The Science of Social Media

The Science of Social Media (Buffer Podcast) is a weekly audio experience exploring best-practices and insights from top social media marketing experts.

The Best Instagram Stories of 2019

Instagram Stories was one of the most dynamic social media channels in 2019. So much happened with Stories — from new developments with the product to strong returns on Stories ads and organic reach. Over 500 million people use Instagram Stories every day. I’m definitely among that group. And at Buffer, Stories has been a major focus in 2019 as well.

Why social commerce will rule social media in 2020

Social commerce is one of the hottest trends in social media today, and it looks to have an even bigger impact in 2020. Get all the details here.

Brand Secrets for Standing Out in a Crowded World

These days, we live in a world of infinite supply… In just a few clicks, anyone can start a business. Anyone can create products, build an online store, publish ads, and reach an audience online. This means that every market is becoming flooded with businesses offering similar products, features, and solutions. So to stand out you need to have a brand that your customers connect with, and care about deeply. In this post, we’ll be sharing some tips and strategies to help you to build your bran

The Newest Black Friday + Cyber Monday Ideas for Your Social Media Marketing

The biggest retail dates of the year are just around the corner. Do you have your social media marketing ready? We’ve researched some of the trendiest marketing ideas for Black Friday + Cyber Monday, including flash sales, messenger marketing, and UGC. In this blog post, we’ll cover a host of new ideas, tips, and tactics that can help you boost your already-planned campaigns or give you some inspiration for an up

A Crash Course in Custom Audiences for Your Social Media Ads

When you want to get your message in front of the right people on social media , where do you turn? More and more, brands and businesses are turning to social ads and custom audiences. You can do a lot of awesome, targeted messaging by focusing on the right audiences with your ads — whether you’re talking to a group of customers, a

The Keys to Epic Engagement on Social Media

It doesn’t get much better than a moment of delight on social media. We love the brands who deliver these moments to customers (as customers of some of these brands, we particularly love when it happens to us). And we aim to deliver delight on a regular basis when we interact with Buffer customers online, too. Social media engagement seems like a slam dunk strategy. Everyone should be doing it, right? But it certainly comes with its blind spots and questions. Should you be replying to everyon

News Roundup: The Future of Facebook, Pinterest’s Latest Changes, the Most Popular Stories, and More

As ever, a ton is happening in the world of social media , and it can be hard to catch every story. So we want to highlight some of the biggest news items from recent weeks that might impact your social media marketing . We’ll touch on Facebook’s most recent product

Instagram Stories: How 18 Brands And Influencers Are Using It (And You Can Too!)

10 billion. That’s the number of videos people watch on Snapchat every day. The same potential consumption (maybe more) exists for Instagram Stories —  quick videos and photos that disappear after 24 hours, just like Snapchat, but with an audience of 500 million users. Does that sound like a channel worth exploring? We

The Science Behind the Best Instagram Bios

Small-but-powerful. Front-and-center. Instagram bios are well worth the time and investment to write well and test often. They’re one of the most visible descriptions of who you are and what you’re about! We’ll sort out all the best practices, design tips, and strategies that the top brands and profiles are using today. Should you go highly descriptive of what you do, or keep it loose and aspirational? Should you include contact info? hashtags? emoji? And how often should you update it? We’l

Inside the Facebook Ads of Your Competitors: How to Research, What to Learn

If you’re looking for inspiration for your next great Facebook ad, then we’ve got you covered with this post! We’re diving into the Facebook Ad Library to give you tips on how to research the ads of your competitors and how to find inspiration from some of the most creative and effective Facebook advertisers out

Can you make a great six-second ad? Here’s what we learned from the best

When marketers wish for more time and resources, they often wish to spend it on video marketing. Well, what if you only needed six seconds of video to make your impression? The current run of 6-second ads on platforms like YouTube and Twitter has opened up new options for marketers who are looking to get their mess

