Buffs Out Posting Problems
Overall Satisfaction with Buffer
Buffer is used by varied departments across our university, and nearly every residence life staff member uses it for social media for their facility. It allows us to schedule social media posts in advance to create consistent posting patterns, a significant challenge for chaotic jobs without formal offices or office hours. Additionally, because residence hall directors have high turnover, Buffer enables us to schedule posts during the transition time until a new director is in place. Finally, it enables us to post similar or the same content across multiple accounts easily, another bonus of the software in the way we use it.
Pros
- 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.
Cons
- 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.
20 - They represent customer service, education, student life, and admissions. We engage varied stakeholders, including students, parents, alumni, prospective students, and the campus community. Because Buffer works with all our social media accounts, we can still appropriately tailor and schedule our posts within a cohesive communication strategy. We represent different work styles-work from home, traditional office hours, non-traditional settings-yet all find it helpful.
- This reduces stress on employees tasked with social media who have little training in it.
- This product instigates consistency in communication with vital stakeholders.
- This ensures thoughtful, planned posts rather than spur-of-the moment and risky posts.
Buffer remains comparable to Hootsuite, but the free version of Buffer offers more features than Hootsuite's free version. Both have their limits, but Buffer seems more efficient and connected across platforms. Hootsuite's interface is more attractive, but I wouldn't say it's more user friendly or easier to navigate. New users can adapt well to both products, and they make sense to those without training in digital marketing.
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