Buffer

Score7.8 out of 10

413 Reviews and Ratings

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.

Categories & Use Cases

Media

Screenshot of Customizable posting schedule

Screenshot of List or calendar view of scheduled posts

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Screenshot of The Buffer dashboard

Content planning and scheduling
Users can easily plan content and schedule posts to various social media channels and profiles from one interface.
Category average: 9.1
Role-based user permissions & privileges
Permissions to perform actions or access social accounts are assigned to roles, which are then assigned to users, reducing complexity of administration.
Category average: 8.5
Mobile access
Users can effectively use the software through a mobile or tablet device.
Category average: 8.2

Workflow management
Users can share assets through asset libraries, assign tasks, and approve or edits posts through the tool’s interface.
Category average: 8.3
Content optimization
The tool can suggest content, as well as the best days and times for content publication and customer engagement.
Category average: 8
Campaign success analytics
Users can analyze the success of campaigns through metrics such as likes, shares, retweets, followers, clicks and conversions.
Category average: 7.7

Allie Cobb View profile

Digital Director in Social Media at Mouth Digital + Public Relations (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our team uses Buffer and its tools to schedule and post social media content (images, videos, etc) and prepare monthly social media analytic reports.

Pros

Scheduling.
Analytic tools.

Cons

Scheduling gifs.

Return on Investment

Increased our ROI because it is cheaper than other tools.
Allowed us to prepare the reports faster and with ease.
Saved time on scheduling content.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Hootsuite

Other Software Used

Sprout Social, Meta Business Suite, Google Slides

Lauren Rich, aPHR™View profile

Social Media Manager in Social Media at Best sales talent (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I used Buffer to help automatically schedule social media posts on Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus when Google Plus was still a thing. It was used by me for a sole proprietorship business client. It helped us put consistent content out of social media without having to babysit social media every day. We can frontload the content by the week.

Pros

Schedule multiple platforms at once
Offers multiple platforms to choose from
Can schedule across time zones

Cons

Translation of links need works sometimes the images if an article will not translate to a post when it buffers

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Sprout Social

Verified User

Professional in Social Media (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use Buffer when scheduling social media posts and analyzing data. Buffer makes it easy to schedule multiple posts all at once and for future posts scheduling. It’s a time saver and gives me the opportunity to adjust posts in accordance to trends and AB testing results. Buffer allows me to adjust photos to fit all platforms and generate reports as often as needed.

Pros

Allows for future posts scheduling.
Allows for reporting for all connected platforms.
Allows for mentions, tagging, hashtags, and more across platforms.

Cons

I would like to see more platform options and bridge capabilities
I would like to see a build in SEO optimization tool
I would like for the free version to offer more for those just starting out with the service

Return on Investment

It saves time and offers peace of mind when perfecting branding initiatives
It can be a little expensive especially when Meta offers a free option for posting but Buffer is well worth the price. Giving more advanced reporting tools.
Buffer offers options that helps those just starting with scheduling platforms. It’s simple yet effective

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Hootsuite, Zoho Social and Meltwater

Other Software Used

Hootsuite, Zoho Social, Meltwater

Verified User

Employee in Marketing (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use multiple social media platforms across the board, which means metas calendar isn’t enough. this is where Buffer comes in, it allows us to post on multiple channels at the same time, while also letting us adjust the post for each one.

Buffer also has a nice tagging system where each post can be tagged, as a distributor this is really helpful because it makes us able to create reports by brand

Pros

Tagging your posts with customized tags, and then being able to create reports with them
letting you adjust the post for each channel, including pictures and captions
hashtags groups, i can create groups of hashtags which makes posting much quicker!

Cons

The tagging for instagram is not as sophisticated as the one for facebook. you have to make sure no typos are used or it won’t work, while facebook shows if the tag is correct or not
the way you plan posts can be a bit confusing, for example im not sure what the time slots are

Return on Investment

Increasing good contact with the brands we make social posts for, as we can show them reports.
Speeding the process of adjusting posts for each channel, with the hashtags groups and the ability to change captions and media.
Making it easier to track your posts (for us which brand the post is related to) for good oversight and reporting.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Meta Business Suite

Other Software Used

Meta Business Suite

Verified User

Employee in Marketing (5001-10,000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Buffer significantly helps us schedule our social media posts and also plan our feeds across multiple platforms which is critical since we use several social media channels.

Pros

Scheduling and posting scheduled posts
Highly intuitive user interface
Analyzes post performance clearly and visually

Cons

Functionality overall is fairly basic compared to other platforms
Limitations in handling certain content types like Reels and certain carousel posts
Provides top line analytics but doesn’t go super in depth

Return on Investment

Saving loads of time
Planning ahead posts proactively
Running quick analytics reports

Usability

Alternatives Considered

HeyOrca, Later Social, Hootsuite and Sprout Social

Other Software Used

monday CRM, Slack, Dayforce

Buffer

What is Buffer?

Categories & Use Cases

Media

Key Features

Top Performing Features

Content planning and scheduling

Role-based user permissions & privileges

Mobile access

Areas for Improvement

Workflow management

Content optimization

Campaign success analytics

Reviews

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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Cons

Return on Investment

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Other Software Used

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Pros

Cons

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Pros

Cons

Return on Investment

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Other Software Used

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Pros

Cons

Return on Investment

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Other Software Used

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Pros

Cons

Return on Investment

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Other Software Used

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