Blog - Page 48

A collection of 2,432 blog posts

Tips / How ToNov 7, 2016
How to Use Hashtags: How Many, Best Ones, and Where to Use Them

This post originally published on April 8, 2014. We’ve updated it here with new info, screenshots, and a special episode of the Buffer podcast –  The Science of Social Media. Have you ever found yourself explaining how to use hashtags to someone whose only connection with the word is as a telephone button? Internet language has evolved considerably over the past few years as social media has taken off. Hashtags are a huge part of this evolution. What once was a telephone button is now a social

PodcastsNov 7, 2016
Are You Monitoring Social Mentions? Here’s How They Can Influence Your Marketing Strategy – Brittany Berger [SSM015]

In a world where customer service is becoming the new marketing – understanding how to find, monitor and respond to social mentions is a great skill for marketers to develop. It can help to shape your marketing strategy, too! Knowing where to listen for important conversations online will allow you to react in real-time to trends in your industry and deliver the content or answer that your audience is looking for. We had the privilege of spea

BufferchatNov 3, 2016
Aligning Reputation & Brand: A #Bufferchat Recap

This week in #bufferchat, we discussed the steps for aligning reputation and brand and managing both. Along with our expert guest, Aaron Friedman , we talked about how to perceive your company’s reputation, the differences between proactive and reactive brand building, what to do when your company’s reputation and brand are out of alignment, and much more! Read on to discover all of the awesome ideas and thoughts that were shared during the chat! Catch our

PodcastsNov 1, 2016
Holiday Marketing: Here’s How Shopify Plans All Its Holiday Content (and You Can Too!) – Casandra Campbell [SSM014]

What does it take to put a great holiday marketing strategy into place? Whether you’re looking to increase sales this holiday season or simply create fun and engaging content online, it all starts with having a strategy in place with what you would like to accomplish and why. We had the privilege of speaking with Shopify Content Marketing Lead and Manag

OpenNov 1, 2016
How We’re Striving to Make Buffer More Accessible and Why it Matters

Have you ever had a moment that completely changed how you thought about the world around you? I grew up on the internet. It’s a big part of my life pretty much every day. I’ve learned how to program, changed careers, built community, and even met my boyfriend. Being online helps me travel the world with confidence, stay in touch with family, expand my empathy, and learn more about social justice issues. I have a hard time imagining where I would be if I didn’t have access to the online commun

OpenOct 31, 2016
Team Building Across Six Time Zones: The Tools and Experiments of Buffer

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. When I joined the Buffer team, I was employee number 23 or 24, and back then it wasn’t too hard to keep connected to everyone on the team. On top of our go-to communication tools for video conferencing (the now-defunct Sqwiggle) and group instant messaging (HipChat), we had a few systems in place to get to know each other better – including masterminds [

BufferchatOct 27, 2016
Getting Creative with Content: A #Bufferchat Recap

There’s so much content in the social media space, so how we can get more creative with the content we share? That was the topic of this week’s #bufferchat and, boy, did our community come through with awesome ideas for content creation! We discussed ways to make social media posts more interactive, how we can think outside the box with visual content , how to rep

How to Repost on Instagram: Introducing Instagram Reposting by Buffer

In this post, we’ll share exactly how to repost on Instagram. One of the best aspects of social media is being able to share something with your followers. On Twitter, you can retweet. On Facebook, there’s the option to share a post. And on Instagram, you can repost, which is essentially a way to share a picture from another Instagram user with your followers. Though reposting isn’t an official feature of Instagram’s apps or website, it’s something that many brands and users have been doing

PodcastsOct 26, 2016
Instagram vs. Snapchat, Facebook Notes, Buffer Hacks & Personal Emojis – Bonus Episode [SSM013]

We are super excited to share our second, very special bonus podcast episode with you! Our bonus episodes offer a fun change of pace from our traditional “interview-style” episodes on The Science of Social Media . Get to know the hosts Hailley , Kevan , & Brian a bit better as they share some of the things they’re working on this week in social media – complete with ac

Do the Right Thing: Why We’re Becoming More Mindful in Sharing Swag

We call members of our customer support team “Happiness Heroes,” and positivity is one of our core values. Smiley faces are a key element of our communication. And like many tech companies, we have lots of swag items, like T-shirts, water bottles, stickers, socks and more. So it’s long been our policy to give out lots of swag . We send goodies to anyone, (pretty much) anywhere! Free stuff makes people happy, right? We ask for a mailing address anyti

OpenOct 25, 2016
How One Tweet Changed My Perception of Two Little Words

A lesson I’ve learned over the past four years building and growing the team at Buffer is how important awareness is to self-improvement . I’m starting to think awareness is the tough part. Most of the battle for learning, growing and improving is being aware of what to improve. When I joined Buffer, I was surrounded by a team that values self-improvement and

PodcastsOct 24, 2016
I Left Google to Build Tech Ladies: How Social Media Made It Possible – Allison Esposito [SSM012]

It’s not everyday that you hear of someone leaving the tech giant Google to pursue their own fast-growing business. For Allison Esposito, that’s exactly what she did. What first started as a fun side-project and a way to get to know other women in tech, Tech Ladies now connects more than 5,000 women around the world to a network of jobs and opportunities. We had the pleasure of speaking with Allison about her incredible journey from Google to full-time entrepreneur. Allison shares the story of

OpenOct 24, 2016
Building Deliberate Praise Into Remote Culture: 6 Methods We Use at Buffer

Have you ever received a compliment that brightened your day? Your week? As Mother Theresa said, “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” Creating a culture of praise, positivity and recognition has been a pivotal cornerstone of our Buffer culture. Here’s a bit more about why praise is so important, how we deliver praise and recognition across our remote team of 80 employees, and a few lessons we’ve learned.

