It’s not a surprise that when it comes to publishing content, increase the traffic and analyze social media performance, we are quick to choose Buffer. Buffer is a complete social media management tool that allows you to schedule and publish your posts from its platform. We’re not just talking one or two social platforms; Buffer lets you integrate all your accounts into one, easy to manage dashboard. But Buffer has expanded beyond the bounds of social media, and become one of the leaders in non-traditional thought and work practices.

Signing up for an account on Buffer is free and easy, after you login by submitting your email and password, you’ll see a very simple menu with a limited number options. The first thing you will need to set up and authorize the use of your social accounts. This is a relatively straightforward process, although if you are wanting to use Buffer with more than one Twitter account, you will need to sign in and out of each of your Twitter accounts in turn. You can connect Facebook pages and groups, Instagram (both personal and business profiles), Twitter profiles, LinkedIn profiles and pages, and Pinterest boards (on the higher plans only).

If you want to schedule to your Instagram account in a similar way you do to your other profiles, you need to have an Instagram Business Profile. If you only have an Instagram Personal Profile, the best Buffer can do is to remind you to make the post yourself. These are rules set by Instagram, not Buffer.

If you begin using Buffer by trialing their free plan, you will notice that the main dashboard has a decidedly spartan look, with only three menu items – “Queue”, “Analytics”, and “Settings” along the top, and the social accounts you have attached on the left-hand side.

There is a pleasing coherence and simplicity to its interface, which is stripped of superfluous features to keep the user’s focus on the job at hand. The set-up process walks the user through the important steps and can connect to social media accounts almost instantly. When you write your post and include a link. Here’s where Buffer gets really cool: you can edit how the link is displayed. Most tools will automatically fill in the title, image and description pulled from the link, but with Buffer, you can choose how you want those elements to appear. If the link doesn’t upload an image, you can choose and upload your own. Buffer is one of the more reasonably priced social scheduling platforms.  On the business side, it offers different plans for small, medium, and large companies.

Buffer Publish offers three subscription options, all of which can be paid monthly or annually. As with similar tools, there is a discount for paying upfront for an annual subscription. The ‘Pro account’, at $12/month for one user, connects to eight social media accounts, which should be plenty for solo users and small businesses. The ‘Premium package’, at $56/month for two users, introduces some collaboration tools and allows up to 2,000 scheduled posts. ‘The Business subscription’, at $85/month for six users, can connect with up to 25 social media accounts and is priced competitively. There is also the option to add users at a rate of $25/month per user, or you can contact Buffer to negotiate a subscription for larger social media teams.

As compared to some opposition social media management programs Buffer has separated out several of the more specialist features – ‘social engagement’ and ‘in-depth analytics’ – into separate apps. This means that its core offering, Buffer Publish, concentrates solely on managing an organization’s social media accounts. It does this well, with an extremely easy to use interface. It is one of the most straightforward apps to set up. Some of the competition has clearly had difficulties convincing social networks to allow their automation, but Buffer doesn’t seem to have had any problems.

On the face of it, Buffer offers the clearest pricing of any social media management tool. The 14-day free trial requires no credit card details. A free account option, which is always welcome, and it allows connection to three social media accounts. For individual users, this means the free account is a viable option for managing multiple social networks from one dashboard. It is also possible to schedule up to ten posts within the free account, and that will be sufficient to cover plenty of smaller businesses. The mix and match nature of the packages across the Publish, Reply, and Analyze products may appeal to businesses who are tired of shelling out for a lot of features they will never use.

Buffer’s capabilities improve dramatically once you opt for a paid plan.  However you can group your social accounts. It helps to keep related accounts together. This would be particularly useful for a large agency with multiple clients, wanting to keep client’s social accounts separate. The four Business plans allow you to add other team members, so you can collaborate and delegate the operation of specific social accounts to others in your team. To invite potential team members, select the Team Members option under the Admin menu.

Buffer is flexible enough so you can pick different days and times or even simply opt to post at a specific time each weekday.

Buffers aim to serve a variety of markets including: publishers, mid-stage startup teams, non-profits, higher education, sports teams, e-commerce, solopreneurs, businesses, and enterprises. The reason why it is a best tool is because it has always been easy to use. It is a slick, fast, intuitive way to visualize and post better content to your social media channels. The Buffer app and Chrome extension are fantastic, making it even simpler to post new content and manage your social media presence without disrupting your day too much.

Buffer was one of the first social media management tools to allow post scheduling on Instagram, so it is typically among the early movers when new developments arise. Buffer has a positive impact on social media teams and small businesses. Anyone that is looking for an accessible, effective platform to create and post more successful social media content will find a lot to like here. Everything you need to get started is contained within one screen. If you’re not happy with Buffer’s time suggestions, you can easily override it. Buffer offers an easy-to-use, timezone-specific scheduler that lets you determine when to publish your posts.