Blog - Page 32

A collection of 2,459 blog posts

InstagramJun 13, 2019
The Meme-ification of Instagram

Social networks change and evolve, rapidly. We’re seeing this happen on Instagram today: less polish, more authenticity. In particular, we’re noticing an embrace of memes — that historically unpolished, yet highly relatable category of social media content. Recently, we’ve picked up on the proliferation of memes across many major Instagram profiles, and we’d love to share how brands are making the most of this form of visual marketing and what it could look like for you to give it a try with

OpenJun 10, 2019
50+ Resources For LGBTQIA Allies

Learning about the experiences and history of LGBTQ+ people shouldn’t stop after June, which is why we wanted to share an updated list of resources to help us all learn how to be the best allies we can be! First, a brief history of Pride Although Pride might seem like a month of parades and glitter these days, its origins are far from celebratory. The first Pride rally occurred a month after the Stonewall riots in 1969. A well-known gay bar, Stonewall was a safe space for drag queens

The Most Essential (and Surprising) Social Media Statistics and Facts of 2019

How to subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Stitcher | RSS What

Video: Getting started with Go [Bufferdevs Snackchat]

At Buffer we regularly hold what we call ‘Snackchats’. These are short & informal presentations of something that we want to share with our team which help to build on our engineering culture and help each other to grow as engineers. Anyone on the team has the opportunity to give these talks Once a discussion has been proposed, a day / time can be picked ready for people to grab a drink (and snack!) to take some time out of their day to learn something new. These have been happening at Buffer

My First 2 Months of Practicing the Buffer Values

Anxious to make a good impression on my first day at Buffer, I asked my role buddy: “What’s the best way to start the day? Should I ping someone when I’m online?” “Feel free to start the day at your leisure,” Nicole said. Mind. Blown. I already knew Buffer was an amazing company. I wasn’t shocked that I could make my own schedule. But for the first time, I wasn’t just reading about and admiring the culture from afar. I was actually experiencing it for myself. It’s a level of trust I’ve never

Tiny Tips for Delivering Out-of-This-World Customer Support on Social Media

How to subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Stitcher | RSS If y

What If Instagram Got Rid of Likes? Plus Even More Social Media What Ifs

How to subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Stitcher | RSS What

OpenMay 27, 2019
The 6 Lessons We’ve Learned About Product Marketing at a Startup

Product marketing can seem like a catch-all for the many various skills, tasks, and activities that help people discover and love a product . Because of this, product marketing can have few bounds. It can feel loose yet vital. Abstract yet essential. Fuzzy yet powerful. And because of this juxtaposition, there’s a risk that you won’t get the full impact of proper product marketing if you don’t have things figured out for your team. This is

OpenMay 20, 2019
The ‘Traffic Light’ Exercise, Tweeting About Therapy, and 5 More Ways To Support Mental Health at Work

There’s been a lot of crying in my career – tears of frustration, sadness, and also joy. As a newspaper editor, reporters would sometimes come into my office, close the door and break down in sobs. Doing social media for an open-office tech startup, I had to leave the building and walk around the block to cry. No job has normalized tears for me more than Buffer, and I’m so grateful for it. At Buffer, we try to bring ourselves authentically to work. We delight in the joys of life – new babi

10 Important Skills and Traits Your Social Media Manager Will Need

How to subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Stitcher | RSS A decade ago, the role of a social media manager might not have even existed. Today, however, almost every company is involved in social media one way or another. A quick look at Google Trends shows the rise in interest in the term “social media manager” over the years, and it seems that people have never been as interested in the term as they are today. But what does it take to be a great social media manager? What are

OpenMay 13, 2019
10 Org Chart Styles We Admire (And the One We Use at Buffer)

Within any company, the organizational chart lives a complicated, contradictory experience. At times, the org chart represents beloved clarity and organization. Other times, it represents rigidity and the tyranny of top-down, hierarchical systems. Organizations often phase out their org charts only to resurrect them again when they find themselves looking for an answer on organization and structure. While some may come back in original form, many companies are looking for new and improved ways

