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A collection of 2,606 blog posts
Much has been written on the Buffer Blog about social media strategy. In the last month alone, we’ve covered (in great detail) everything from Facebook Messenger marketing and managing multiple social media accounts to creating remarkable content and the rise of micro-influencers. One thing that often gets overlooked in all of the detail is a more general approach to social media for businesses and entrepreneurs. What should businesses be thinking about? What are long-term trends that busines
A while ago we published this article on how we were trying to tidy up the Android project for the Buffer for Android app: /2016/09/26/android-rethinking-package-structure/ . However, our project is now moving towards a modularised approach – so our package structure is changing (but also staying slightly the same). We wanted to keep the package-by-feature approach in place so we can continue to benefit from its advantages suc
The ability to change one’s mind, change course and try again is one of the things I like most about working at Buffer. It’s totally normal to share about not just successes but also times we didn’t know the answer, mistakes we’ve made and experiments we’ve tried that didn’t quite turn out like we thought they might. So even though the last time I wrote about performance reviews it was to share why we don’t do them, it’s not actually that weird (at least at Buffer) to return to the topic only
Many experts predicted that 2017-2018 would be the “age of video marketing on social media” and the data is showing that they were overwhelmingly correct. Video has erupted onto the scene with brands and businesses creating more video than ever before – with no signs of slowing down. Consumers are loving it, too! HubSpot, for example, found that 90% of users reported that product videos are helpful in the decision process. And that 51.9% of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the t
This week on #bufferchat, our community discussed the value of creating a brand style guide and all that goes into making an awesome one. We talked about the key elements of a brand guide, tips for articulating a brand’s voice, advice for getting employees on board with consistent branding, and much more. Read on to discover all of the awesome insights shared during the chat! Catch our weekly Twitter chat, #bufferchat, at TWO times every Wednesday for valuable industry insights and to meet hun
Like many other tech companies, we used to have an unlimited vacation policy as a way to encourage employees to take vacation days when it felt best to them. When unlimited vacation didn’t seem to be working, because it’s hard to tell how much time unlimited really is, we switched to a minimum vacation policy this time last year. With our unlimited policy, the highest percentage of vacation days was in the range of 5 – 10 days per year, closely followed by the 10 – 15 days range. It wasn’t quit
There are now more than 1.3 billion people using Facebook Messenger every month 44Techcrunch, 2017 . Yes, billion with a b! Have you considered the possibility of using it for your Facebook marketing? We certainly have. And we have been experimenting with different ways to include Messenger as one of our go-to marketing tools, by sending out our latest blog posts through Messenger and engaging and helping our customers through the platform too. Since we are in the midst of figuring thin
Two weeks ago I was fortunate to make my 3rd Above & Beyond Group Therapy milestone show at the magnificent Gorge Amphitheater in Washington State. Set over two days the celebration bought people from all over the world to the Gorge to celebrate the 250th Group Therapy Radio Show. Having attended both 100 in New York and 200 in Amsterdam I was blown away with how friendly the crowds were and wondered how I could get people even more connected. Inspired by the numerous apps for WWDC to show atte
The “Buffer Bootcamp” is a rite of passage that’s long been a staple of our culture at Buffer. This is the 45-day period that all new teammates at Buffer have embarked upon as they joined the team. Traditionally, the “bootcamper” has acted as a freelancer/contractor for their first 6 weeks, working on a probationary basis – no healthcare benefits, equity, or team retreats just yet. They generally receive lots of hands-on coaching and feedback as they learn the ropes of Buffer. It’s been a tim
How do you feel when people comment on your social media posts? Awesome, right? A comment is or some form of engagement is usually a sign that people love your social media content. And it’s important to reciprocate and respond to these interactions. But at the same time, engaging with your followers can be time-consuming. If you are a solo social media manager or a small business owner, you know you don’t have the whole day to engage with your followers. So how can you minimize the time it
One of the first few things people see when they visit your social media profiles is your cover photo. Whether it’s your Facebook Page, LinkedIn Company Page, or YouTube channel, your cover photo is the biggest image on the page. And people will see your cover photo even before they see any of your posts. So how do you make your cover photo show up the exact way you want it to be? One of the key factors is the size. Without the correct dimensions (width and height), your cover photo might be
Maybe this sounds familiar to you: I used to log in to each and every individual network to compose new posts , check what’s happening in my streams, follow up on conversations and follower requests, and basically perform any other little bit of social media management that was on my plate. I switched to dashboards and tools, and my productivity has soared. I’d love to
