Social media has shifted the way we do business. When you look at the social platforms of successful brands, you will see them post highly engaging content that their audience likes to interact with. 

Is your brand on social media? If there is one thing that we can learn from the businesses whose products we buy ourselves, it is to never underestimate the value of consistent and genuine connection with clients.

How do these brands achieve that level of consistency? Most of them use a social media management solution like Buffer. 

Whether you have a small business with a Facebook page or an agency managing hundreds of brands, you can use Buffer to help you stay connected with your clients.

In this review let's take a look at what Buffer is, its features that can be useful for social campaigns, and who should use it.

We will also take a look at Buffer's competitors. Only through putting all these into consideration, can we decide if Buffer is the right choice for your business or your clients'. Let's dig in. 

What is Buffer?

Buffer is a social media management platform that helps you draft, schedule, manage, publish, engage with, and track posts across most social media channels. From its dashboard, you can manage your posts on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, Google, and Pinterest. 

If you are looking for an all-in-one social media management solution for your brand or your clients’, Buffer is a platform worth looking into. 

Popular Features: Why are Brands Using Buffer?

Scheduling

If you have used or considered using buffer before, it is likely because you want to schedule posts ahead of time. This is Buffer's main function and its biggest strength. 

As a scheduling tool, it is very easy to navigate. On the left, you see the social media platforms you want to manage. To the right, is a space to create your post. 

You can schedule content to post at a specific time or set up a daily queue. Once a post is scheduled, you can rearrange the posts by dragging them up and down. You can also edit the text and link on the dashboard. While Buffer pulls the link's image and description automatically like other platforms, you can change how those elements are displayed on your post. If your link does not pull an image, you can simply add one or several while scheduling. 

Whether you are a savvy social media manager or a business owner using Buffer for the first time, you can log in to your Buffer account and be able to figure things out with little to no training.

Analytics

The analytics section of your Buffer dashboard lets you know how your posts are performing and how your audiences are interacting with them. It gives you the total reach as well as the breakdown of likes, comments, clicks, mentions, and reshares that your posts have earned on the different social platforms. 

From the dashboard, you can generate an easy to understand report for the brands that you manage. This helps you understand your audience better and find the best performing posts to re-buffer (repost) or repurpose as new content. 

Special Features: Services You Should Definitely Explore

Browser extension

You can share content that you are reading or watching wherever you are on the web from your Buffer browser extension. You can share links, images, and videos without having to go back to the dashboard. You can also save them to edit later. 

RSS Feed

Need some content inspiration? Check out the RSS feeds from any of your favorites sites without having to leave the Buffer dashboard. You can add the content directly to your feed with just one click or edit them to add your own voice to the post. 

Buffer Open Blog

Open Blog is a helpful resource for marketers and business owners. They share blogs on their company culture, workflow, and strategies on this platform so it is truly worth a visit. 

Plans and Pricing

You can use Buffer for free. However, more features and capabilities come with paid plans. 

Business owners and agencies should consider the number of users they need to implement their social media strategies, how many social accounts need to be managed, and how much content they promote on their socials. 

Free

Buffer offers a free plan that allows 1 user to manage 3 social media accounts with up to 10 posts scheduled per channel. This is ideal for those who want to explore Buffer's main features. None of the analytics and engagement features are included.

Essentials

Costs $6 per social channel per month and includes planning, publishing, analytics and engagement tools.

At an additional $6 per channel per month, the team add-on gives agencies and large teams unlimited team members & clients, drafting & approval tools, exportable reports.

Buffer Alternatives

Social media quickly moved from being a fad to a necessity for all businesses. For this reason, a lot of social media management solutions have emerged to help connect brands and their audience. Let's compare some of the most widely used platforms with Buffer.

Buffer vs Hootsuite

Buffer and Hootsuite have many similarities when it comes to scheduling and publishing content. They both have free and paid plans. The key difference is that Hootsuite will let you interact with content directly on its dashboard by its reply, retweet, and favorite feature. Buffer will let you do the same through an additional platform called Buffer Reply.

If you are looking for a platform that will let you engage with social media content in one dashboard, Hootsuite is a platform to consider. But, if you are looking for more seamless scheduling and publishing that anyone on your team can use, Buffer is a great choice for you.

