Loomly vs Buffer: Which Social Media Management Tool is Better?

Hey there! So, you’re stuck between Buffer and Loomly for social media management. 

As someone who’s been in the trenches of business software, I understand the importance of getting the right tools to automate your business!

Today, we’ll discuss social network marketing, so streamline your organic marketing workflow and maximize your reach!

I tried out a bunch of social management tools throughout my career, including both Buffer and Loomly. So, by the end of this read, you’ll have a clear understanding of what each platform has to offer and how they stack up against each other.

Whether you’re a seasoned marketer looking to switch tools or a beginner trying to get your feet wet in social media management, this comparison will equip you with the knowledge you need to make the right decision.

Ready? Let’s get down to business!

Brief Overview: Buffer and Loomly

First, I’ll give you a quick overview of Buffer and Loomly:

Loomly is a versatile social media management tool designed to streamline content creation, publishing, and analytics for individuals and teams. It enhances collaboration and provides insights to optimize posts and engage audiences effectively. Hence, this makes Loomly one of the market’s best social media automation tools.

Key Selling Points:

• Advanced calendaring ability for organizing content
• Comprehensive collaborative tools for team feedback, reviews, and approvals
• Customizable post ideas based on trending topics and RSS feeds
• Robust analytics for tracking performance and audience engagement
• Native functionality for responding to comments and messages directly
• Streamlined ad creation and management within the platform

Buffer is an intuitive, well-designed content automation platform that schedules, publishes, and analyzes social media posts. Known for its simplicity, it helps businesses save time, achieve consistency in their posting schedule, and track performance through robust analytics.

Key Selling Points:

• User-friendly interface with hassle-free scheduling options
• Flexible posting capabilities allow for customization per platform
• Efficient team collaboration and management features
• In-depth analytics with the opportunity for detailed reports
• “Buffer Reply” feature for social customer service interactions
• “Buffer Publish” functionality for streamlined post-scheduling and publishing

Quick Verdict: Buffer vs Loomly

Loomly sets itself apart with a focus on team collaboration and content enhancement to post directly on social accounts.

This platform excels particularly for teams seeking a collaborative atmosphere. It provides a centralized space for brainstorming, creating, optimizing, and getting content approval.

Loomly offers a unique feature that suggests content based on audience insights, trending topics, and RSS feeds, making it invaluable for businesses that want to stay ahead with relevant and engaging content. Its advanced analytics are also crucial, offering detailed insights that help refine strategies and understand audience preferences.

Buffer is synonymous with simplicity and effectiveness in social media scheduling.

The strength of Buffer lies in its straightforward design and functionality. Thus, it is an ideal tool for beginners or those desiring a streamlined approach to social media management. 

Also, Buffer is excellent for businesses that need consistent, hassle-free posting, allowing users to schedule content across various platforms efficiently. The ‘Buffer Reply’ aspect takes it a notch higher, consolidating all social media conversations into one unified inbox, fostering swift and organized responses.

Product Overview: Buffer vs Loomly

What is it?

Loomly is a comprehensive social media scheduling tool that optimizes the content creation process. It allows teams to collaborate effectively, create impactful posts using RSS feeds, and analyze their performance seamlessly.

Buffer is a user-friendly social media management platform focused on post-scheduling and automation. It enables you to manage multiple social accounts from a single-user dashboard, saving time and improving efficiency.

Who is it for?

Loomly is ideal for social media marketing teams, content creators, and social media managers seeking a collaborative environment. It’s best suited if you need to generate rich, engaging content backed by insights and seamless team integration. Agencies handling multiple client accounts or businesses wanting to stay ahead in audience engagement will find Loomly especially beneficial.

Buffer is perfect for entrepreneurs, small business owners, professionals, and startups looking for a straightforward solution to their social media management. Its ease of use suits a social media marketer who wants to maintain a consistent online presence without investing significant time or resources.

What makes it special?

Loomly sets itself apart with its RSS feeds and first-comment features. These features make it easy for teams to work on creating and optimizing posts based on trends, leading to more effective social media strategies. The ability to make the first comment gives you additional space where you can place your other hashtags for outreach. 

Buffer stands out for its simplicity and automation. With Buffer, you can schedule posts for different social platforms simultaneously, saving you significant time. Its performance tracking feature provides valuable insights into your social media reach and engagement.

What does it do?

Loomly provides a platform where you can create, preview, and optimize posts based on RSS feeds or trends before they go live. It also offers advanced analytics to gauge the effectiveness of your social media strategies.