ReportsOct 21, 2016
Buffer in September: App Featured, Retreat Planning Underway, New Podcast!

Buffer Investor Report September 2016 * Last month’s report * All Investor reports * All Buffer reports Editor’s Note: Every month we share an update with all of Buffer’s investors. We also publish that note in full for our Buffer Open audience in keeping with our value of transparency . September was a month of big achievements an

BufferchatOct 20, 2016
How PR & Social Media Work Together: A Bufferchat Recap

This week in #bufferchat, we discussed the differences between PR and social media marketing and how they can work together. Hailley Griffis , Buffer’s very own PR Crafter, stopped by the chat to share her experiences as a PR professional working alongside a social media team! We discussed how social media has impacted traditional PR, strategies for building relationships with the press on social media, and much more. Read on to discover all of the awesome id

ResearchOct 19, 2016
What 1.5M Pins Taught Us About Pinterest Marketing: Common Words, Popular Times, Plus 4 Experiments to Try

How active is your brand on Pinterest? With 150 million monthly active users spending an average of 98 minutes per month using the platform, Pinterest can be an underused network for some, while a primary source of website traffic for others. Earlier in 2016, we did a study on brand marketing [https://buffer.ghost.

OpenOct 18, 2016
9 Public Speaking Lessons I’ve Learned (So Far!)

Public speaking is a scary or uncomfortable idea for many people. Some people feel they don’t have anything valuable to share. Others feel it’s a lot of effort, don’t see the benefit in speaking publicly or are too anxious to do so. These are definitely all points that previously put me off speaking in public. If I rewind to just a few years ago, there’s no way I would have ever dreamed to speak in front of an audience. But as we’ve mentioned on the blog before in our exploration of stage frig

Content MarketingOct 18, 2016
33 Personal Blogs of Startup Marketers We Love

I like to think that reading the blog of a marketer I admire is like having a coffee with them and getting a chance to learn all about their approach to marketing. ☕ Personally, I have benefited a lot from reading these blogs, especially blogs published by startup marketers. Here are a couple of reasons why I love them: 1. When they write about their work, I get to learn about how they approach growth and marketing at their company and what tactics, techniques, and channels they use. 2. When

PodcastsOct 17, 2016
Why This Successful Solopreneur Uses Facebook Groups to Grow His Business – Daniel DiPiazza [SSM011]

How many Facebook Groups have you joined that you don’t check regularly? If you’re like me, that number might be quite high! Imagine my surprise when I joined the Rich20Something Facebook Group and was constantly excited to see all of the new, value-packed content being shared by both the founder, Daniel Di Piazza , and all of the other group members (now nearly 15,000.) After years of following his work, I

BufferchatOct 13, 2016
Creating an Inclusive Tech Ecosystem: A Bufferchat Recap

This week in #bufferchat, we discussed what it means to create an inclusive tech ecosystem. In our 2nd chat time, we were joined by Melinda Briana Epler and Wayne Sutton, co-founders of Change Catalyst and the Tech Inclusion initiative, who shared their perspectives on what this work looks like. We talked about why an inclusive tech community is something to aspire to, what needs to change in order to make it happen, the great work that is already happening, and much more! [As a heads up, Tech

OpenOct 13, 2016
Buffer Hack Days: Our Intense Experiment for a Creative Jolt

Do you remember the last time you focused solely on one project — a big personal or work-related task — until it was finished? Recently, our data team tried this with a stretch of two full work days they called “hack days.” Four projects came about as a result, as well as a host of other benefits for the data team (and entire company!) Read on to learn more about the experiment, the process and how you could try an event like this for your business or team. In need of focus time, an idea A ha

OpenOct 11, 2016
Inside the Buffercelerator: How We Built a New Product in 9 Weeks (And Why We Shelved It Afterward)

What is it that the customer wants? What is the problem they face each day? What services are they hiring out for that we could meet with a bit of software? What if we could help people create better social media ads? What if that isn’t quite the problem, but rather tracking and spending ad dollars wisely? What if…? What if….? What if…? Sometimes a series of “what ifs” or “whys” can lead to new and exciting places. For three Buffer teammates, an exploration of “what ifs” created a whole new

ToolsOct 11, 2016
8 Powerful Features to Help You Use Buffer to the Fullest

Social media offers a huge opportunity for you to reach and connect with people in creative ways . Via great content . Hilarious cat GIFs . Amazing brand stories . Social media helps strengthen relationships, and stronger relationships increase the likelihood of someone recommending you to their friend

PodcastsOct 10, 2016
Facebook Marketing That Really Works: The Best Tips from The Next Web [SSM010]

The art of Facebook marketing in 2016 is one that is constantly evolving. Tweaks to Facebook’s algorithm look to drive a more pleasant user experience while brands and individuals share more and more organic and paid content everyday. But some brands continue to drive hundreds of thousands of engagements on Facebook each month regardless of the influx of content. The Next Web is one of those brands! We had the pleasure of speaking with Matt Navarra, Director or Social Media and Head of Content