If you work in digital marketing/social media, chances are you’ve heard of Buffer and Hootsuite. While they may seem similar, they differ greatly and both have their pros and cons. So, what are the differences between the two tools, and which one is better?
Both Buffer and Hootsuite offer limited free plans to people who have limited scheduling needs. On Hootsuite, you can have up to 2 social channels and 1 user on the free plan and on Buffer, you can have up to 3 social channels and 1 user. In reality, the free plans are only there for you to test them and to see if it's right for you, the capabilities are just too restrictive to be of much practical use for everyday social posting.
Paid plans start at £50/month for Buffer (their essentials plan) and £79/month for Hootsuite (Professional plan). However, at this level, it becomes harder to compare the two apps. Buffer has a limit of 2000 scheduled posts (across 10 social accounts) on this plan, compared to Hootsuite's unlimited posts across ten social accounts. After that they both then target the rest of their plans at businesses of different sizes.
Need help deciding what plan to go for? Our Social media team in Wilmslow, Manchester, are experts in scheduling and management tools. Get in touch today to learn more
Both Buffer and Hootsuite will let you schedule content. You can choose your own times, build a schedule, or you can leave it to the tool to decide when best to post your content. Both tools have their algorithms to calculate those times, making it much easier to get the most reach out of your post.
Buffer’s analytics dashboard is very simple and sharp, it’s available as a mobile app too, allowing you to track your content performance on the go. You can now see your best and worst-performing posts based on engagement, helping you find a successful posting schedule.
Hootsuite offers analytics of your social networks, while Buffer offers analytics of the posts you’ve published via the platform. This is mainly due to what each tool does: Hootsuite is more of a social management tool, so it’ll offer you analytics around the content you post, how your social networks are performing, your social traffic
Hootsuite lets you manage all private and public conversations, whether DMS or comments on posts. It stops you from having to open the apps individually meaning you can keep on top of conversations and never miss anything. Buffer does not have this feature so you would have to respond to messages on individual platforms.
Buffer has a cool feature where you can create hashtag groups. So when you regularly use the same hashtags, it saves having to write them out each time.
The simple answer is: Buffer is better for small organizations that are just looking for a scheduling tool with a few extra features; Hootsuite is for larger organizations that want a robust social media management tool, especially those that want conversation management.
So both of the tools have their benefits and their drawbacks, and in fact, you don’t need to pick one over the other. Buffer’s strength is scheduling material, and Hootsuite has strengths in monitoring and analysis of accounts and conversations. If you team these together then you have a pretty good social media management strategy.
If you're struggling to come up with a social media strategy for your business our Wilmslow social media team will be more than happy to help! Get in touch today by clicking here
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