Buffer vs. Sprout Social

Sprout Social has very robust features for managing and publishing social media posts. Just like Buffer, it is suitable for soloprenuers to agencies. The main difference between the platforms is the price. Sprout Social does not have a free version and its Standard plan starts at $99. 

Sprout Social is pricey compared to Buffer and most social media management platforms. Make sure you can utilize all of its offerings to make it worth the investment for you and your clients. 

Buffer vs. a la carte tools

Some social media solutions are created specifically for one platform. For example, Later is great for scheduling Instagram posts while Tweetdeck is a good tool for a Twitter power user. While tools like these can have more functions for the specific social media platform that they serve, you'll need an army of them to manage everything. And, if you are managing various platforms for multiple brands, things can go out of hand pretty quickly.

Who Should Use Buffer?

Business Owners

One of Buffer's best features is its simple and straightforward interface. Business owners (even those with less experience with social dashboards) can easily save time creating a queue of engaging content for their audience.

Social media managers and other creatives

Premium and business plans allow 2 or more users to collaborate on one dashboard. You can assign custom roles for writers, designers, social media managers, and other members of your team from your Buffer dashboard.

Agencies

Buffer is easy to use and navigate even for clients who may not be familiar with social media management platforms. This is why the agencies we work with like using Buffer to manage their client's brands.

We create engaging content in advance on their white label MixBloom app, get it approved, and schedule it on Buffer for them. We believe in simple, seamless workflows and so does Buffer. 

Key Takeaways - Should You Use Buffer?

Buffer excels in being a simple yet effective tool for scheduling and publishing content across all your social media accounts. Whether you are a first time user or someone who needs to walk clients through their social media dashboard, Buffer's interface makes the experience seamless for you and your clients.

Social media management platforms are there to help you save time without sacrificing quality engagement with your audience. Buffer partnered with carefully crafted and curated content helps you do just that. 

Is your brand on social media? If there is one thing that we can learn from the businesses whose products we buy ourselves, it is to never underestimate the value of consistent and genuine connection with clients.

How do these brands achieve that level of consistency? Most of them use a social media management solution like Buffer. 

Whether you have a small business with a Facebook page or an agency managing hundreds of brands, you can use Buffer to help you stay connected with your clients.

In this review let's take a look at what Buffer is, its features that can be useful for social campaigns, and who should use it. We will also take a look at Buffer's competitors. Only through putting all these into consideration, can we decide if Buffer is the right choice for your business or your clients'. Let's dig in. 

What is Buffer?

Buffer is a social media management platform that helps you draft, schedule, manage, publish, engage with, and track posts across most social media channels. From its dashboard, you can manage your posts on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, Google, and Pinterest. 

If you are looking for an all-in-one social media management solution for your brand or your clients’, Buffer is a platform worth looking into. 

Popular Features: Why are Brands Using Buffer?

Scheduling

If you have used or considered using buffer before, it is likely because you want to schedule posts ahead of time. This is Buffer's main function and its biggest strength. 

As a scheduling tool, it is very easy to navigate. On the left, you see the social media platforms you want to manage. To the right, is a space to create your post. 

You can schedule content to post at a specific time or set up a daily queue. Once a post is scheduled, you can rearrange the posts by dragging them up and down. You can also edit the text and link on the dashboard. While Buffer pulls the link's image and description automatically like other platforms, you can change how those elements are displayed on your post. If your link does not pull an image, you can simply add one or several while scheduling. 

Whether you are a savvy social media manager or a business owner using Buffer for the first time, you can log in to your Buffer account and be able to figure things out with little to no training.

Analytics

The analytics section of your Buffer dashboard lets you know how your posts are performing and how your audiences are interacting with them. It gives you the total reach as well as the breakdown of likes, comments, clicks, mentions, and reshares that your posts have earned on the different social platforms. 

From the dashboard, you can generate an easy to understand report for the brands that you manage. This helps you understand your audience better and find the best performing posts to re-buffer (repost) or repurpose as new content. 