Why Brands are Turning to Spotify as the Next Big Social Platform

How to subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Stitcher | RSS Ther

Ugly Drinks’ Four Secrets to Disrupting a $392 Billion Industry

Great businesses see the future differently. * Apple made CD’s redundant, and gave us 1,000 songs in our pocket * Airbnb took travel, and made us all feel at home across globe * Netflix made video rentals a thing of the past, and disrupted the Oscars And now, Ugly Drinks is creating a new, healthier future for the $392 billion soft drinks industry,

The Power of the Pause: Introducing Sabbaticals at Buffer

Imagine no longer being able to enjoy time with friends and family, because work is constantly on your mind and your phone is constantly in your hand – and the more you stress, the worse you feel. Or imagine the job you once loved suddenly feeling hollow and pointless, leaving you depressed and constantly fatigued. For a lot of us who feel deeply connected to our work, this is almost unthinkable. But these are some classic signs of burnout, which can lead to serious physical, mental, and s

How to Get (Real!) Followers on Social Media in 2019

How to subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Stitcher | RSS One

Why Isn’t Anyone Talking About Live Video Anymore? The Current State of Live

How to subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Stitcher | RSS Live

6 Simple Ways You Can Use Neuroscience to Increase Marketing Productivity

How to subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Stitcher | RSS Neur

OpenApr 10, 2019
My Experience with Burnout as a Startup Founder

In mid-2017, I hit burnout in a really big way and wound up taking a 6-week break to recharge. I want to fully share my story here and include some things I wish I’d done differently in the hope that this can help anyone else experiencing burnout. How it began: A year of change, stress, and loss Looking back, the lead-up to my burnout goes back to the end of 2015. My co-founder and I were growing apart on our vision for Buffer’s future, which continued throughout 2016 despite several in-perso

Case StudiesApr 10, 2019
Inside Look: How Two Teams Share a Social Media Inbox

Only 10% of customer messages are answered on social media . Yet some brands find a way to answer 100% of requests. What’s their secret? Having many hands on deck certainly helps. We’ve found that some of the fastest-responding, maximum-delighting brands on social media employ a two-team approach to responding. Customer support teams handle all inbound product questions, and m

8 Unexpected Marketing Lessons from History’s Most Influential Leaders

How to subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Stitcher | RSS This wee

OpenMar 29, 2019
Our Latest Pay Analysis: Examining Buffer’s Gender Pay Gap in 2019

Thanks for reading our equal pay report. See our updated 2021 pay analysis here.  Progress seldom looks like the straight line we all wish it might. Real life is much messier, filled with false starts, mistakes, and backtracks. That’s an especially tough truth when it comes to issues like the gender pay gap that affect real people’s lives so deeply. But in advance of this year’s Equal Pay Day, Buffer has a progress story to tell – and it looks nothing like a straight upward line. What is E

The Art of Copywriting: How to Write Better Captions that Get Engagement

How to subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Stitcher | RSS What you’re trying to do, when you tell a story, is to write about an event in your life that made you feel some particular way. And what you’re trying to do, when you tell a story, is to get the audience to have that same feeling. – Pete Docter While we don’t typically associate the art of copywriting with social media captions, the two are deeply intertwined. A really good caption informs us about the things we canno

7 Easy Ways to Improve Your Retargeting Ad Campaigns

How to subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Stitcher | RSS Retargeting, also known as remarketing, is a powerful form of digital advertising in which audiences (potential customers) are targeted with specific ads based on their behavior online. In other words, retargeting campaigns turn internet “window shoppers” into real paying customers for your business. While we as marketers would love to live in a world in which a majority of online visitors became customers, the truth i

I Used to Call My Coworkers “Family.” Here’s Why I Stopped.

There was a time where I wholly embraced calling our team — our company — a family. I’ve written cards to our community members and called them part of our Buffer family. I’ve sent custom packages to welcome our new teammates to the Buffer family (and we’ve grown from 25 teammates to nearly 90 in about four years.) I relished how the term “family” made everyone feel so welcomed, accepted, and appreciated. There’s nothi