Buffer allows you to schedule and automate your social media posts across various channels. It also tracks the performance of your posts, giving you the insights you need to improve your social media presence.

Quick Comparison: Buffer vs Loomly

Key Features	Loomly	Buffer
#1) Pricing		Winner
#2) Free Plan		Winner
#3) Design & Functionality	Tie	Tie
#4) Content Scheduling & Publishing	Tie	Tie
#5) Engagement Monitoring		Winner
#6) Actionable Insights  & Analytics	Winner
#7) Social Media Accounts & Integrations	Winner
#8) Mobile App	Winner
#9) Customer Support	Winner
Overall	Winner

Feature Comparison: Buffer vs Loomly

Let’s compare Buffer and Loomly so you can make the right decision for you and your business.

#1) Pricing

Loomly adopts a tiered pricing structure approach, starting with the Base Plan at $35/month, accommodating up to 2 users and ten social accounts. As the requirements grow, you can upgrade to Standard, Advanced, Premium, or Enterprise plans, each unlocking additional features conducive to larger teams or more extensive social media campaigns.

On the other hand, Buffer structures its pricing to be highly accessible, starting with the Essentials Plan at $6, with each added channel costing an additional $6. 

In the battle of budgets, Buffer takes the crown. Its entry-level plan is not only affordable but also avoids locking you into paying for features they don’t need. The flexibility in adding more channels as required ensures that you pay for precisely what they need and nothing more, making it ideal for startups, small businesses, or those with limited requirements.

Verdict: When it comes to pricing, Buffer emerges as the winner. 

#2) Free Plan

Loomly offers a 15-day free trial, allowing potential you to test out their platform and features without any financial commitment. No credit card data is required to avail of this free plan.

Buffer provides a Free Forever Plan, allowing you to manage up to 3 social media channels without cost. This will enable you to benefit from basic functionalities for an indefinite period.

In terms of free offerings, Buffer’s Free Forever Plan is more advantageous because it doesn’t have a time limit. While Loomly’s 15-day trial allows you to experience all the features, Buffer’s plan offers unlimited usage of basic features, which is beneficial if you are starting out or with smaller needs.

Verdict: Buffer offers more value for the free plan due to its ongoing access.

#3) Design & Functionality

Loomly is regarded as an easy-to-use social media management platform that helps you craft, optimize, schedule, and analyze content for various social media platforms. Its user-friendly and intuitive design makes it an excellent option if you are new to social media management. It is also one of the best tools for branding automation.

Buffer is also known for its simplicity and practical functionality. It offers an intuitive interface with a straightforward approach to scheduling posts across social media channels. The design is clean and uncluttered, providing a seamless user experience.

Both Loomly and Buffer offer impressive design and functionality. However, the choice between the two depends on your preferences and needs. Loomly’s extensive features for crafting and optimizing content are more suitable for creating a more engaging social media presence. At the same time, Buffer’s streamlined interface and approach are excellent if you want simplicity and ease of use.

Verdict: It’s a tie between Loomly and Buffer for design and functionality. Both offer user-friendly interfaces and effective social media management tools.

#4) Content Scheduling & Publishing

Loomly is equipped with robust content scheduling and publishing features. This platform allows you to craft, optimize, and schedule posts for multiple social media networks in one place. Moreover, it provides a shared inbox, content library, and multi-user collaboration functionalities, making it an effective tool for team-based social media management.

Buffer is also known for its robust scheduling and publishing features. You can easily schedule posts across social media channels and track their performance. One of its standout features is setting custom schedules for each social media platform.

Both tools excel in terms of content scheduling and publishing. However, Loomly’s extensive features, such as a shared inbox and content library, give it an edge for teams looking for collaborative capabilities. Buffer’s custom scheduling feature is a unique offering that is more beneficial if you seek granular control over their posting schedules.

Verdict: Social media content scheduling and publishing is a tie between Loomly and Buffer. Both offer comprehensive features tailored to different user needs.

#5) Engagement Monitoring

Loomly simplifies engagement by providing a straightforward system for community management. You can directly interact with messages, add more hashtags on the first comment section, and get reactions from followers across platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, ensuring a seamless communication process with audiences.

Buffer is designed to help build a loyal and engaged audience on social media. It provides a grid view that displays all comments, helping you stay on top of their interactions. To ensure efficient management, Buffer offers keyboard hotkeys and smart emojis for quick responses. Additionally, its machine learning-powered smart alerts notify you if a post has questions, negative sentiment, or purchase-related comments.

