Does the timing of your social media posts still matter? Here at Buffer, we think so! And in today's episode we'll be guiding you through our processes for finding the best times to post on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. Here are the show notes: https://buffer.com/library/best-time-to-post-on-social-media - Dave & Bonnie About the Show: The Science of Social Media is your weekly sandbox for social media stories, insights, experimentation, and inspiration. Every Mon...
Feb 17, 2020•9 min•Ep. 184
Over the years, we’ve shared plenty of tips and tactics to help you with social media marketing but one thing we haven’t really done well is to explain how to run social media marketing experiments… Today you’ll learn the six simple steps we use to run social media experiments, and we’ll also share some experiment ideas that you can get started with right away. Here are the show notes: https://buffer.com/library/run-social-media-experiments - Dave & Bonnie About the Show: The Science of Soci...
Feb 10, 2020•10 min•Ep. 183
Do you have a burning question about the Instagram algorithm? If you do, chances are it may have been answered recently. Instagram recently held a Q&A where it shared the ins and outs of the algorithm and publicly addressed some myths and rumours about how it works. In this episode, we’ll give you a run through of the main questions Instagram answered during this Q&A and we’ll dive deeper into how the algorithm works based on some data Instagram shared a while back. We then wrap up...
Feb 04, 2020•9 min•Season 1Ep. 182
Instagram Stories has over 500 million daily active users, meaning half of Instagram’s overall user base create or view stories every single day. This means you have the potential to connect with your Instagram audience in two different places on the app — the feed and stories — and you don’t want to waste that opportunity with dull Stories and visuals. To help you captivate your audience in your Instagram Stories, we’re going to share some Instagram stories design tips that will have you creati...
Jan 27, 2020•10 min•Ep. 181
Did you know: Pinterest is such a key part of the buying journey for its users that over 90 percent of weekly active Pinners use Pinterest to make purchasing decisions. Talk about buying power! Pinterest is no longer simply a place to save ideas and build dream boards. Instead, Pinterest has turned into the world’s largest visual discovery platform. Thankfully there are some really simple ways that you can start leveraging Pinterest to reach new audiences and optimize your pins and profile in or...
Jan 20, 2020•9 min•Season 1Ep. 180
(This week, we're re-airing our top episode of the year. Thank you for being along for the ride and for making The Science of Social Media part of your podcast routine. We're very grateful to have you. Wishing you a great 2020!) A decade ago, the role of a social media manager might not have even existed. Today, however, almost every company is involved in social media one way or another. But what does it take to be a great social media manager? What are the skills to master in order to be effec...
Jan 06, 2020•13 min•Season 1Ep. 179
(This week, we're revisiting one of our top episodes of 2019. Thank you for being along for the ride and for making The Science of Social Media part of your podcast routine. We're very grateful to have you. Happy new year!) It can be hard to stay on top of the latest news for everything that’s coming to social media. We'd love to help you. This episode of The Science of Social Media takes a dive into Instagram marketing with a look at eight little-known features that you can try today. We want t...
Dec 30, 2019•15 min•Season 1Ep. 178
Today, we have a special episode for you — something a bit different than usual. We’d love to share the first episode of our new podcast series, Breaking Brand, which follows the story of a world-class branding agency closing up shop in order to start a totally new business from scratch. If you enjoy this episode, the full season is available to listen to now, wherever you get your podcasts. Just search Breaking Brand in your podcast app to subscribe. Hope you enjoy the show! - Dave & Heathe...
Dec 16, 2019•24 min•Season 1Ep. 177
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. So when it comes to picking some of the best Stories campaigns of 2019, we really have a lot of options. We’ll run through a list of our favorites, and you can see videos and screenshots of them in our show notes at buffer.com/podc...
Dec 09, 2019•11 min•Season 1Ep. 176
What will the future hold for social media? We have a pretty good guess that social commerce will play a large role. From Instagram Checkout to Pinterest Shop the Look - and everything else in between - the social networks have commerce on their roadmaps. Expect to see a lot more of it in 2020, and get your brand and business prepared today with our episode all about social commerce. Find out the latest on what it is, what it looks like, and how you can make the most of this buzzworthy new...
Dec 02, 2019•13 min•Season 1Ep. 175
Marketing personas are the foundation that holds your strategy and messaging together. This week's episode will give you some insight into the persona process that will hopefully kick start your social media strategies for 2020. If you’re not in planning mode yet, then hopefully this gives you some inspiration on where to start. Marketing personas can do a tremendous job of aligning all the work you do across your marketing channels: website, blog, email, social — you name it. Knowin...
Nov 25, 2019•13 min•Season 1Ep. 174
We live in a world of infinite supply… The secret to standing out is to have a brand that your customers connect with and care about deeply. In today’s world, brand is often the only differentiator between your business and your competitors. So in today’s episode, we'll show you how to build a brand! Hear the best tips and strategies from the people behind some of the biggest brands out there -- Sweetgreen, Pattern Brands, and more. These insights all come from our new podcast series: Breaking B...
Nov 18, 2019•13 min•Season 1Ep. 173
The biggest retail dates of the year are just around the corner. Do you have your social media marketing ready? In this episode, we'll share some of the trendiest marketing ideas for Black Friday + Cyber Monday, including flash sales, messenger marketing, and UGC. 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 upcoming piece of content. Find out some of the numbers behind Black Friday and Cyber M...