Social Media Attribution: How to Get Started

When someone makes a purchase or signs up for your product, how do you know where they came from? Especially when it comes to a top-of-funnel channel like social media, how can you ensure social gets credit for the impact it’s having? Attribution to the rescue! Seeing the impact of your social media marketing is definitely possible with an attribution strategy that assigns value to the channels that send new bu

How to Find a Fantastic Agency for Your Social Media Marketing

Some of the very best brands on social media get by with a little help from their friends — agencies and consultants and strategists. If the agency route is one you’ve thought about exploring, then we think you’ll find a lot to love in this collection of agency advice, tips, and strategy. Or if you already have an agency on board, then hopefully some of our examples will inspire your next collaboration. Keep rea

Online MarketingAug 19, 2019
A Crash Course in Microcopy: How to Craft the Perfect Words for Social Media Captions

Copywriting is one of the most essential skills for a marketer to have. Good copy is everywhere! Websites, advertisements, blog posts, and especially on social media. We want to give you the tools to write exceptional copy for even the tiniest of things on social: captions, tweets, Stories, and more. Consider this a crash course in copywriting for all the little

Reddit Marketing Strategies for Those Who Don’t Have Time for Reddit Marketing

Reddit is one of the most vibrant communities on the Internet and a powerful source of attention. A positive Reddit mention can mean thousands of visits to your website or your product. Your audience may be there. Opportunities certainly exist there. Should you be there, too? It’s a tricky question to answer because one of the first rules for marketing on Reddit — one of the first rules for marketing on any soc

Online MarketingJul 29, 2019
10+ Indispensable (and Free!) Marketing Graders and Social Media Scores

You can audit your marketing in many ways—be it a quick-and-simple social media audit or a full-scale blog review. You can take the time to run the numbers yourself (a useful exercise!), or you can plug a URL into a new tool and have it tell you what it thinks. The more feedback, the better. That’s why we’re such big fans of quick and efficient marketing graders. You get actionable data, and you get it in seconds. I’ve bookmarked several of my favorites and dug up a handful of other useful gr

Why Micro-Influencers May Be the Most Effective Influencer Marketing Strategy

They say bigger is better … but in the case of influencer strategy , we think the opposite could be true. The latest data shows that micro-influencers, influencers with 10,000 or fewer followers, are getting the best results for brands and businesses. More engagement, more clicks, and lower ROI. Keep reading as we dive into the world of micro-influencer

InstagramJul 15, 2019
Best Instagram Apps for Marketers

By itself, the Instagram app is awesome and powerful. But do you know all the best apps to take your Instagram marketing to even greater heights? There are certainly a lot to choose from. There’s no shortage of great Instagram apps for marketers. To help you find the best of the best, we’ve tried out dozens and researched scores more. All the apps we’ll recommend below are ones you can download to your iOS or Android device for Instagrammign on-the-go. (The Buffer mobile app is a favorite of

PinterestJul 8, 2019
The Best New Pinterest Marketing Strategies Working Today

How to subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Stitcher | RSS One of the most powerful and effective social media channels you can be on today is Pinterest. It also happens to be the channel that drives some of the most curiosity. We’re often asked: How are brands and businesses succeeding on Pinterest today? And how can you follow their playbooks to make waves yourself? We were eager to get to the bottom of the Pinterest strategies that are working today, so we’ve done the res

InstagramJul 1, 2019
8 Fun Things to Try on Instagram You Probably Haven’t Thought of Before

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LinkedInJun 17, 2019
Marie Kondo-ing Your LinkedIn: The LinkedIn Audit Blueprint to Help Your Profile Shine

How to subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Stitcher | RSS We wish for you to have the very best, most fulfilling career possible, doing work that you love. And one of the best routes to that dream job is having a dreamy LinkedIn profile! We’ll show you how. Today we’re giving you a checklist for a LinkedIn makeover. We’ll provide many different ways to optimize your LinkedIn profile and boost your presence – and the presence of your brand – so that you can shine. Whether you’re

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

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

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