Buffer takes the lead due to its advanced, intuitive features designed for swift and efficient audience interaction. The smart alerts and keyboard shortcuts allow social media managers to respond more efficiently. As a result, you can turn followers into loyal fans by never missing critical engagements and using enhanced, intelligent systems for immediate issue identification and interaction.

Verdict: For engagement monitoring, Buffer takes the lead due to its use of advanced technology and user-friendly features.

#6) Actionable Insights & Analytics

Loomly provides a platform that not only allows for the management of multiple social media accounts but also offers powerful analytics features. Its analytics tools empower social media marketing teams to grow successful brands online through comprehensive brand and social media content management. It’s a tool that provides insights into performance metrics, allowing you to optimize their social media strategy based on data.

On the other hand, Buffer not only supports integrations with various social networks but also provides features for tracking performance. With Buffer, you can manage all social accounts from a single dashboard and use its analytics to evaluate your social media strategy’s effectiveness.

Regarding insights and analytics, both Loomly and Buffer provide robust tools. However, if a more comprehensive approach to brand and content management is a priority. In that case, Loomly has a slight edge due to its focus on empowering marketing teams with powerful brand and content management tools.

Verdict: Loomly seems to have a slight advantage for Actionable Insights and analytics due to its comprehensive brand and content management tools.

#7) Social Media Accounts & Integrations

Loomly supports various social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google Business Profile, and YouTube. You can manage multiple accounts from these platforms within Loomly’s interface, making it a one-stop shop for social media management.

Buffer also provides support for a variety of social media platforms. You can schedule posts, track performance, and manage all your social accounts from one dashboard. This makes Buffer a comprehensive tool for managing a brand’s online presence.

When comparing the two, both Loomly and Buffer provide robust integration capabilities with various social media platforms. The choice between the two comes down to personal preference or specific needs. However, considering the ease of use and the number of supported platforms, Loomly has a slight edge.

Verdict: For Social Media Accounts and integrations, Loomly has a slight advantage due to its extensive compatibility with various social networks.

#8) Mobile App

Loomly provides an easy-to-use mobile app that allows you to craft, optimize, schedule, and analyze posts across all social channels in one place. The app is available on both iOS and Android platforms. It’s a convenient social media tool for managing social media accounts on the go, offering the same robust features as the web version.

Buffer also has a mobile app available for iOS and Android users. The Buffer app allows you to schedule posts, track performance, and manage all your social accounts conveniently from your mobile devices. It’s designed to be user-friendly, making social media management easy and accessible anytime, anywhere.

When comparing the mobile apps of Loomly and Buffer, both offer robust features and are designed to be user-friendly. Which one you choose depends on your own preferences or your specific needs. However, considering the ease of use and comprehensive features, it’s a tie.

Verdict: For mobile apps, it’s a tie between Loomly and Buffer. 

#9) Customer Support

Loomly provides responsive customer support to its users. Whether it’s assistance with getting started, a question about the platform, lost passwords, or general inquiries, their support team is readily available. You can reach out through contact forms, email, phone, or chat support. They also have a comprehensive Help Center, with advice and answers from the Loomly team, covering various topics from content creation to analytics.

Buffer, on the other hand, offers robust customer support as well. Their support team is accessible via email, social media, and their detailed Help Center. They guide various issues, from account setup to advanced features. They also offer resources like webinars, tutorials, and a blog with valuable tips and tricks.

When comparing the two, both Loomly and Buffer have excellent customer support systems. However, Loomly offers a slight edge with its availability of phone support and chat support, providing an additional channel for you to reach out for help.

Verdict: For Customer Support, Loomly takes the lead with their additional phone support option.

Final Thoughts on Loomly vs Buffer

Both Loomly and Buffer are powerful social media management tools, each offering unique features and benefits.

Loomly shines with its easy-to-use interface, seamless mobile experience, and the additional avenue of phone support for content creation. It’s a solid choice for businesses that want a simple yet comprehensive tool for managing their social media presence.

On the other hand, Buffer excels with its robust functionalities and extensive resources for user education. It’s ideal if you value in-depth analytics and learning resources to optimize your social media strategy.

Both platforms provide excellent customer support and are user-friendly, making social media management efficient and straightforward.

However, if I had to pick one, go with Loomly for its simplicity, additional phone support, and seamless mobile experience!

But remember, the best tool for you depends on your specific needs and preferences.

So, why not try Loomly today and see if it fits your social media management needs?