Resources - Page 36
A collection of posts on Resources
A few weeks ago, we tried a little experiment. We tested two different headlines for one of our blog posts. The first used a headline that teased the post’s content: The second used a similar headline, but we made it clear that the post was backed by data: The results were more than a bit surprising: Now, I admit, we expected the variant that mentioned research to win. But we didn’t expect the delta to be more than 40%! For us, that small test shaped a new way of thinking about what makes
We tend to read a lot of content at Buffer. And I mean a lot. Inside the Buffer product, we aim to solve the problem of “what should I share next?” by providing the content suggestions for you—25 of them, each and every day, hand-picked by Courtney and our suggestions team. We share 25 stories per day. We read even more that don’t make the cut. Where do we turn to find so much shareable content? I’ll be happy to let you in on our not-so-secret sources—some of our favorite newsletters, tools,
Awesome news: 490 people saw a tweet I sent out this week! Awesomer still, 16 people either clicked the link, left a reply, or favorited the tweet. And as for the other 474 people? I couldn’t tell you. Did they enjoy the tweet? Did they notice it? Did it delight them? Did it—eep!—offend them? And perhaps most importantly, what can I learn from these quiet observers so that, when I send my next tweet, those 474 followers find a reason to click, reply, retweet, or favorite? Meet social media’s
What are the best ways to generate fresh content to keep feeding the blog or social media stream? This week’s #Bufferchat discussed just that with Courtney Seiter, Buffer’s head of content marketing. We were so excited to have our largest attendance yet—197 contributors and 1800 tweets—and to see so many new, bright and shiny faces! Check out the full Storify curation here. Here’s a look at some of the tips and tools highlighted in the chat! What is the best way to find out what content yo
Since visual content arrived on the scene back in 2012, it has showed no signs of stopping. Best practices on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter always reference images and videos as key elements for driving engagement. Graphics and visuals on blog posts are one of the best ways to get the most value and deliver the best experience for your content. Visuals are a big deal. If you need any more convincing, or if you’d simply like to hear the argument in a beautiful visual form, I roun
Selling is tough. It can be scary. It can be intimidating. But if you wanna succeed in this life, you’ve gotta learn how to do it. As the founder of Hustle Con, the startup conference for non-technical founders, I’ve been throwing conferences for a while now—and that means the team and I have done a TON of selling. Whether it’s a $10,000 sponsorship or 350 tickets to a conference, we’ve learned the tactics to convince people to act. In this post, I’ll show you 4 step-by-step methods that use s
Whenever I find myself doing research for new social media tips, the studies and resources I find are always fascinating. Not only is the intense depth of academia inspiring, the methods that researchers use for collecting information are so intriguing. I often wish I could be involved in studies like these, just so I can take the tests, try the quizzes, and see how I’d be evaluated. Some of the most fun ones to consider are those that involve different types of social sharing. They seek to pr
In this week’s #Bufferchat, Lee Odden , CEO of Top Rank Marketing and expert on all things marketing, joined us to share his thoughts and lead a discussion on “What’s next in digital marketing?” Inspired by the voices of experts in Lee’s post on Top Rank Online Marketing Blog, “21 Digital Marketing Trends and Predictions for 2015 ,” the #Bufferchat reflected many of these predictions and spurred
One thing I’ve learned at Buffer is that being open to not knowing things seems to be the best way to learn quickly and teach others at the same time. So many of our biggest hits on the blog have come from saying, “We don’t know the answer. Let’s find out!” On many matters, we haven’t any authority. Is this an OK way to get by? We’ve found great success in not knowing, and there’s no reason why you can’t, too. While we can certainly see the value in establishing yourself as an authority in yo
Is creating the next viral hit on your marketing to-do list? If you’re in the marketing or social media industry, the answer is probably “Yes!” (and if you’re not, and the answer is probably still “Yes!”). Campaigns that succeed are those that carefully consider what makes content go viral , including ea
A saying you’ll often hear around Buffer’s content team is,”There’s probably a plugin for that!” We’re often chasing new ways to work smarter, faster, and more productively—and the same is true of our Buffer blog. We’re quick to grab any and all WordPress plugins that can give the blog an extra edge or can wire up a feature we’d love to test. Whenever we dream something up to try on the blog, the first place we turn is WordPress plugins. We’ve collected quite the list of favorites. How about y
Update – we launched Respond a social listening tool and customer service tool Respond displays your community’s tweets in a real-time tweet inbox. The list of new messages—both tweets and DMs—runs down the left column. Each particular message opens into the panel on the right. This intuitive layout gives the Twitter stream an inbox feel where you can reply, archive, keep track of conversations, and—excitedly—reach inbox zero! We’d love for you to experience the real-time support experience w
