Hootsuite or Buffer? Why Not Both?

Hootsuite and Buffer Are Powerful Tools for Publishing Content Across Multiple Networks.

I love participating in professional groups on Facebook and groups on LinkedIn. I’m an active member in about 5 professional groups on Facebook, and currently belong to 32 industry-focused groups on LinkedIn. Sometimes I get inspiration for content from the questions posted in these groups. It increases the likelihood that I’m writing on a topic that interests my target audience.

This question was posted in a Facebook group where I am active, but did not know the poster (I cropped everything else out to protect them):

I'm looking for an app (Android), that will post to multiple social networks. I will be posting to FB, Twitter, Instagram, and Google+.....any suggestions?

Social posting tools is a topic I’ve been passionate about for years, and have followed the progress of closely. I was inspired to give some free advice based on my experiences. Here was my reply:

Look into Hootsuite and Buffer. I use both HootSuite Pro and Buffer Awesome plan.

HootSuite Pro, for about $9/mo, will let you schedule posts to an unlimited amount of these profiles and pages:

Facebook personal accounts
Facebook fan pages
Facebook groups (until Facebook shuts that down next week)
LinkedIn profile
LinkedIn company page
LinkedIn group
G+ fan page
Twitter

There are Hootsuite extensions for Chrome and Firefox, apps on Android and iOS and the Hootlet toolbar link. Hootsuite lets you manually schedule each post or you can let them AutoSchedule for you. The apps don’t let you schedule to G+ for some reason.

Buffer Awesome is $10/mo but only lets you schedule posts to a total of 12 profiles (same profile types as listed above, but no FB or LI groups). There are also extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Safari, and iOS and Android apps. You get basic tallies by post in their standard reporting (likes, shares & comments, tweets, RTs, Favorites, +1s) but their in-depth analytics are in the business program starting at $50/mo.

I’m not aware of any multi-network posting tools that allow you to post to Instagram with the others.

Hootsuite also has a kickass web-based desktop dashboard shows streams from multiple networks that’s completely customizable, automated RSS feed scheduling, integration with many other sites and apps, but their reporting is a little on the pricey side.

For just $19/month, you could be using both Hootsuite Pro and Buffer Awesome.

Now here are more comparisons that I did not include in my reply:

Buffer lets you set the times, by profile, for Buffering, or AutoScheduling, your posts, even setting different time zones for different profiles. HootSuite‘s AutoSchedule just automatically works by “best times to publish.”
Both offer link shortening, but Buffer gives you the better option to use your Bit.ly account for link tracking, whereas HootSuite forces you to use their ow.ly or ht.ly to shorten links shared though their tool.
Buffer lets you schedule 1 post to as many networks at once; HootSuite limits you to 5 networks per individual post.
Buffer also has a new scheduler, where you can schedule the same post to publish to the same profile as many as 10 different times. HootSuite only allows you to bulk schedule by uploading a .csv spreadsheet.

I go back and forth using the 2 tools, because they each do something better than the other. Both companies and tools are pushing the envelope, both are adding new features regularly.

Now, I have a whole blog post where I’ve shared my experience with you, a new friend and another potential client. All from reading a question posted to a Facebook group. I love 2015!

Which content scheduling tools do you use, if any?
Do you agree with my strategy of using both tools?
How many professional groups on Facebook and LinkedIn do you belong to and participate in?