Buffer and Facebook: Great marriage in a making?

by | 15 Comments

I now pronounce you Facebook and Buffer. Yeap! If you don’t know yet, Buffer has just announced their latest integration with Facebook right after their Android release. You can be sure that the iphone, linkedin and google+ integration will be out soon.

I remember when the first time @LeoWid contacted me through email and commented on this blog, he shared with me what he planned to achieve with buffer and shared a photo of it too. (YES Leo, i saved it and yes i remembered it)

What is Buffer

If you don’t know what buffer is, its a tool that allows you to easily schedule and share what you’ve read to tweet during peak hours in this case shared on Facebook.

Although I am friends with the team at buffer, I would still have to give them my unbiased review like what I did for Sprout Social 

Pros

  • You’ll be able to optimize your Facebook to post during peak hours based on algorithms from Buffer. (which is something most of us want). Most of us were able to do this on twitter easily but it was hard for Facebook. Social media is all about consistency and timing.
  • Clean interface and easy to use. Easy to use if you’re new.
  • Simple one click schedule.
  • Analytics (I’ll update this soon)

Cons 

  • You’ll be giving buffer access to private informations such as Facebook chats. According to Leo, the information would be taken as part of their algorithm to determine to best time to post. I think some might have concerns about this. I know not everyone would want other people to get information about them flirting with others. ;)
The reason we ask for this type of permission is because we are building an algorithm that will determine the best times to post to Facebook. Having access to chat will be quite vital. – Leo shared at Bufferapp.com comments
  • Image posted is not what I chose. For some reason they pulled the wrong image and used an image of someone who commented on my blog.

Should you use Buffer for Facebook?

If you’ve been wanting to optimize your Facebook then YES you should. As for the information given to buffer. I don’t think they would misuse any of the information.

Having said so, a great product is pointless without great people behind the brand. Buffer has a great team behind it and they will definitely be a startup to watch in 2012.

Have you tried buffer? Share your thoughts below.

"Subscribe to the blog"
Your competitors have subscribed to me, have YOU? Receive an update straight to your inbox every time I publish something new. Your email address will never be shared
  • Denysech

    Hi Aaron, great post.

    I’ve been using Buffer for a while, so this came as great news and I’m already connected.

    Here is what I like a bit less:

    1. I have a Facebook page for my company as well as my personal account; Buffer want to charge to connect both!

    2. The proposed times don’t suit someone like myself who works Globally, as the time missed Asia altogether!

    3. Can’t see what Buffer has over Hootsuite that I have also been using and which I like because I can choose everything in one place

    Last comment or rather question; I heard that using Hootsuite for Facebook posts gets lower ratings than going directly to Facebook to post. Does this also apply to Buffer? Are they really “married” or just living in sin?

  • Pingback: Bookmarks for November 10th from 04:06 to 05:05 « Mark's life

  • Pingback: Buffer and Facebook: Great marriage in a making? | Ask Aaron Lee | Marriage is Unique

  • fergusonsarah

    I never heard of buffer on Facebook before.. Thanks for sharing their con and pros.. Very interesting..

  • VictoriaNicole23

    Nice post.I never heard about buffer on facebook even before.But with your article,another things to learn.

  • AskAaronLee

    @VictoriaNicole23 My pleasure. Hope you like it :D

  • AskAaronLee

    @fergusonsarah My pleasure, let me know what you think when you try it :D

  • AskAaronLee

    @Denysech Hello! thanks for sharing. I’m not sure about the ratings on buffer yet.

    I hope leowid hears about this as he is able to give you more information.

  • LeoWid

    @Denysech Hi, thanks a lot for stopping by here and thanks to Aaron for inviting me over.

    Sure, that is very good feedback, we are keen to improve our free plan more over time!

    As regards the timing, you can also always head to “settings” to change them for your timezone, I hope this helps you to reach everyone you want.

    As regards the 3rd point, I think you are right, Buffer is not an “instead of HootSuite” tool, but rather helps you to make sharing and posting more efficient.

    Yes, so actually FB lifted the restrictions slightly and posts via Buffer get the same engagement as non-buffered ones is what we observed! :)

    Hope that helps, let me know if you have any more questions! :)

  • Denysech

    @LeoWid Hi Leo,

    Thanks for taking the time to respond and also to @AskAaronLee for mentioning you so you saw my comments. I did check out the timing of course, but didn’t notice the timezones, sorry. I also thought I would try it for a few weeks to see if I get my hits up before changing anything.

    Great news about Facebook, glad that one is resolved, but frustrated I can’t use Buffer for both my personal and page accounts without paying!

    Thanks again for your detailed replies Leo; I’m definitely a follower now ;-)

  • http://www.veloxtelco.com.au/ Joanna Wilson

    Oh no not yet..It was the first time I heard about buffer.Anyway,thank you for sharing their con and pros.Thank you for posting.

  • thecommongeek

    I love Buffer and I use it for both FB and Twitter. So far, I have gotten some good interaction since I began using it.

  • LauLau81

    I have a new thing learned from your post. I am not aware what Buffer is before until I read this blog. Thanks for the info.

  • http://www.mycreditcardpayment.org/ MyCreditCardPayment

    I have not tried using buffer. Maybe I should try this not and take a look of the good things it can give me. Thanks for the information.

  • EatWholeBeVital

    I have been using Buffer and I really like it. However it was just brought to my attention that my followers on FB cannot ‘share’ my posts. This is a big con for me.

Copyright © 2013 · Ask Aaron Lee