When I went rock climbing for the first time, I had no idea what I was doing. My friends and I were complete newbies about ropes and rappelling and every other bit of jargon and technique that goes with climbing. We saw others doing it spectacularly well. We were thrilled at the thought of reaching the top of the climbing wall; we had no idea how to get there. I’d imagine that a social media marketing strategy could feel the same way. If you’re starting from square one, it might feel equal par
There’s this powerful myth that exists in the working world: the more you work and less you rest, the more you will get done. It turns out that our bodies and our brains don’t quite work that way. What’s surprising is that the opposite is in fact true. If you rest more and work less, you’ll be more productive, healthy, and creative. Not to mention, one author believes more rest can positively impact climate change and gender equality — I’ll elaborate on all of that below. We gave this a try a
When we think of continued learning and self-improvement, reading naturally comes to mind. That’s why we’re so excited to be celebrating International Literacy Day, a global celebration planned by UNESCO. This celebration is a strong reminder of how digital technology and the internet enables each of us to do more reading, writing, and learning. Source: UNESCO We have more ways than ever to get access to books and reading materials. But how much reading are we doing? One survey reports that “[
This week on #bufferchat, we talked all about how personal branding can impact the process of job hunting. The community shared advice about defining your personal brand, standing out during the application process, and much more. Read on to discover all of the awesome advice that was shared during the chat! Catch our weekly Twitter chat, #bufferchat, at TWO times every Wednesday for valuable industry insights and to meet hundreds of other smart marketers and social media enthusiasts. Same top
Creating social media content takes time. And creating great social media content takes even more time. You don’t just need to think about what types of content you’re going to create, but also how you can customize your social media posts for each platform. For example, you might create: * A video for Facebook * A GIF for Twitter * An infographic for Pinterest How do you find the time to create so many pieces of social media content? Well, here’s some good news… with the right tools, yo
Impostor syndrome is a psychological phenomenon in which people are unable to see their own accomplishments, dismissing them as luck, timing, or as a result of deceiving others into thinking they are more intelligent and competent than they believe themselves to be. Impostor syndrome is much more common that you’d think—o ver 70% of people have experienced it at one time or other in their lives . It is known that lots of entrepreneurial and high-achieving women have it, but I’ve also found th
History and Background Ever since Buffer started its journey with Kubernetes (k8s) almost 1 year ago we have embarked on a mission to streamline the deployment experience. The inherent nature of microservices differs significantly from a monolith application in many ways. For each deploy, a monolith application requires merging the changes and deploying to an environment that’s well defined, tested and proven p
The interest in influencer marketing has been growing steadily over the past few years and more people are seeking to understand more about it now than ever before. Just take a look at this Google Trends chart: According to eMarketer, 48 percent of marketers decided to increase their budget for influencer marketing in 2017. And only four percent had plans to decrease their budget. If you’re thinking of running an influencer marketing campaign, it can be a little daunting: * How to do I disc
Hi there! This is an older post that we’ve kept around for transparency but that means that sometimes the information is no longer accurate. Head to our homepage to view our most recent posts. We believe in constant experimentation and self-improvement at Buffer. You might know this if you’ve followed along with our trying self-management or making regular changes to our vacation policy [https://buffer.ghost.
How do you create something that lasts in marketing and social media? Not just for 15 minutes, or even for a year. But for a lifetime. Today, we as marketers are so focused on what’s next. We create content, ship it, and move onto the next project without even blinking an eye. Is there another way? A way to create perennial sellers? Best-selling author, Ryan Holiday, has dedicated his life’s work to answering that exact question. He’s studied hundreds of perennial sellers from movies and tele
Should our business be on Instagram or Snapchat? Or both? With Instagram and Snapchat becoming increasingly similar, many social media managers find themselves asking these questions. To help you figure out which platform — Instagram or Snapchat — is more suitable for your business, we decided to analyze the differences between the two platforms. We compared six key aspects of the two platforms: 1. Users 2. Content types 3. Discoverability 4. Engagement rates 5. Analytics 6. Ad What we
Header image source: Émile Perron on Unsplash Over the last year on the Android team at Buffer, we’ve talked a lot about cleaning up our project and increasing its stability. One of the factors here was the introduction