Special Features: Services You Should Definitely Explore

Browser extension

You can share content that you are reading or watching wherever you are on the web from your Buffer browser extension. You can share links, images, and videos without having to go back to the dashboard. You can also save them to edit later. 

RSS Feed

Need some content inspiration? Check out the RSS feeds from any of your favorites sites without having to leave the Buffer dashboard. You can add the content directly to your feed with just one click or edit them to add your own voice to the post. 

Buffer Open Blog

Open Blog is a helpful resource for marketers and business owners. They share blogs on their company culture, workflow, and strategies on this platform so it is truly worth a visit. 

Plans and Pricing

You can use Buffer for free. However, more features and capabilities come with paid plans.  Business owners and agencies should consider the number of users they need to implement their social media strategies, how many social accounts need to be managed, and how much content they promote on their socials. 

Free

Buffer offers a free plan that allows 1 user to manage 3 social media accounts and schedule 10 posts per month. This is ideal for those who want to explore Buffer's main features. 

Pro

The Pro account is for small business owners who are just getting started. It allows 1 user to manage up to 8 social media accounts and schedule 100 posts per month. The Pro account costs $15/month.

Premium

Buffer's Premium plan allows up to 2 users to collaborate. With Premium, you can manage 8 accounts and schedule 2,000 posts per month. A Premium plan costs $65/month.

Business

If you have a larger team or digital marketing agency, Buffer Business may be the plan for you. It allows up to 25 social accounts and 2,000 scheduled posts per month. You can also get up to 6 users to collaborate. Business plans start at $99 per month. 

Buffer Alternatives

Social media quickly moved from being a fad to a necessity for all businesses. For this reason, a lot of social media management solutions have emerged to help connect brands and their audience. Let's compare some of the most widely used platforms with Buffer.

Buffer vs Hootsuite

Buffer and Hootsuite have many similarities when it comes to scheduling and publishing content. They both have free and paid plans. The key difference is that Hootsuite will let you interact with content directly on its dashboard by its reply, retweet, and favorite feature. Buffer will let you do the same through an additional platform called Buffer Reply.

If you are looking for a platform that will let you engage with social media content in one dashboard, Hootsuite is a platform to consider. But, if you are looking for more seamless scheduling and publishing that anyone on your team can use, Buffer is a great choice for you.

Buffer vs. Sprout Social

Sprout Social has very robust features for managing and publishing social media posts. Just like Buffer, it is suitable for soloprenuers to agencies. The main difference between the platforms is the price. Sprout Social does not have a free version and its Standard plan starts at $99. 

Sprout Social is pricey compared to Buffer and most social media management platforms. Make sure you can utilize all of its offerings to make it worth the investment for you and your clients. 

Buffer vs. a la carte tools

Some social media solutions are created specifically for one platform. For example, Later is great for scheduling Instagram posts while Tweetdeck is a good tool for a Twitter power user. While tools like these can have more functions for the specific social media platform that they serve, you'll need an army of them to manage everything. And, if you are managing various platforms for multiple brands, things can go out of hand pretty quickly.

Who Should Use Buffer?

Business Owners

One of Buffer's best features is its simple and straightforward interface. Business owners (even those with less experience with social dashboards) can easily save time creating a queue of engaging content for their audience.

Social media managers and other creatives

Premium and business plans allow 2 or more users to collaborate on one dashboard. You can assign custom roles for writers, designers, social media managers, and other members of your team from your Buffer dashboard.

Agencies

Buffer is easy to use and navigate even for clients who may not be familiar with social media management platforms. This is why the agencies we work with like using Buffer to manage their client's brands.

We create engaging content in advance on their white label MixBloom app, get it approved, and schedule it on Buffer for them. We believe in simple, seamless workflows and so does Buffer. 

Key Takeaways - Should You Use Buffer?

Buffer excels in being a simple yet effective tool for scheduling and publishing content across all your social media accounts. Whether you are a first time user or someone who needs to walk clients through their social media dashboard, Buffer's interface makes the experience seamless for you and your clients.

Social media management platforms are there to help you save time without sacrificing quality engagement with your audience. Buffer partnered with carefully crafted and curated content helps you do just that. 

Learn how Buffer integrates with MixBloom to provide brands and agencies the perfect solution for their social media needs.