Our Best Performing Social Media Content of 2023, And Why We Think It Worked

Last year, I shared Buffer’s top social posts and why I thought the posts performed so well. It was so much fun looking back at the past year, so now I’m back to do it again for 2023!

Today, I’m sharing Buffer’s top-performing social posts from each platform and will give you an analysis of why I think these posts performed so well. I love looking back at the top posts of the year – it’s a great way to see what worked to help shape our social media strategy for the upcoming year. We’re also in the process of changing up our strategy, so this information will be really helpful for us.

What metrics are we using to calculate these top posts?

At Buffer, we use engagement rate and impressions as our base metrics, so I’ll be sharing the best posts on Buffer’s LinkedIn, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok for each of these metrics. Facebook isn’t a priority for our social media strategy as it’s not a channel where we’ve historically had great performance. I’d also like to point out that the posts I’m sharing today were not boosted — this is all organic!

Now, let’s dive in to see Buffer’s top posts of 2023!

LinkedIn

Top post based on engagement rate: An AMA request

This is an interesting one because it actually didn’t end up with many comments, but still had a high engagement rate. This post was shared as a PDF carousel, which we’ve seen a trend where these kinds of posts get a really high engagement rate on LinkedIn. Our posts featuring the team and focusing on our culture have historically performed well, so it’s no surprise that this post asking people who they’d like to do an AMA with from Buffer was our top post.

Top post based on impressions: A poll on employee benefits

I love using polls on LinkedIn because they are a great way to start discussions. My strategy with polls on LinkedIn has been to use them as a way to talk about work culture, and I felt like benefits were something that people had been talking about a lot lately, especially since there’s been a lot of back-and-forth on whether remote work should be considered a benefit. This question asking people to choose one benefit that they think is most important started a discussion in the comments because a lot of people had different opinions.

X (Formerly known as Twitter)

Side note: I’m still struggling to remember this platform changed names

Top post based on engagement rate: An open role at Buffer

I’m not surprised to see that a ‘we’re hiring’ post ended up as a top post of the year. At Buffer, we’re known for our unique culture, salary transparency, and amazing benefits, so people are always excited about the possibility of joining the team. The fact that we listed the salary right away probably caught a lot of people’s attention, even if they had no interest in applying for the job.

Top post based on impressions: A question on remote work perks

I love that a post about remote work is a top post here. We are incredibly passionate about remote work here at Buffer, and love to talk about it with our community. I was hopeful that asking this question would garner a lot of responses since people would want to share their unique experiences with remote work, and that’s exactly what happened here.

Instagram

Top post based on engagement rate: A repurposed post on marketing metrics

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Buffer (@buffer)

This was actually a post that I repurposed from the year before because it had been a top- performing post the first time we posted it. I’ve noticed that posts that give practical advice perform well for us on Instagram, and that’s why this post did so well. Our audience includes small business owners who may not be social media experts, so posts like these are very helpful for them.

Top post based on impressions: A fun twist on a hiring post

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Buffer (@buffer)

Once again, I’m not surprised to see that a hiring post did so well, but this one also added the humor factor to it. When we were brainstorming how to post about this job, Content Writer Tami suggested using old-school Microsoft Paint to create a graphic, and we all loved the idea and ran with it. I had a feeling that this would ‘stop the scroll’ and grab people’s attention as they’re looking at Instagram. This post was cute, fun, and straight to the point, so that’s why I think it did so well!

TikTok

For TikTok, our analytics are a little different since engagement rate is not provided in their tools. We use views to gauge our success on the app.

Top post based on views: A CapCut meme about remote work

I think this is my favorite post of the whole year, on any of our platforms - it still makes me laugh when I watch it. I think this one did so well because of a combination of things: it used a trending meme format (from CapCut, which has made coming up with TikToks so much easier!), was relatable, was really funny, and was a short video so all of us who have a short attention span now thanks to TikTok were able to stick around for the punchline. We’re a fully remote team at Buffer, so it was also poking a little fun at ourselves. Side note: We are totally cool with mid-day Target runs as long as they’re not getting in the way of your work.

I still can’t believe we got over two million views on this TikTok! I’d also like to share transparently, though, how those views did not translate into new followers, so this was a great lesson that going viral isn’t the answer to everything.

What are we taking away from these posts for our social strategy in 2024?

• Our open roles gather a lot of attention. We aren’t always hiring, so I can’t plan to post about this all the time, but it shows that our culture is why people are so interested in working for us, so posts focusing on culture should definitely continue to be a part of our strategy in 2024.
• Practical advice is useful for our audience. A lot of our audience are people who run their own businesses and happen to be running their social media accounts, too, but they may not be social media experts. Any advice we can give them to help them grow and succeed is important.
• Buffer’s culture is a powerful topic. Our culture is very unique, and transparency is one of our core values, so it’s important for us to share what we’ve learned at Buffer to help and inspire others.
• Following trends can work when you do it right. I’ll always be on the lookout for any trends we can jump on, but only if I feel like I can truly connect them with our brand. Don’t do a trend if it’s not authentic to you and your brand.

Want to check out what were your best posts of 2023? Here’s how.

• Go to analyze.buffer.com
• Select a channel on the left
• Update your date range (top right) to Jan 1, 2023 - December 20, 2023
• Select Posts
• Scroll down to the Post Insights section
• Select if you want to sort by impressions, likes, engagement rate, etc.
• Make sure it’s sorted in descending order
• Your number one post will be at the very top of the list!

Thanks for reading! Have any questions about our top posts? Leave a comment, and please share your own top posts of 2023; we’d love to see them!