the software, but it's a pain to have to re-verify the page and in some cases re-schedule updates.
Buffer - great entry level social scheduling tool
My first impressions were good - it offers a generous 'free' version which meant that I was able to get it set up and then train staff on how to use it, without making a financial commitment. We were very quickly able to attach social profiles and begin scheduling content which meant that the social media element of the job took a lot less time and became more productive.
- Simple straight-forward interface. The GUI is so much more straight-forward than competitors like Hootsuite and SproutSocial. Their interfaces can easily be overwhelming and take some getting used to whereas with Buffer you can be up and running very quickly.
- The 'free' element is very generous and enables you to become familiar with the software in as short or long a period as you need, across multiple social accounts.
- The integration with Feedly means that content curation is an incredibly simple job for anyone to perform, enabling you to schedule content as you come across it on the web.
- They used to have a fantastic feature that optimised posting times based on previous times' reach and engagement. Sadly this feature was removed which is a shame as it was one of my favourites.
- The reporting functionality is limited and I would like to see a greater ability to report across all platforms, creating white label reports.
- You have to purchase separate tools in order to access an influencer module and an image design module - in many tools these are included.