Just the other day someone introduced me to a blogpost that could have fit right in on the pages of KISS Metrics or HubSpot. Instead, it was published on a brand new blog. And I started thinking, how might this blog get from unknown to well-known if it’s already got quality figured out? Provided we’ve got the goods, what’s to help you or me stand out from the crowd? Quality, in many ways, has become a commodity—a mass-produced, ubiquitous good in large supply. Social media marketing and conten
Imagine you’ve got a week’s vacation planned this summer (lucky you!), and you’d love nothing more than for your social media efforts to keep humming right along while you’re gone. No problem. There are a handful of social media tools that can assist with your out-of-office marketing. Automation techniques can help fill your queue, and the 10 tools below can help you keep tabs on your profiles, engage with your audience, and communicate with your team. Here are 10 time-saving social media tool
Your online reputation is your reputation. And it better be good. The way you describe yourself on Twitter has everything to do with how people perceive you online . So how the heck do you do it right? In this post, we’ll go over the 7 key ingredients of a powerful Twitter bio–whether you’re a novice [https://buffer.com/librar
I sometimes find myself getting lost in a sea of marketing advice. There’s just so much out there. We produce four to five marketing posts on the Buffer blog every week, and we are just one of many sources of social media marketing advice. Multiply our handful of weekly posts with the countless blogs, tweets, updates, and emails, and the social media tips grow exponentially. How can a marketing idea or bit of advice stand out from the crowd? We’ve certainly been eager to experiment with answe
When I choose someone new to follow, when I compose a new tweet, when I share and favorite an update, I seldom think about the why. My following sessions would probably seem haphazard to an outsider, and my favoriting technique comes and goes from one strategy to another. Even so, the way I use Twitter is far less random th
Social media is getting more and more visual. We just can’t get enough photos, videos, GIFs, infographics, and charts. It’s something we’ve blogged about before and certainly something we’ll cover again, given the momentum of sites such as Instagram and Pinterest. At Buffer, we even make multiple original images for most of our blog posts, and our favorite tool for that job is awesome image-maker Canva. Recently we invited Peg Fitzpatrick, Head of Social Strategy at Canva, to join us in for a
No matter what you do in life, chances are good you’re reliant on some kind of a community. People to read your writing. Social sharers to spread your message and curate your content. Customers to review your products or services and tell their friends about you. Communities work because they’re built on relationships, and during the early stages of any new project, you need all the strong relationships you can get. The community you grow will be the source of your very first (and potentially
Do you measure the return on your social media investment? It seems blasphemous not to, yet that’s exactly the direction we’re experimenting with at Buffer. We’ve recently shifted our focus toward email list building along with continued traffic growth. These metrics are common enough; it’s what we’ve stopped measuring in lieu of email that is most unique and notable. We no longer focus on social media ROI. It’s strange but true. We’re a social media blog that does not emphasize social media
Important update: We’re retiring the Daily app and Suggestions feature – beginning August 1, we’ll start turning off Suggestions in phases. Read more… Buffer’s mission has always been to do one thing really well: make it super easy to share great content. We think our web app and mobile app make it pretty easy to share, so what about the second part of our mission? How can you stock up on great articles and photos to share? Finding great content—the kind that moves you, makes you think, or st
Where do blog post ideas come from? This one came from someone else’s headline. We are constantly inspired by the amazing work of others, and we owe a lot to the deep thinking and amazing resources that are readily available within the industry. How can we get more ideas more consistently? There’s inspiration everywhere. We’ve just got to keep our eyes open. Copyblogger gave us the inspiration for this post. One of their recent headlines mentioned “idea curation,” a new-to-us term that really
If you’ve been struggling with Facebook lately for your brand page, don’t think you’re alone. Between changes to the layout of brand pages, News Feed algorithm adjustments, and countless other tweaks and changes, marketers are constantly on their toes anticipating what’s coming next. A current issue that many are facing is the decline of a post’s organic reach. Marketers have had their organic reach cut by more than half with their Page’s published posts. This change is caused by a deeper und
We love to make decisions and form strategies based on statistics. It’s why we A/B test and how we change directions on our social sharing. Who doesn’t love a good statistic, especially one that has an actionable next step? You’re likely to find a sea of statistics for social media—I know I’m amazed at how many are out there. My favorite finds are those that are just a bit surprising or unique or even counterintuitive. I’ve saved some of the best social media stats I’ve found over the past fe