Nov 12, 2019•13 min•Season 1Ep. 172
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 bunch of website visitors, or a list of subscribers In this episode, we’ll talk you through ways to build custom audiences and lookalike audiences on all the ma...
Nov 04, 2019•12 min•Season 1Ep. 171
On this special episode of The Science of Social Media, we’re introducing you to a new podcast series from Buffer. It’s called 'Breaking Brand' and it charts the journey of Pattern Brands, a family of brands designed to help you enjoy daily life, from idea to launch. Over the past decade the Pattern Brands founding team has helped to launch over 50 businesses — creating over $15 billion in market value. The series dives into the tactics and techniques they’ve learned to create brands to stand ou...
Oct 31, 2019•3 min
The thing we love most at Buffer is to help you succeed at social media. And a key part of social media success is knowing which goals and targets to set for your team. Without goals, it’s hard to know exactly how well your social media strategy is performing and where you need to iterate to continue moving forwards. Today we’d love to share with you a bunch of super-actionable social media goals you can use to help your team achieve great things. In total, we’ll walk through 9 very differe...
Oct 28, 2019•13 min•Season 1Ep. 170
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 everyone? How can you make sure you capture all your mentions? What are the best ways to respond quickly? In this post, we’ll run through some of the reasons why investing in engagement makes business sense, and we’ll touch on the specific tips and workflows to master engagement on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. - Hea...
Oct 22, 2019•11 min•Season 1Ep. 169
As always, 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 changes and strategic plans, how Pinterest continues making splashes with its business and shopping features, and the latest data on social media trends and usage. Learn what’s coming next to Instagram and find out what’s more popu...
Oct 14, 2019•13 min•Season 1Ep. 168
Where can you practice storytelling in front of an audience of 500 million? Instagram Stories, of course. Instagram Stories are empowering marketers to tell better and deeper stories about our brands. There are some fantastic examples of great Stories out there. We've collected some favorites for you! In this episode, hear about 10 Instagram brands and influencers who have been doing rad things with Stories to give you some inspiration on what you could do for your Instagram Stories, too. ...
Oct 07, 2019•13 min•Season 1Ep. 167
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 ...
Sep 30, 2019•13 min•Season 1Ep. 166
Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas. Shopping season is just around the corner. We want to help you get prepared by looking at how some of today’s best brands are using Instagram to make sales on social media. These last months of the year are full of retail-focused holidays, and Instagram has become one of the key starting points for e-commerce and shopping lists. Come learn how top brands are approaching this channel with a stellar mix of organic and paid. Plus, we’ll share a playbook ...
Sep 23, 2019•14 min•Season 1Ep. 165
If you're looking for inspiration for your next great Facebook ad, then we've got you covered with this episode! 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 there. We'll share some specific tips on how to get meaningful Facebook ad results, and we're hopeful you'll leave with a list of ideas that you can test today! - Dave & Heather-M...
Sep 16, 2019•13 min•Season 1Ep. 164
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 message heard via video without going overboard on video resources. We’ve taken YouTube’s best practices and looked at the list of the best six-second ads to find all the secret ingr...
Sep 09, 2019•12 min•Season 1Ep. 163
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 business your way. In this episode, we’ll show you how to get started in a lean way and ...
Sep 03, 2019•13 min•Season 1Ep. 162
Some of the very best brands on social media get by with a little help from their friends -- agencies and consultants and strategists. If this is a route you've thought about exploring, then we think you'll find a lot to love in this week's episode all about agencies. Or if you already have an agency on board, then hopefully some of our examples will inspire your next collaboration. In this episode, we'll discuss how to know if you need an agency, which factors to consider when looki...
Aug 26, 2019•13 min•Season 1Ep. 161
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 things you write on social media everyday. Every word counts, and we want to help make sure even your small words have a big impact! - ...
Aug 19, 2019•14 min•Ep. 160
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 social media site, really -- is that you have to be genuinely engaged and committed to t...
Aug 12, 2019•14 min•Season 1Ep. 159
So much of social media marketing happens in our social media management tools. On today's episode, we want to make sure this feels like time well spent! We’d love to let you in on all the best secrets and time savers and game changers when it comes to using Buffer for your social media marketing. Plus, we’ll take things one step further and dive into some shortcuts and hacks to get the most out of Buffer plus marketing tools like Zapier, Pocket, Feedly, AirTable, Trello, and more. Here's ...
Aug 05, 2019•14 min•Season 1Ep. 158
If you want to know if you've checked all the right boxes for your marketing, then look no further than this set of free marketing graders. You can see whether or not your social profiles are set up correctly, how well your website performs, how solid your brand seems. Grading tools can reveal a huge number of checkmarks to celebrate as well as a host of opportunities to shore up. In today's episode, we'll show you 10 of our very favorite graders that reveal deep insight into your marketin...
Jul 29, 2019•13 min•Season 1Ep. 157
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. Join us for this episode as we dive into the world of micro-influencers and explain the ins and outs of this new trend toward going small with your influencer campaigns. If you're keen to dip your...
Jul 22, 2019•13 min•Season 1Ep. 157
