Free Twitter Scheduling Tools - Buffer v Hootsuite

It is super handy to use a scheduling tool like Buffer or Hootsuite if you are managing multiple social accounts. It will not only save you time but it will also help you to find the most effective time to communicate to your audience by measuring engagement levels and matching this with you posting times. 

Buffer and Hootsuite are both very handy tools to have. In the past couple of weeks I have tried using both free versions and wanted to share my verdict with you guys. 

Strengths

Buffer was super good to schedule your post according to your audience most engaging time of day. To do that you can either export the most active times of your followers from Followerwonk which is a Moz tool that lets you analyse your social audience. Then you import it in your Buffer account and any posts you write will be tweeted out at these times. Also I like that on Buffer you can have different schedules for different days of the week. For instance you might reduce your activity at weekends.

Hootsuite is really good to schedule but also to engage with posts. You can create dashboards of different streams, say everything you have favourited or every tweet you were mentioned in to create an overview for quick response and interaction. It is also quick to post similar posts several times for A/B testing purposes. 

Weaknesses

The Buffer free version is unfortunately very limited. I can only queue 10 posts whereas I would be scheduling my tweets and posts only once a week for 5 times a day. 

Hootsuite may be a little complex for beginner users although I think you would learn the interface very quickly. Also their auto posting function was promised to work similarly to what I have described for Buffer above. However you cannot see when the posts will go out. I have tested this function and found that it just posted to close to one time (5 posts in 30 min). 

Final note

I recommend you test these two tools for yourself and depending on what your needs are make your own judgement on which tool you will use going forward. Both tools are super handy and a must-have for any frequent social media fanatic.